Abstract Law school as most of us know it is doomed. Law school today – which is but a gloss on Langdell’s Harvard – attempts to prepare students to practice general law in an 1870s world. Students learn a bit about criminal law, a smattering of contracts, a little about torts, a smidgeon of property…
Singapore Ministry of Law public consultation on Committee for the Professional Training of Lawyers proposals
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) has launched a public consultation on the proposals to implement the recommendations of the Committee for the Professional Training of Lawyers (“CPTL”). In August 2018, MinLaw announced that it had accepted, in-principle, the CPTL’s recommendations and that implementation of the key changes would take place from the 2023 session of…
Innovation: A New Key Discipline for Lawyers and Legal Education
Abstract: Over the past two years, I have interviewed hundreds of in-house and law firm lawyers from around the globe to explore the changing legal marketplace, expectations of clients, and innovation in law. One of my main conclusions is that we are experiencing an Innovation Tournament in Law and almost everyone is playing in it….
Positive feedback from pilot of SRA’s Solicitors Qualifying Examination
The Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) is a new, single assessment for qualifying solicitors and is due to be introduced by the end of 2021. A pilot to test the first part of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination – known as SQE1 – has shown that it is on course to be a valid, rigorous assessment, while…
Law School as a Consumer Product: Beat ’em or Join ’em?
Abstract: With rising costs, pressure on performance metrics and competitive high-profile rankings, law schools are more than ever before being judged on a consumer satisfaction basis by both students and the public. While this perception has been growing over the past two decades, it has reached a crisis point in legal education. When students have…
Singapore launches ‘China-Ready Programme’ to deepen legal services cooperation with China.
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) in Singapore, has recently launched a new programme targeting the legal industry. The educational programme is designed to help Singaporean legal professionals understand Chinese culture, business environment, legal systems and laws, as well as improving their understanding of Mandarin used in a legal context. The programme, as well as a…
Revised SRA approach to CPD is well recieved by law firms
Newly published feedback received by the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA) on continuous professional development (CPD) requirements introduced in 2016 has indicated that the changes have been well received by solicitors and law firms. The requirements, known as ‘Continuing Competence’ are available in full here and include requiring solicitors to make an annual declaration of their own…
LSK calls for ending of law school monopoly
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has called for the ending of the monopoly on Bar education in Kenya, following an inquiry into high rates of failure in the Bar examinations. Results from November 2018 revealed that 80 per cent of those who sat the test failed, with only 308 of the 1,572 candidates qualifying. …
The Secret Sauce to Teaching Collaboration and Leadership to Lawyers: The 3-4-5 Method of Innovation
Abstract: It is a hard sell to convince lawyers that they need to learn how to innovate. However, when we consider the skillset and mindset that is honed in the process of learning how to innovate, this decision should be a no-brainer. This is because, as discussed in the prior chapter (Innovation: A New Key…
NCBE’s Testing Task Force and the Bar Exam of the Future
In the United States, the authority to regulate the legal profession belongs to individual jurisdictions; each U.S. state or territory sets its own rules and makes its own decisions about legal licensure. For licensure examinations, most jurisdictions use one or more of the bar exam components produced by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE),…