Legal Learning for Life: Legal Immersion Fluency Education (LIFE)

6 Pages Posted: 21 Dec 2011 Last revised: 28 Dec 2011

See all articles by Beth Cohen

Beth Cohen

Western New England University School of Law

Date Written: 2008

Abstract

The concept of “thinking like a lawyer,” the focus of traditional law school study, takes too narrow a view of how lawyers practice and the range and reach of legal work. Although critical legal thinking is important, it is merely one component of effective lawyering. In addition to learning how to “think like a lawyer,” law school is the place where students learn the language of the law. The author states that law schools should take advantage of the best known and most effective approach to learning a new language — the immersion method — and that the primary characteristic of the immersion method is teaching language and culture in contextualized combination. By creating an engaging learning environment where law students become fluent in the language and practice of effective and compassionate problem solving, the health and well-being of individual lawyers and the legal profession will improve.

Keywords: legal pedagogy, legal research and writing, legal education

Suggested Citation

Cohen, Beth, Legal Learning for Life: Legal Immersion Fluency Education (LIFE) (2008). Harvard Civil Rights- Civil Liberties Law Review (CR-CL), Vol. 43, p. 605, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1974929

Beth Cohen (Contact Author)

Western New England University School of Law ( email )

1215 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01119
United States

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