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 The educational background of the law students has changed, making static legal education outdated.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)
