The Future of Legal Education: Comparative Perspectives

Guidelines for Paper Due at End of Summer Segment

Format: 12 point font (Times Roman), one-inch margins (on top, bottom, left and right), double-spaced text, single-spaced footnotes. (Please use footnotes at bottom of page , not end notes.) Place your name on the first page and please place number on each page. Follow Blue Book for citations with text and in footnotes. There is no minimum number of footnotes or citations. Your writing should be of the same finished quality as would be expected of an appellate brief or law review note. Citations should be complete and correct. The grade may be reduced for persistent spelling errors, typographical errors, or other evidence of sloppiness.

Content: The central topic of both the summer paper and the final paper due this fall will be how an innovative approach to legal education in another country illustrates how one or more of the Carnegie Report recommendations might be implemented in the United States. The summer paper should present a comprehensible draft of the final paper. Some sections of the final paper may be presented in fairly complete draft form in the summer paper; other sections may be presented in outline format or by description of what the sections are expected to contain. The final paper should contain at least the following content:

(1) A short background description of the legal system, legal profession, and requirements for becoming a lawyer in the foreign country, highlighting relevant differences between that country and the US.

(2) A description of the innovative approach to legal education indicating how it differs from the traditional approach in that country and why the innovation has been attempted.

(3) Assessment of the costs and benefits of the innovation, including evidence that it has accomplished some or all of its goals.

(4) Explanation of how the innovation illustrates how one or more of the Carnegie recommendations could be implemened in the US.

You will find partial examples of this format in:

Peggy Maisel, An Alternative Model to United States Bar Examinations: The South African Community Service Experience in Licensing Attorneys, 20 Ga.St U. L. Rev. (2004): (1) Part I (pp 978-84), (2) Part II (pp 984-88) (3) Part III(D) (pp 994-1001), (4) Part III (A-C) (pp 988-94) and Part IV (pp 1001 - 1003) (on your course CD)

Karen Barton et al, "Valuing What Clients Think: Standardized Clients and the Assessment of Communicative Competence" ), 13 Clinical Law Review 1 (Fall 2006) (describing pilot project at Glasgow Graduate School of Law): (1) Part II (pp 12-16), (2) Part II (pp 16-19), (3) Part IV and V (pp. 41-54) (also available at http://law.gsu.edu/Communication/ValuingWhatClientsThink.pdf)

Length: 15 pages minimum, no maximum.

Due: Email submission of summer paper by 5pm on Monday, July 9. Label your file as follows: SummerPaper-[Surname].doc (e.g. SummerPaper-Cunningham.doc)..

Rules for late submission of summer paper without good cause or PRIOR permission of instructor:
-- Papers received after 5pm on July 10 but before 5 pm on July 11 will have the grade reduced by one letter grade equivalent (e.g. from B to C).
-- Papers received after 5pm on July 11 but before 5 pm on July 12 will have the grade reduced by two letter grades equivalent (e.g. from B to D).
-- Papers received after 5pm on July 12 but before 5 pm on July 13 will have the grade reduced by three letter grades equivalent (e.g. from B to F).
-- Failure to submit the paper by 5pm on July 13 will result in failing grade for the summer paper.