Changing the Field: Recognizing the Importance of Communication Methodology in the 21st Century American Law School

Abstract

American legal education has been tradition bound for more than a century, dominated by a view of law as a special cognitive science accessed primarily through Socratic questioning. This questioning comprised a dialogue with students led by the professor, the orchestra leader, with appellate case opinions serving as the "sheet music." The field of vision, or text of the education, tended to be stationary, meaning it has been a classroom-oriented, non-mobile education, where the learning is organized around the dispensation of information from teachers to students in a linear fashion. Contextual matters, such as the nature of the classroom, learning styles of the students and communication methodology, often were left in the background, recognized as relevant, but not significant enough to re-orient the traditional field.

In recent years, a new dynamic within American legal education and in the outside world has spurred interest in substantive and process-oriented changes. One area of change involves the efficacy of legal education - whether the delivery of the education is effective on a local, national, and international platform. With the publication of the Carnegie Report, Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law, calling for a significant redesign of the education, and the Best Practices for Legal Education: A Vision and a Roadmap, another work calling for widespread reforms of American legal education, including different forms of instructive methodology with well-articulated goals, effective communication by professors and students as a part of the professional discourse has become more important than ever.