Rachel Dunn et al., "What Is Legal Education For?" (Routledge, 2022)

May 2, 2023

What Is Legal Education For?

Reassessing the Purposes of Early Twenty-First Century Learning and Law Schools

Rachel Dunn, Paul Maharg, and Victoria Roper

Hosted by Jane Richards

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Summary

This book delves deep into the question of what is legal education for? Who does it serve, and how, as educators can we reflect on what we deliver in the law classroom? In answering this question, What is Legal Education For? Re-assessing the Purposes of Early Twenty-First Century Learning and Law Schools (Routledge 2022), editors Dr Rachel Dunn, Professor Paul Maharg and Dr Victoria Roper bring together a collection that grew out of a Modern Law Review Seminar, which celebrated the works of Peter Birks' earlier collection, Pressing Problems in the Law: What is the Law School for? (1996). What is fascinating about this collection is that each chapter offers a unique lens of analysis to consider the role of legal education in society, from the perspective of lawyers, educators and students. We had a really great discussion which considers the challenges that legal educators face, specially with regard to the increasing corporatisation of law schools and what this means both from an international perspective, and also for students from minority backgrounds. This book will be useful for anyone interested in law, law teaching and lawyering, and marks an essential contribution in the evolution of legal pedagogy.

Jane Richards is a doctoral student at the University of Hong Kong. You can find her on twitter where she follows all things related to human rights and Hong Kong politics @JaneRichardsHK