Law School Academic Support Blog

Take That Leap! (AccessLex Scholarship Grants)

I want to encourage you to take a leap!

When I see calls for proposals, grants, fellowship opportunities, my first thought is often "no, I'm not nearly qualified enough, they're not talking about ME."  I let the voice inside of my head talk me out of even applying.  Thankfully, there have been so many in this wonderful ASP-ish community that have encouraged me to take that leap.

I know I have discussed this with many of our colleagues, and I am not alone in this thought process. I'm not sure what leads us to believe we are not qualified, or that our ideas are not good enough. But we can't let that voice inside of our head prevent us from applying for fantastic opportunities. All of us give such great advice to our students about overcoming imposter syndrome and gaining confidence. I'm here to give you the similar kick in teh pants, and encourage you to take that leap! 

So, I'm encouraging you to take that leap! Apply for the grant here: https://memphis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmMc9N24p1roDLo

If you are a grant recipient, you will receive two mentors to assist you in the drafting of your article.  This makes the grant a fantastic opportunity for those of you that are nervous about writing law review articles. We also understand that scholarship can be an ongoing process, so remember that to apply your ideas and thoughts need not be perfect.

For more information, please reach out, or attend one of Cassie's webinars:

Info Session: AccessLex/AASE ASP Faculty Scholarship Grant

Time: Apr 1, 2022 03:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://texastech.zoom.us/j/93515645905?pwd=cG5nT1p2MFB0WksrQkFNdTFzVnM4Zz09

Meeting ID: 935 1564 5905

Passcode: 072861

For more info: DeShun Harris at [email protected], Laura Mott at [email protected], or Cassie Christopher at Catherine.Christopher@ttu.edu.

 

(Melissa Hale)

Academic and Bar Support Scholarship Spotlight

A. Gharakhanian (Southwestern), N. Rodriguez (Southwestern), E. Anderson (Embraced Wisdom Resource Group), “More than the Numbers”: Empirical Evidence of an Innovative Approach to Admissions, __ Minn. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2022).

From the abstract:

“I am proof that your LSAT score does not define you; law schools need to understand that every student’s lived experience is unique. Thanks to Southwestern’s admissions process I was able to show that I’m more than the numbers on my application.” This second-year law student was admitted to Southwestern Law School and went on to place top 20% after her first year following an admissions waitlist interview, based on Southwestern’s first-of-its-kind empirically-based approach that utilizes factors beyond the typical numerical indicators that drive admissions decisions – in particular, the Law School Admission Test – and limit access to law school and the legal profession. This scalable toolkit is connected to preparation for practice, may improve diversity outcomes using a race-neutral approach, and is a low-cost supplement to other admissions tools.

This paper reports on Southwestern’s three-year empirical project, developing an evidence-based tool to more fully and meaningfully assess applicants’ law school potential. This tool goes beyond the limited cognitive measure of the LSAT, which at best is only predictive of first-year law school performance. This project is driven by the moral imperative that law schools – as gatekeepers to the legal profession – should commit to innovative and rigorous admissions processes that define merit broadly and provide opportunities based on a spectrum of factors, beyond the traditional numerical indicators. This research, based on hundreds of waitlist interviews, has produced initial reliability and validity metrics for the measure developed – i.e., a tool that could be used with confidence in the admissions process.

[Posted by Louis Schulze, FIU Law]

AccessLex/AASE ASP Faculty Scholarship Grants Info Sessions

If you are interested in applying for the AccessLex/AASE scholarship grants, attend one of the below info sessions this week.

Wednesday, March 30 at 2E/1C/12M/11P:  https://texastech.zoom.us/j/91543645956?pwd=aGVOOURieDVhQTVIY0xIMmVlRkFsQT09

Friday, April 1 at 4E/3C/2M/1P:  https://texastech.zoom.us/j/93515645905?pwd=cG5nT1p2MFB0WksrQkFNdTFzVnM4Zz09

We don't talk about....

I don’t know about you, but the Academy Awards ceremony last night left me rattled. I have a lot of opinions, feelings, and questions about what happened between Will Smith and Chris Rock, and it is honestly just too soon to put any of them in a public space, because there is a lot I do not (and probably will never) know about it. And even if I magically had all the information, I am not sure that I should have a platform to express my conclusions or that my conclusions are remotely relevant. All I know is what I saw (and then heard, thanks to Australian TV not censoring anything) and that is clearly not enough to fully discuss it.

I remember this past fall using Alec Baldwin’s accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust as a hypo in class for at least a few weeks since it was a classic tort question-we even have a very similar, but entirely made up, question that we frequently use for student practice. In that tragedy, someone died, and I had no problem exploiting the tragic event for education. I know I am not alone in this, but saying it out loud now makes me cringe. Last night Chris Rock probably suffered no more than a stinging cheek and moment of shocked fear -- and yet I cannot see anything educational enough in the scenario to justify using it in class. I know my undergraduates will have questions tomorrow (my 17-year-old son certainly had them last night) and I can tell you right now that I am going to punt. I am going to say that I don’t know much about California law-which is currently true, and I will not research it to know more anytime soon. I will say that I do not condone violence. I will add that I hope these men can work it out and that Chris Rock has chosen to not file a report. And that’s it. I won't pretend it didn't happen or gloss over it, but I won't engage with it either. This is a situation with far too much nuance and emotion to be looked at only as a question of law and I cannot, therefore, look at it as only a law professor. 

Now if they want to talk about how I liked Jessica Chastain’s dress more and more throughout the night, I will happily go there. It really grew on me.

(Liz Stillman)

Notice and Comment on NextGen Bar Content

The NextGen Bar Exam's preliminary Content Scope Outlines are out.  The announcement is below.  The NCBE is also asking for comments on the outlines.  You can use the links in the announcement to provide comments.  I encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to advocate for our students.

 

"NCBE is pleased to announce the publication of the preliminary Content Scope Outlines for the next generation of the bar exam. NCBE requests public comment on the outlines from our colleagues in the legal community by Monday, April 18. The new bar exam is expected to launch in approximately five years. Please feel free to share this announcement and request for comment with your colleagues in practice, the judiciary, and legal education.
 
The Content Scope Outlines delineate the topics and lawyering tasks to be assessed within the eight Foundational Concepts and Principles (subjects) and seven Foundational Skills established through the work of NCBE’s Content Scope Committee, a group of 21 dedicated legal professionals, including legal educators, deans, practitioners, and bar examiners. The focus of the topics and skills to be tested are those that are most important to the practice of newly licensed attorneys.
 
These subjects and skills are based on the input of nearly 15,000 members of the legal community who responded to NCBE’s 2019 nationwide practice analysis survey. The subjects to be tested are Civil Procedure, Contract Law, Evidence, Torts, Business Associations, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, and Real Property. The skills to be tested include legal research, legal writing, issue spotting and analysis, investigation and evaluation, client counseling and advising, negotiation and dispute resolution, and client relationship and management.
 
Thank you for your interest in the future of the bar exam. To submit comments by April 18, please visit the next gen website."

Visiting Clinical Professor at Memphis

Memphis is looking for a visiting ASP professor for the next academic year. That person will provide academic support, bar preparation, and advising. Deshun says she loves it there and is happy to answer any questions about the school or the position.

You may apply at the following link: https://workforum.memphis.edu/postings/30661 

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law invites applications for a visiting professor to offer programming and teach courses related to Academic Success and Bar Support. The visiting professor will join a collaborative environment and offer academic success programming throughout the year, teach Bar Exam Preparation courses, and offer academic advising. The visiting professor will work closely with the Director of Academic Success, the Director of Bar Preparation, and others teaching in the academic success and bar preparation program to enhance the academic success programming and to develop the curriculum for Academic Support courses, including a 2-credit first-year course.

Memphis Law has a strong interest in hiring a visiting professor who will contribute to creating a broadly diverse campus community. Applicants should have an outstanding academic record, excellent communication skills, and both a desire and ability to work collegially in a collaborative environment. Applicants must have a JD. Teaching experience is desired but is not required.

The salary will be $84,000 for a preferred twelve-month visiting appointment, Tennessee has no income tax, and in several different surveys, Memphis consistently ranks among the top ten U.S. cities for low costs of living.

Applicants should apply through the University’s hiring portal at https://workforum.memphis.edu, where they should upload a letter of interest, a resume or CV, and a list of three references. Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

While the University of Memphis does not treat race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation as dispositive in hiring decisions, the University of Memphis has a strong institutional commitment to hiring persons who will add to its diversity. The University of Memphis is an EEO/AA employer.

Applicants must have a J.D. and an outstanding academic record. Teaching experience is desired, but is not required.

Exercises

Courtesy of the Colorado Supreme Court, here's a whole bunch of free hypotheticals that are great for law students, albeit a bit outdated, trying to get a handle on testing themselves through practice exams: https://www.law.du.edu/academics/academic-achievement-program#colorado-exam-essays 

 

Present

A couple of years ago, my mom's doctor took me politely aside to give me a little bit of advice about memory loss with my mom struggling with dementia.  That counsel was worth more than the doctor could ever know. The neurologist shared that in some ways my mom's world was getting smaller, day by day and bit by bit, losing memory of the past and not thinking about the future.  But, rather than fret, the doctor told me that the present is what is always with my mom.  Make it the best for her.  The doctor told me to celebrate the little things, the daily things, the smiles of the present as the past fades and the future loses enticement for my mom.  

As I look back, that was some of the best advice I had ever received.  It was a gift because most of the time, I ignore the present, letting my past failures hold me back from the here and now and my future worries taking away the enjoyment of the moment at hand.  In some ways, my mom's view of life shrunk but in other ways, it expanded dramatically because she was fully alive in the present, much more so that I am (and I suspect many of us are).  So many of us are so worried about the future that we can't live fully in the present, and so held back by the past, that we don't let the present free us to be more than who we were yesterday.  

It's a lesson that I am trying to live.  Take more time in the moment, to smile, to enjoy one another, to laugh a bit and to cry a bit, to share in relationship with others.  Put simply, we only have the present.  But oh what a gift! Let's make the present full of life - for our students, our communities, and ourselves too. It's a wonderful present to give to ourselves and to share fully with each other. (Scott Johns).

 

So Many AASE Reminders!

Hi Everyone!

Just in case you are not on the AASE email list (if you're not, please check your membership), I want to share some updated:

AASE/AccessLex ASP Faculty Scholarship Grant

Applications are now open. Applications will be due on April 25. Grant recipients will be announced at the 2022 AASE Annual Conference. A grant award of $5,000 per recipient will be distributed on or near July 1. Grant recipients will be paired with mentors to meet with throughout the process. Recipients will present on their work-in-progress at the May 2023 AASE Annual Conference. Recipients will have a publishable law review draft on or before December 31, 2023.

For more information, please contact Melissa Hale at [email protected], Cassie Christopher at [email protected], or Joel Chanvisanuruk at [email protected]. Apply today!

Apply here: https://memphis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmMc9N24p1roDLo

AASE Awards

We are extending the deadline for AASE Award Nominations.  AASE developed the following recommendations for the Award Committee:

• AASE should recognize members’ valuable contributions to law school academic support
• AASE awards should have as an important objective the recognition of early and mid-career ASP professors
• AASE Awards should be for specific work or in specific categories
• The goal of AASE awards should be honoring contributions, not covering categories

The 2022 Awards committee, DeShun Harris (chair), Laura Mott, and Melissa Hale,  are soliciting nominations for contributions by individuals, or in appropriate circumstances, groups, in any of the following areas:

1. Specific ideas or innovations—whether disseminated through academic writing, newsletters, conference presentations or over the listserv
2. Specific services to the profession—e.g., advocacy with the NCBE, etc.
3. Providing services to students
4. Promoting diversity in  the profession and expanding access to the legal profession
5. Mentoring and supporting others in ASP

Recognition may be given to more than one individual or group in any of these categories, and no category requires an award in any one year. Anyone in law school academic support may offer nominations, but current AASE Board members and AASE Awards Committee members are ineligible for recognition. Awards recipients must be members of AASE at the time an award is bestowed. 

Please send your nominations to DeShun Harris ([email protected]) by April 1^st, 2022.

AASE Call for Nominations

We will be putting out a call for executive board nominations soon! Start thinking about people that you want to nominate. We will be looking for a President-Elect (3-year position), Secretary (1-year position), Secretary Elect (2-year position) Treasurer-Elect (2-year position), and Vice President of Diversity (2-year position). We will be sending out a detailed call for nominations next week. 

Conference Registration

Finally, don't forget that conference registration is open! Register here: https://associationofacademicsupporteducators.org/events/2022-ninth-annual-aase-conference/

i look forward to seeing so many of you in Texas!

(Melissa Hale)

Academic and Bar Support Scholarship Spotlight

This week in ASP and ASP-adjacent scholarship:

1.  Hamilton, Neil W. (St. Thomas, MN) & Organ, Jerome M  (St. Thomas, MN), Learning Outcomes that Law Schools Have Adopted: Seizing the Opportunity to Help Students, Legal Employers, Clients, and the Law School, 69 J. Legal Educ. (forthcoming 2022).

From the abstract:

Over the next several years, legal education’s movement toward learning outcomes and better assessment offers an excellent opportunity for proactive law schools to realize substantial benefits for their students and the schools themselves. Students and graduates with strong evidence of later-stage development of competencies in addition to the standard cognitive “thinking like a lawyer” skills will have higher probabilities of good post-graduation outcomes that will help the students, clients, legal employers, the school, and the legal system. Law schools that are proactive early leaders will be rewarded.

Section II explains the opportunities presented to proactive schools by the American Bar Association’s revision of the accreditation standards to emphasize competency-based education. Section III reports on a survey of the learning outcomes (one of the foundational steps in competency-based education) adopted by ABA-accredited law schools as of January, 2022. These data indicate how law faculties understand the competencies needed to serve clients, legal employers, and the legal system. Section IV provides a step-by-step model on how to seize the opportunity to implement competency-based education using the competency of ownership over the student’s own professional development/self-directed learning as the model.

2.  Cunningham, Larry (Charleston), Dividing Law School Faculties into Academic Departments: A Potential Solution to the Gendered Doctrinal-Skills Hierarchy in Legal Education (SSRN Post, February 2, 2022). 

From the abstract:

This article builds on the many works before it that have documented the inequities associated with the way that law school faculties are structured. At most schools, legal writing, clinical, and academic support faculty have lower salaries, are on contracts, cannot earn tenure, have fewer voting rights than tenure-stream faculty, may be relegated to undesirable offices, and might not even be permitted to call themselves “professor.” Women are more likely to occupy this lower status than men. This hierarchy persists even though women now make up the majority of law students in the United States.

To the extent that those who support this hierarchy are willing to defend it publicly, they do so on the grounds that teaching skills classes is “different”—and, in their view, necessarily lesser—than doctrinal subjects. They also assert, incorrectly, that skills faculty is incapable or unwilling to produce quality scholarship. The result is a gendered, illegitimate status hierarchy within many law schools where the tenured faculty is more heavily male and enjoy the most benefits at the top, while those who teach skills courses are mostly women and are relegated to a lesser status at the bottom.

The gender disparity created by the modern law school faculty hierarchy is well-established, but few workable solutions have been offered. This article fills that gap. Many have advocated for converting contract faculty to the tenure-track. And certainly, more and more schools have taken this welcome step. However, this approach is not without problems. The tenured faculty must be willing to cede voting power and other governance rights. Tenure standards must also be rewritten to account for the fact that teaching writing or in a clinic is different—not lesser, just different—from doctrinal teaching. Additionally, doctrinal faculty must become adept at evaluating teaching and scholarship of skills faculty, and vice versa once skills faculty earn tenure.

This article proposes a different direction: the creation of academic departments based on subject matter. Within universities, colleges or schools—other than law schools—have departments where faculty are hired into, promoted, and tenured based on standards that align with expectations in a given field. The teaching and scholarship of faculty members in the English Department will look very different from those in the Political Science, Music, or Chemistry Departments, and with good reason. But each discipline is treated equally in status, since each one is premised on quality teaching, engaged research, and committed service.

A law school with the traditional hierarchical structure could similarly divide into departments of, for example, Legal Doctrine and Legal Skills, with distinct expectations of teaching and scholarship for each. Hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions would occur first in the department before moving to the college and then the university. College-wide decisions around the curriculum and other governance issues would be made by representatives from the various departments.

The solution proposed by this article is a structural one. It attempts to use the organization of the institution to cure a persistent equity issue while addressing the legitimate argument that there are differences in the teaching and scholarship of those who teach skills courses compared to doctrinal subjects. It recognizes the relative expertise of the two groups while also ensuring that they are treated equitably.

[Louis N. Schulze, Jr., FIU Law]

Back to the Grind

And we are back. Spring break is over just like that. The thing about the time after spring break is that it goes by so quickly. You look up and there are 4 weeks of class left and 8 weeks of things you wanted to get to. It is like the facebook posts I put up around my kids' birthdays, "I must have blinked." When the end of semester is looming, I always wonder if I have squandered the time with my students, but I know that I didn’t because I spent at least some of our time together doing the following:

1. Making sure they are okay. I have asked my class for their “triumphs and tribulations“ each week. Did this take us off-topic? Yes. Did we need to go there? Also, yes.
2. Asking about the loads they are carrying in other classes. We a took a detour into exam prep (ahead of schedule) to make sure everyone felt ready for all the types of exams they might encounter. I’ll also go back and review it on the day it was originally listed on the syllabus.
3. Meeting one-on-one outside of class. Some triumphs and tribulations are not for public consumption.
4. Talking about the law in current events. It is always good to bring reality into the picture and ground the concepts in something present and concrete. I am very excited about Congress and the CROWN Act today. In a shameless plug for my newly released piece in the CUNY Law Review Blog about teaching using the CROWN Act, you can read about that here: http://www.cunylawreview.org/category/blog/
5. Reinforcing already learned skills. I preface a lot of what I am saying with, “I know you already know this, but bear with me…” It isn’t always a review, but there is no need to out students who are first learning anything.
6. Talking about their interests outside of school. Sometimes we all need a reminder that we don’t live in this building and this is not our only context.
7. Becoming a community. Laughing. Complaining about the elevator that has been broken since December (although the changing signage about that fact is really kind of funny). Sharing some brownies.

I hope your short, fast ride to the end of the semester has more triumphs than tribulations.

(Liz Stillman)

Assistant Director of Academic Success at Charleston

The Charleston School of Law offers a comprehensive Academic and Bar Success Program that starts with Orientation and follows students through their bar licensure. We are excited to be adding to our team with a role focused on Academic Success. This role is a teaching administrator and will have a 12-month contract. Anticipated start date is August 1, 2022.

The Law School seeks applications from all candidates whose teaching, service, or research interests will promote the School’s mission of excellent teaching, community service, diversity, and inclusion. Applicants should submit a cover letter explaining the commitment to this mission, a curriculum vitae, and any teaching evaluations (if applicable) to [email protected]. For full consideration, applicants should apply by April 30, 2022, although we recommend submission of materials as soon as possible.

The Charleston School of Law is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any individual or group on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, race, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or any other legally protected class.

Assistant Director/Director for Academic Success

Title and salary commensurate with experience

This role will focus on programming in the first and second year. The role will be involved in orientation and counseling of students on probation in their first and second year. The teaching package includes Legal Skills in the Fall and Summer and Academic Skills in the Spring. Legal Skills is a two-credit hour course that focuses on reinforcing critical legal practice and legal writing skills through use of the MPT. Academic Skills focuses on further developing skills in second semester first year students. All courses have department wide curriculum.

Applicants must have passed a bar examination that includes the MPT. Prior Academic Success experience is preferred but not required.

 

9th Annual AASE Conference Registration Now Open!

I'm so excited that our conference registration is now open.  St. Mary's University School of Law is pleased to host the 2022 AASE conference running Tuesday, May 24th – Thursday, May 26th from 11:00am-5:00pm CST. 

Go here to Register: https://associationofacademicsupporteducators.org/events/2022-ninth-annual-aase-conference/

We know everyone is eager to see each other again after two years of virtual gatherings, but we also realize circumstances may limit travel to an in-person conference. As such, St. Mary’s University School of Law is proud to host in-person and virtual options this year! The registration fees are as follows: (1) $25.00 for all virtual attendees, (2) $100.00 for AASE members attending in person, and (3) $200.00 for non-members attending in person. AASE members be sure to login in for the discounted in-person rate. If you can't log in, or your membership is not up to date, let us know.

Our 2022 conference theme is “Making Waves, Breaking Barriers: Building Better Lawyers.” The conference will offer sessions focused on Diversity, Mental Health, Bar Prep, Academic Success, and Online Learning. There are more details about the conference, conference hotels, and social events around the conference on the events page linked above and on your registration form.

I know Afton has so many fun things planned, if you go to the conference website you'll see! Massage chairs, margarita trucks, boat rides, and more! 

I for one am bursting with excitement, and can't wait to see you! I hope you will join us!

(Melissa)

Perhaps the Biggest Mistake Underperforming 1Ls Can Make on Exam Essays (and How The Simpsons Can Fix It)

I have a “thing” that I call my “Cardinal Rules of Legal Analysis.”   I teach my students that these six concepts are the necessary components of any thorough legal analysis.  I developed this list over time with doctrinal colleagues, prompted by my question:  “What do you see students do wrong on essays?”  I took my colleagues’ answers, consolidated them a bit, and created the following list:  (1) L+F=A (“Law + Facts = Analysis”); (2) Use Specific Facts; (3) Don’t Jump to Conclusions; (4) Argue Both Sides (when appropriate); (5) Keep Issues Separate; and (6) Follow the Call of the Question.

In other words: 

    L+F=A

    USF

    JTC

    ABS

    KIS

    COQ

In recent years, though, I have focused also on another problem that hinders students’ analysis before they even get to the CRLA:  Simply articulating the rule imprecisely.  Although I have not yet added this to my CRLA (a very serious decision), I see this mistake in Essay #1 every year in my 1L Spring academic support course.  I address this in the bi-weekly meetings I hold with each student with the CRLA-like abbreviation of “RP” for “Rule Precision.” 

Here is how the Rule Precision problem presents itself.  Essay #1 is on adverse possession (because all students in my course just covered it in their respective Property Law courses).  The hypo is, of course, based upon various Simpsons characters invading the land of other Simpsons characters.  (This is kinda my thing.)  I wrote the fact pattern such that one of the most contested issues is “actual possession.”  The proper definition of actual possession requires that the adverse possessor physically occupy the land in a manner “consistent with AN actual owner.”  However, I have many students who write a manner “consistent with THE actual owner.”  This is the rule precision problem.

This error allows me to reinforce something important to my doctrinal colleagues.  Students ask about professors:  “Why are they so ridiculously picky about every … single … word”?  My classroom answer, probably in the voice of Homer Simpson, is “because little changes to rules make big changes to the rights of parties.”  

In the case above, for instance, if the rule is “THE” actual owner, then Troy McClure must have possessed Action Land in the same way as Ned Flanders.  He would have had to run a hiking/ zip-lining/ spelunking adventure park.  But that is not what “actual possession” requires.  That element requires only that Troy act like A true owner.  In other words, he must merely act towards the land in a manner that generally demonstrates dominion.  There are a lot of different ways to do that which have nothing to do with how Ned possessed the land. 

To bring that point home, I ask students:  “Changing our fact pattern, what if Troy built a Ritz-Carlton hotel on the property?”  Would we have any doubt that Troy met the actual possession requirement?  Of course not.  But under the rule that the student wrote, i.e., that the adverse possessor (Troy) must act like THE owner (Ned), Troy suddenly does not satisfy actual possession even though he built a fifteen-story building on the property, welcomed 300 guests a night, and made millions of dollars annually off of the land.  After all, Ned did not build a hotel; he ran an adventure park. 

The point is that when we make one little change to the rule, by changing the word “an” to “the,” we take millions of dollars away from Troy because he now cannot claim adverse possession and thus has to tear down the Ritz.  For exam purposes, this means that changing one little word can throw one’s analysis widely astray.  So understood, this helps students appreciate why I make them suggest that they outline throughout the semester instead of trying to jam all these little details into the short-term memory ten days before exams. 

So, in summary, the Simpsons are the cause of – and answer to – all of a law student’s problems.

Louis Schulze, FIU Law

Academic and Bar Support Scholarship Spotlight

Sandra Simpson (Gonzaga), Law Students Left Behind: Law School's Role in Remedying the Devastating Effects of Federal Education Policy, 107 Minn. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming, June 2023 ).

From the abstract:

Due to the unintended consequences of misdirected federal education policy, students come to law school with underdeveloped critical thinking and cognitive adaptability skills. As the products of the No Child Left Behind Act (“NCLB”) and its progeny, students educated in the United States after 2002 excel at memorization and multiple-choice exam strategies but were not afforded the practice needed to fully develop other critical professional attributes. This is problematic as these are the very characteristics law students need to be a successful student and lawyer. Further, legal employers are demanding their new lawyers possess these capabilities upon graduation from law school. The Uniform Bar Exam may also be substantially changing to test these essential qualities.

Because federal education policy, exemplified by NCLB and its progeny, has the effect of encouraging memorization and narrowing the K-12 curriculum, students experienced a less holistic education which would have given them more training in and practice of necessary professional skills. These statutes focus on high-stakes testing has created holes in the K-12 education.

This article analyzes these vital skills, discusses what led up to the federal statutes and policy, focuses on the federal statutes at fault, and explores what higher education is doing to address the deficits. The article then argues law schools and professors can and should assist their students in developing these attributes by adapting teaching methods, improving institutional and classroom assessments, and broadening the curriculum. Law schools owe that to its students. The educational background of the law students has changed, making static legal education outdated. Drawing on interdisciplinary methods, education law and policy, educational science, and models from undergraduate institutions, the article makes theoretical and concrete suggestions to help law students bridge this educational gap.

Charity Scott (Georgia State) and Paul Verhaeghen (Georgia Inst. of Tech.), Calming Down and Waking Up:  An Empirical Study of the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Law Students, 21 Nev. L.J. 277 (2022).

From the abstract:

This Article discusses efforts to address directly the crisis in the mental health and well-being of law students by providing training in mindfulness. It describes an empirical study of three offerings of mindfulness training at a law school and reports its results in reducing law students’ stress (“calming down”) and providing other benefits, such as increased self-awareness (“waking up”) and its corollaries in various aspects of emotional, personal, and interpersonal well-being. Key findings include positive benefits in: lowering perceived stress and reactivity to triggers causing stress; increasing self-reported focus and concentration; improving the ability to reframe one’s outlook (and thus resilience); increasing self-compassion and self-acceptance (thereby taming the severe “inner critic” prevalent in many high-achieving law students and lawyers); and strengthening students’ mindfulness generally, which has been shown in research from other fields to positively affect many dimensions of health and well-being. The Article explores how these specific benefits support important lawyering skills and competencies that are needed in contemporary legal practice.

(Louis Schulze, FIU Law)

 

 

Spring Broken

I was so excited to get to this Spring Break. I need this break. I feel like I have not taken a deep breath since mid-January. This semester has been cold and snowy and relentless. My shoulders are currently hovering at ear level. And, I have a million little aspirations for this break: baking, learning to crochet, enjoying daylight, not teaching at night, etc. But here I am at noon on day one thinking about catching up on grading and reading the rough draft an independent-study student sent me this past Saturday night[1]. Sigh. I am also contemplating laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning out closets. When did I forget how to relax and do nothing?

Ironically, I offered my high school junior the chance to take a mental health day this week. I used to let his sisters do this once every quarter in high school-they didn’t always use it the chance, but it was there if they wanted it. With advance warning, they could just take a day off-I’d call school to excuse the absence and we would have a day of yes. You want to go to IHOP? Yes. You want to see the ocean? Yes. You want to learn the choreography to “We’re All in This together” from High School Musical[2]? Yes, just let me close the shutters if you want me to join you. This week, my son has two big tests on Tuesday and an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday at a time that makes it awkward to go to school before and strange to go after, so I offered him the rest of the day. Everyone needs to unload their burdens every now and then.

In academic support, we tend to worry about everyone but ourselves. I see you nodding. If you are on spring break this week, please let the sun warm your face every day and only do those things that give you joy (and keep your family alive). Relish the time that is normally spoken for by other responsibilities. And then email me with exactly how you did it. I’m going to need some major help developing a spring break plan…

(Liz Stillman)

 

[1] I can’t even with the timing on this one.

[2] You can do this too! https://youtu.be/H_LQeYUHm4M

WCCASP Call for Host School

Organizers of the 2022 WCCASP conference are reaching out for calls for a host school.  Southwestern hosted this conference last year, and we had so much fun! As we "pass the baton" to a new host school, please contact Jackie Rogers at [email protected], and she will be happy to share last year's conference information and materials with you. 

Assistant Dean of Academic Success at South Texas

South Texas College of Law Houston seeks an Assistant Dean of Academic Success.  Submit resumes here.

South Texas College of Law Houston invites applications for the position of Assistant Dean of Academic Success (“ADAS”). The ADAS’s responsibilities will include creating, coordinating, and supervising the law school’s Academic Support services for students in their first and second years of law school. Specifically, the ADAS will teach skills based classes for first and second year law students as well as assist in creating programs to provide students with additional opportunities to practice and hone skills. The ADAS will also participate as a member of the administrative team that continues to revise the law school’s current Academic Success programs into a comprehensive curricular and extracurricular program that focuses on preparing students for success in law school, on the bar exam, and in practice. Additionally, the ADAS will counsel students, assess and grade written work, manage data systems, supervise instructors teaching 1L/2L Academic Support curricular courses, and develop curricula. This is a full‐time, twelve‐month, administrative position.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned. Comply with all aspects of the law school’s Customer Service Standards.

Oversee the development and implementation of mandatory and voluntary academic support programming for 1L and 2L students including, but not limited to, curricular and extracurricular classes, and workshops,

Coordinate and supervise any Academic Support involvement in 1L Orientation.

Consult with students required to enroll in 1L/2L Academic Support curricular courses and develop a plan for each student’s future success.

Teach a number of semester-long courses related to 1L/2L Academic Support.

Prepare problems and grade assignments relevant to 1L/2L Academic Support curricular courses.

Create and maintain teaching and curriculum development resources for instructors of 1L/2L Academic Support curricular courses.

Assist with the law school’s Academic Advising Program and counsel students regarding course selection and planning.

Manage student assessment data and plan and execute responsive individual advising and programming to address areas of concern.

Supervise instructors teaching 1L/2L Academic Support curricular courses.

Provide updates and feedback regarding activities, programming, and student performance to the Associate Dean of Academic Support and Bar Preparation, faculty, and the law school administration.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Departmental Staff

QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Must possess superior leadership skills and the desire to lead and motivate a team of instructors. Must possess the ability to mentor and train other instructors in teaching methods and curriculum development. Must possess positive interpersonal communication skills, both oral and written. Must be proactive and possess a positive customer service oriented attitude (creativity and positive leadership skills are mandatory). Must respond professionally to inquiries and provide services to students requiring academic counseling and advising. Must be computer literate with proficiency in MS Office applications (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) with ability to learn new programs as necessary. Must be able to travel and to work evenings and weekends. Must be able to make use of student learning data resulting from regular formative and summative assessments. Must be able to work under pressure, to adjust to constant changes, to handle multiple tasks and to coordinate the work of others. Must be able to conceptualize, plan, and organize complex projects. Must be able to exercise tact and discretion when handling sensitive and confidential matters. Must be able to foster a culture with faculty, staff, and students that is professional, inclusive, collaborative, and positive.

Must be professional and confidential of all department data and correspondence. The person must have a poised and professional image; strong ability to multi-task and prioritize in a fast paced environment, excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively and efficiently with all employees, visitors and students while projecting a positive image for the area and college. Service oriented with ability to make all visitors feel welcome. Must be detail oriented and able to work in a fast-paced multi-tasking environment.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE

Juris Doctor required. Prior experience teaching students in a law school environment,

particularly in the area of academic support, is strongly preferred. Student counseling experience, or other type of experience providing academic support to students in a law school environment is preferred. Prior experience in management or leadership positions is preferred. Prior experience in curriculum development is preferred. Prior experience in the practice of law is preferred. Prior experience in data management, analysis and predictive modeling is preferred.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Proficient in both spoken and written English. Ability to interpret and explain complex data. Ability to effectively and professionally communicate in one-on-one and small group situations to students, alumni, clients, and other employees of the organization.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS

Ability to perform basic to intermediate math essential. Must possess the ability to analyze numerical data and detect patterns, errors and trends.

REASONING ABILITY

Ability to define routine problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions to solve routine problems and/or deal with a variety of variables in situations, especially when department head may be out of office or unavailable. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

Admission to the State Bar of Texas is preferred.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. Ability to lift up to 20lbs. is required. Lifting from floor level, at waist, and above shoulders required. Infrequent bending and stooping necessary. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision in order to accurately input data and proofread; distance vision in order to recognize and assist visitors to the department.

WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Extremely fast paced, multi-tasking, non-smoking work environment. Must be able to work the general business schedule of the College (9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) plus occasional evenings and weekends as necessary.

Assistant Director of Academic Success at Akron

Akron is seeking an Assistant Director in their academic success program.  You can apply for the job here.

Responsibilities

The University of Akron, School of Law Dean's Office, is seeking an Assistant Director of the Academic and Bar Success Program. Primary responsibilities include: Teaching relevant law courses to students, counseling and tutoring students to ensure academic success, providing support to students by conducting workshops and supplying assistance with basic writing and analytical skills as needed.

Required Qualifications

This position requires a Juris Doctorate Degree and Law Licensure. A minimum of 2 years of experience in bar preparation teaching, bar preparation grading, academic teaching, legal skills teaching and/or legal practice are required. Computer skills including spreadsheet, word processing and database capabilities are required.

Preferred Qualifications

A demonstrated record of effective self-starting and follow-through, demonstrated success in assisting student learning, ability to identify methods to enhance learning for multiple learning styles, ability to build rapport with all students, including at-risk students and demonstrated ability to work well with a variety of constituencies. Ability to create, implement and evaluate academic support and student services.

Compensation and Benefits

The compensation for this position is commensurate with experience and qualifications.

The University of Akron offers a competitive total compensation package comprised of a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits for eligible employees including medical, dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life insurance, and paid leave of absences including time off for illness, vacation, and maternity or paternity leave. In addition, eligible employees and their dependents are provided tuition remission. All staff, contract professionals, and eligible non-bargaining unit faculty have the option to request a Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA). The University of Akron participates in state retirement systems and offers alternative retirement options with competitive employer contributions. Optional investment opportunities are available including deferred compensation programs (403(b) and 457(b)). Please visit our benefits home page for more information.

Why is Academic Support Confusing my Students?

In the academic support field, we experience pushback.  Sometimes underperforming students push back on the idea that they would benefit from academic support.  Sometimes administrators push back on expenditures for much-needed hiring.  And sometimes faculty push back on methods with which they are unfamiliar.

On this last point, in talking with ASP colleagues nationally, I have noticed a phenomenon that I call the “Metacognition Misperception Effect.”  This can roll out one of two ways. 

I experienced the first way not too long ago.  A very ASP-supportive colleague walked into my office and indicated that he had experienced a higher than usual number of students attending office hours.  Of these, he noted that more students than usual were confused about doctrine that they just learned in class.  My colleague, being a conscientious educator, was concerned:  Did he miss something in class?  Is the whole class confused on this?  Is this class particularly weak?  The point is, he viewed this situation as a problem. 

The second way this phenomenon rolls out is the true pushback model and occurs with faculty who do not support ASP.  Here, the doctrinal professor experiences the same office hours quandary as noted above but then confronts the dean with “Why is academic support confusing my students?”  This actor claims that each student in the room left with a crystal-clear understanding of the doctrine, but the academic support faculty confused them.  Every last one of them.

How do we deal with this?

As a preliminary matter, as ASP faculty, we must make sure that we in fact are not the source of confusion.  Collaborating with faculty on practice essays and other active learning methods used in the ASP classroom is crucial to ensure proper coverage and doctrinal accuracy. 

But that is not the phenomenon I am describing.  With the Metacognition Misperception Effect, the doctrinal professor interprets an uptick in questions as a problem.  The students should have left class with a full understanding and yet here they are, confused.

What must be understood is that that confusion, or at least recognizing and dealing with it, is a good thing.  In the traditional law school environment, students walk out of class assuming they know the doctrine perfectly well, never interrogate that assumption, and realize only when grades arrive that their understanding was flawed.  This is why hard-working students appear in our office early next semester saying “Professor, I knew your class backward and forwards.  This grade must be wrong.” 

The problem is that the student only knew 75% of the course backward and forwards and was blissfully unaware of the other 25%.  The reason why they were unaware of these “unknown unknowns,” as I call them, is because they did not skeptically scrutinize their knowledge and objectively press themselves on whether they really did know the material. 

That kind of scrutinization is the concept of metacognition which, particularly when tied to self-regulated learning, improves academic performance.  When effective learners discover their misunderstanding through metacognition, they remedy that misunderstanding with the positive self-regulated learning step of help-seeking.  Thus, some of the uptick in office visitors expressing misunderstanding is the product of metacognition/ self-regulated learning instruction and not mass confusion.  Far from being a harbinger of bad things to come, it is an academic behavior that prevents suboptimal performance. 

There is nothing anyone can do about the bad actor who blames student misunderstanding on academic support.¹  The belief that all students leave the classroom with Kagan-esque understanding of doctrine demonstrates the actor’s ill motives.  However, a dean genuinely interested in fostering academic support will appreciate that the office visits demonstrate metacognition and self-regulated learning and will react accordingly.

But it is important that we assist our ASP-supportive faculty colleagues in appreciating the Metacognition Misperception Effect.  While upticks in office visits and widespread misunderstanding could possibly signal the existence of a problem, it could also be that students are acting on recently-learned skills of metacognition and self-regulated learning.

In other words, the academic support is working.

-----------

1.  My strong sense is that this attitude towards ASP is waning.  As more pedagogically progressive scholars join the academy, and perhaps also due to the Carnegie report and academic support successes, legal education seems more open-minded to methods that would have received more pushback in the past.

(Louis Schulze, FIU Law)