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Abstract
The author, having earned his Juris Doctor degree in the United States and taught law in Eastern Europe for the past 10 years, is in a unique position to offer perspective about teaching law in post Soviet‐occupied re‐emerging democracies. The article notes differences in the culture and atmosphere of legal education not only between the United States and countries such as Estonia and Lithuania, but also Finland, which may be considered as an example of the free, unspoiled traditional Europe. It is suggested that in order for a visiting professor or lecturer from the United States or even Western Europe to succeed in Eastern Europe, flexibility in teaching methods and a greater measure of tolerance of student immaturity is necessary, especially when new and unfamiliar teaching methods, such as the Socratic method, are introduced. The article also analyzes and criticizes the impact of the Bologna process – Europe’s efforts to harmonize (read standardize) all higher education. The debate as to whether law should be taught as a profession. Ironically, implementation of the Bologna model may actually be working against it own goals. The intellectual aspects of teaching law are in serious danger of being undermined by the Bologna process, which means that legal education in Europe as a whole is at risk.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Conference of the European Law Faculties Association held in Leuven, Belgium, 9–11 February 2006. The author wishes to thank professors Julian Lonbay and Fiona Cownie for their helpful comments and encouragement in preparing both the original presentation and this article. Thanks are also due to Aare Kruuser, Dean of the Law Faculty of Nord University, for reviewing a draft of this article and providing useful critical comments and suggestions.
Notes
1. K. Jaak Roosaare earned his Juris Doctor degree from The American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC, in 1979. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Washington, DC and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar.
2. See, for example, Stracher, C. (2007), ‘Meet the Clients,’ The Wall Street Journal Online, 26 January 2007. http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB116978069890288550.html (accessed 3 June 2008), in which the author, who is publisher of the New York Law School Law Review and co‐director of the Program in Law & Journalism, embraces the notion that it is not – or at least should not be – considered an insult for a law school to be labeled a ‘trade school’. He states that ‘[l]aw is not brain surgery’; implying that brain surgery is, indeed, a profession and downgrades law to ‘a skill that can be acquired through practice and repetition’.
3. See Frankel, T., and Gordon, W.J. (2007), ‘Law Is Still a Profession, Not an 18th‐Century “Trade”,’ The Wall Street Journal Online, 15 February 2007. http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB117142950542608247.html (accessed 3 June 2008), in which the authors, two Boston University Law Professors, responding directly to Mr Stracher, state that they ‘teach future professionals, not tradesmen’. They emphasize the intellectual aspects of teaching law: ‘We teach them to use their brains. We teach them to reason with logic, clarity and consistency. We train them to write, and to read legal opinions and statutes with great care.’ As a final coup de grace to Mr Stracher, Peter Lattman, in the Law Blog of The Wall Street Journal, made a persuasive case that brain surgery is a lot closer to being a trade than the practice of law. Lattman, P. (2007), ‘The Law: A Profession, a Trade or Both, Part III,’ The Wall Street Journal, 16 February 2007 http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/02/16/the_law_a_profession_a_trade_or_both_part_iii/ (accessed 3 June 2008). Law requires mental skills using the brain’s left hemisphere as opposed to visuomotor skills that are required to perform surgery and are functions of the right hemisphere.
4. I can speak from experience, since I benefited greatly from my participation in the Criminal Justice Clinic while a student at The American University Washington College of Law. This was among the first clinical programs established in any law school in the United States, a good 10 years before they became part of the curriculum even at Harvard.
5. For an interesting essay that examines the balancing of teaching goals against students’ learning goals, see Angelo, T. (n.d.), ‘Teaching Goals, Assessment, Academic Freedom and Higher Learning,’ in Essays on Teaching Excellence, The Professional & Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. http://programs.weber.edu/tlf/packet6/v5n7.htm (accessed 3 June 2008).
6. For one view of some of the truths and myths associated with student course evaluations, see ‘Student Course Evaluations.’ http://sunconference.utep.edu/CETaL/resources/portfolios/stud_sum.htm (accessed 3 June 2008).
7. See ‘Student Evaluation of Courses and Faculty,’ in Trinity University Faculty and Contract Staff Handbook. www.edu/departments/academic_affairs/hb/instrpol/evalcrse.htm (accessed 3 June 2008).
8. I have been teaching full‐time at Nord since 2002.
9. Here we can also make some additional observations that might lead to the conclusion that the educational environment and traditions, and not just the relative age of the students cause the difference in the classroom demeanor of students. At Vytautas Magnus University, law is taught as a graduate master’s curriculum after the student has earned a bachelor’s degree. (At the time I taught there, from 1998 to 2001, the bachelor’s program lasted four years.) Nevertheless, lack of classroom etiquette including talking in class by students was a common occurrence. Older students, whether the reason was additional maturity or increased motivation to learn, seemed more likely to observe acceptable classroom decorum.
10. For a useful discussion about keeping discipline in the classroom, see Sulich, M. (2004), ‘Keeping Discipline in the Classroom,’ English Teaching Forum, 42(3), English Teaching Forum Online. http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol42/no3/p32.htm (accessed 3 June 2008). Although the author is speaking about classroom discipline with respect to younger children, the need for discipline and the strategies for achieving it can be carried over to adult students who are behaving like children.
11. Edward I. Koch was a popular Mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989 who retained his good nature and sense of humor at all times, even when being heckled at public appearances. In short, he just went on with his speech and let nothing disturb him.
12. This has apparently been the rule in Finland, as well. However, when I lectured at the University of Lapland, my style of teaching – which included a mix of a modified Socratic method, the use of cases and hypotheticals and the encouragement of student participation and discussion – was well received.
13. Some lecturers have taken it upon themselves to introduce mandatory attendance rules, but it is not clear how much actual authority they have to do so.
14. I taught at VMU from 1998 to 2001.
15. In comparison, at Nord, while students could also make copies of materials, most have not done so. This is possibly explained by the fact that at Nord the level of English language proficiency is inadequate and many students therefore do not even make an attempt to read English language textbooks, preferring, instead, to rely on my Estonian language lectures.
16. The Paper Chase was a 1970 novel written by John Jay Osborn, Jr, a 1970 graduate of Harvard Law School, and made into a movie in 1973. Although the movie is fiction, the actual law school experience of the author is clearly and accurately reflected.
17. ‘The Socratic Method,’ (2008), The Princeton Review. www.princetonreview.com/law/research/articles/life/socratic.asp (accessed 3 June 2008).
18. For an excellent article about the importance of developing thinking skills and how to teach those skills to today’s students, see Cotton, K. (1991), ‘Teaching Thinking Skills,’ NW Archives, Regional Educational Laboratory, School Improvement Research Series, Close‐Up #11, November 1991. www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/6/cu11/html (accessed 3 June 2008).
19. Bologna is also a well‐known large sausage made of beef, veal and pork, named for the city where it was first produced. In American‐English vernacular (pronounced ba‐lo‐ney), and in the intended meaning of the author here, it means foolishness or stupidity.
20. The reduction in time of a standard ‘lecture hour’ from 45 to 40 minutes is not at all an insignificant problem if a lecturer needs to adequately present his subject. If, for example, a course is scheduled for 20 lecture hours, the reduction means, in real terms, the loss of 100 minutes which is the equivalent of more than two lecture hours or, in other words, reducing a 20 lecture hour course to less than 18 – with the understanding that the same amount of material is to be covered.
21. Duncan, S., and Ritchie, D.T. (2003), ‘How Judges, Practitioners, and Legal Writing Teachers Assess the Writing Skills of New Law Graduates: A Comparative Study,’ Journal of Legal Education, 53(1), 80–102. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=978000.
22. If any legal educator thinks it is possible to teach a legal writing and analysis course in an intensive manner within a two‐ or even a three‐week period, I await your email explaining your views!
23. Under the four‐year bachelor’s curriculum, both a final thesis and an examination were required. In implementing the three‐year bachelor’s program, students have a choice of writing a thesis or passing an examination. At Nord University, it had also been proposed that there would not even be a thesis option at the bachelor’s level, leaving thesis writing as an option only to those that advanced to the master’s program. That proposal was not adopted.
24. Furlong, P. (2005), ‘British Higher Education and the Bologna Process: An Interim Assessment,’ in Politics, 25(1), 53–61.
25. Ministers responsible for higher education in the countries participating in the Bologna process, London Communiqué, May 2007.
26. See, for example, ‘Mobility of Students and Staff.’ www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/ActionLines/mobility.htm (accessed 4 June 2008).
27. ‘XXX Eesti õigusteadlaste päevad’ [‘XXX Estonian Legal Scholars Days’], Iuridicum. www.juridica.ee/konverents_XXX_et.php?konverents_XXX=programm (accessed 6 June 2008).