What is Legal Education for?: Reassessing the Purposes of Early Twenty-First Century Learning and Law Schools

This book explores the lasting impact of Peter Birks' edited collection, "Pressing Problems in the Law: Volume 2: What is the Law School for?" on contemporary educational cultures and practices, celebrating its contributions while critiquing its omission of key issues such as wellbeing, emotion, the relation of legal education to education, and the status of legal education in devolved jurisdictions. It also discusses the challenges faced by legal educators in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and the proposed Solicitors Qualifying Examination, which takes legal education regulation and professional learning into uncharted waters.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The interpretation and comprehension of historical contexts in legal education have exerted a significant influence on our understanding of contemporary educational cultures and practices. This book, the outcome of a Modern Law Review seminar, aims to celebrate and critique the enduring impact of Peter Birks' influential edited collection, "Pressing Problems in the Law: Volume 2: What is the Law School for?" Published in 1996, Birks' book addresses numerous critical issues that continue to haunt us in the 21st century, including the effects of globalization, technological disruption, and the inherent tension in law schools as they strive to balance the competing interests of teaching, research, and administration.

However, Birks' collection fails to address key issues as well. The role of well-being, emotion, or affect, the relationship between legal education and education, the status of legal education in the devolved jurisdictions of Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, and other pertinent topics are absent from the research agenda of the book.

In the present day, legal educators are confronted with new challenges. We are still grappling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a profound impact on our universities. In 1996, Birks emphasized the significance of comparative research within Europe. Today, legal researchers are concerned about the potential loss of valuable EU research funding and the numerous adverse effects of Brexit on legal education. The proposed Solicitors Qualifying Examination introduces legal education regulation and professional learning into uncharted waters, raising concerns and questions about its implications.

As law schools navigate an existential crossroads post-COVID-19, it becomes increasingly pertinent to revisit Birks' fundamental question: what are law schools for? This book seeks to explore these and related impacts on our legal education, providing insights and perspectives to help us understand the evolving landscape of legal education and its role in shaping the future of legal practice.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032100739