Law related education presentation why law is a great theme. Handout accompanies slide show for LRE presentation linked separately.

1.
Law-themed Education as Superhero
Raising Aspirations and Increasing
Achievement in a Single Bound
1
Law‐themed Curriculum as Superhero
Beth Bulgeron, Esq.
Sarah Redfield, Esq.
ABA LRE Conference
Chicago 2009
BethBulgeron@aol.com sarah.redfield@gmail.com
The underlying documentation for this slideshow is varied and extensive. Some
sources and citations are provided here and in the separate handouts, and all others
are available in Redfield, Diversity Realized: Putting the Walk with the Talk for
Diversity in the Legal Profession (publication pending Vandeplas 2009) or by
contacting us for details.
We invite anyone interested in diversity and pipeline (that is, the journey or pathway
from kindergarten to the profession) issues to contact me with questions or ideas:
BethBulgeron@aol.com or sarah.redfield@gmail.com, 207‐752‐1721

3.
Law Themed Curriculum as Superhero
ABA LRE Chicago 2009
Beth Bulgeron, Esq., BethBulgeron@aol.com
Sarah E. Redfield, Esq., sarah.redfield@gmail.com
SAMPLE COURSE SEQUENCES
9th 10th 11th 12th
Law and Public
Policy Introduction Criminal Law Constitutional Law related service
Academy, to Psychology and Law learning project/
Atrisco and Procedure (compliments internship/
Heritage
Criminology US History) independent legal
Academy High
(elective) research & writing
School,
Albuquerque, project
New Mexico.
Developed by
Beth Bulgeron
and NM Law
Public Policy
Advisory Group
9th 10th 11th 12th
Law and Foundations Criminal Law/ Constitutional Practicum/Internship
Criminal of Law/ Pathway Law in Law and Public
Justice Careers in Law Elective Service
Academy and Public
Model Service
Curriculum
Framework
developed by
ConnectEd in
collaboration
with McGeorge
School of Law
Work‐based Law Field trips, Moot court, Internship,
learning/ enforcement correctional Field trips, Service learning
extracurricular explorers, facility, crime Community project
activities guest lab, courts, Service
integrated speakers, etc.,
into courses mentoring, Mock trial,
youth court Guest
speakers
9th 10th 11th 12th

4. Law, Public Introduction Criminal Criminal Careers in Law
Safety, to Law, Public Justice 1 Justice II Enforcement
Corrections Safety, Services
and Security Correction Introduction
from College and Security to Law
and Career Careers Enforcement
Transitions Services
Initiative
9th 10th 11th 12th
First Colonial Introduction to Introduction to Legal Oratory Legal Internship
High School Law Criminal Justice and Debate/ (sem)
Legal Studies Ethics and Law
Academy, (semester Legal Research
Virginia Beach, each) and Writing
VA (sem)
Required Senior Project
courses (sem)
Academy Forensic science, Juvenile justice
electives Criminal system (dual
psychology, enrollment CC),
mock/moot Intro to Law
court, business Enforcement
law, intro to (dual),
criminology Criminal Justice,
Evidence and
Procedure I and
II (dual
9th 10th 11th 12th
Thurgood Introduction to Street Law
Marshall Law (elective)
Academy
Public Charter
High School,
Washington,
DC

5.
LAW PEDAGOGY RELATED TO EDUCATION ILLUSTRATED
Education Generally Law Schools Illustrations
Reading and writing Reading, analysis, writing, communicating The community advocacy clinic at
competency are are the underpinnings of professional legal the University of Maryland is an
foundational. education.i example.ii
Competent relevant Law schools can offer curricula and other The New York Urban Assembly law‐
curriculum is essential. resources to assure interactive, project‐ themed schools, some working with
based, relevant, and engaging curriculum. law school and practitioner
partners, are examples achieving
engagement and commitment and
demonstrating student success.iii
Educating for critical Honing of critical thinking and analytical The Marshall‐Brennan
thinking/problem solving skills is the core of law school education. Constitutional Literacy Project,
abilities is crucial, as is which delivers its own curriculum
offering rigorous courses via law‐student teaching fellows, is a
with intellectual integrity and demonstrated example.vi
high standards.iv “Thinking
like a lawyer" is often a
shorthand catch phrase for
“critical thinking,”
highlighting the analytical
and problem‐solving skills
that ground legal education.v
Active engagement is Individual engagement is central to law In addition to basic curricular
required to prevent students’ school’s signature pedagogy—the heart of approaches, various mock trial or
leaking from the educational the Socratic method. moot court competitions are
pipeline and to assure examples of approaches known to
learning to high levels. be intensive and effective to achieve
a rigorous student experience.vii
Citizenship engagement, Key to our constitutional rights and to the We the People: Project Citizen is an
involvement with, and core mission of law schools is the sustained established example demonstrating
internalization of concepts of emphasis on the rule of law and on due success.viii
due process and democracy process—notice and opportunity to be
are vital, as is the embedding heard. Leadership and involvement with
of these concepts of student democracy are central as well.
voice in schools.
A sense of self‐competence Law schools offer a continuously The School of Law and Justice in
is important to persistence challenging environment. Translated to Brooklyn, NY motto and
and achievement. The lower grades, the legal community can partnerships offer an example: “Our
opportunity to succeed in a model respect of successful peers and partnerships allow us to say to our
challenging environment and others. students: ‘You can do it. See there
culture and the achievement are lots of important people who
of success in a variety of care about you and believe in
venues foster self‐confidence you’…”ix The school motto is,
and self‐competence. “Knowledge of the law is power in
the world.”x

6.
LAW PEDAGOGY RELATED TO EDUCATION ILLUSTRATED
Education Generally Law Schools Illustrations
Service learning is a proven Pro bono opportunities are important at
approach to achieve active law school and in the profession.xi Those
engagement. involving education are proving very
valuable and rewarding.xii
Participatory programs Legal pedagogy, subject matter, and The high‐level moot court and mock
varied in approach and approaches excel at project‐based, trial competitions and youth and
conditions for learning lead participatory work leading to high levels of peer courts cited earlier are
to successful student conceptual and skill development.xiii additional examples in this category
outcomes. and the category of real world
context.
Use of real‐world context to Real world projects in the legal community In addition to youth court, police
transfer knowledge from are powerful. academy ride‐alongs or court and
school to life is valuable. prison visits as part of the
curriculum are examples.
Exposure to high‐aspiration Internship settings and career The Saturday seminar series at area
work settings has opportunities abound in the legal law firms at Thurgood Marshall
significance for student community. Academy in Washington, DC, is an
aspirations and career evaluated example of meaningful
choice. exposure to career pathways and
practices.xiv
Counseling about, and From their own education and career Various mentoring and counseling
exposure to, possibilities of pathways, members of the legal programs like those of the Bar
higher education and community are well suited to provide Association of San Francisco are
professional work is widely important aspirational and practical evaluated examples.xv
needed. guidance.
Individual trusting (and Law schools and the law community are Mentor programs like Los
advocacy) relationships can well suited to focus the profession’s rich Compañeros initiated by the
counteract human capital human capital here. They offer the University of New Mexico are an
deficiencies and stereotype potential for individual interactions for evaluated example.xvi
vulnerabilities, making the intense academic and access support
difference between success where necessary.
and failure for many
students.
Well‐conceived financial Law schools and their partners offer CLEO is an example offering support
support, appropriately strength in both intellectual and financial at many levels of the pipeline.xvii
communicated, can correct capital, as well as knowledge about
for financial capital financial resources.
deficiencies.
Partnerships among Law schools are well situated to reach The University of NM ENLACE
institutions along the outward in all directions to their project, with its joint appointments
educational pipeline are educational partners at the university and and initiatives spanning
necessary to ensure in P‐12 education, bringing their status and relationships from family to law and
meaningful reform. cachet. medical schools and with its
relationship to the Southwest
Hispanic Research Institute, offer an

7.
LAW PEDAGOGY RELATED TO EDUCATION ILLUSTRATED
Education Generally Law Schools Illustrations
evaluated example.xviii The work of
the Wingspread P20 consortium is
another.xix
i
See, e.g., Pre‐Law Committee of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to
the Bar, Preparing for Law School, http://www.abanet.org/legaled/prelaw/prep.html (last
visited May 17, 2009) (emphasizing critical reading, problem solving, and writing).
ii
See generally University of Maryland School of Law, Course Catalogue CLIA,
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/academics/program/curriculum/catalog/course_details.html?c
oursenum=541D (last visited May 17, 2009) (describing Clinic at the University of Maryland);
Error! Reference source not found..
iii
Urban Assembly, Our Schools, http://www.urbanassembly.org/ourschools.html (last
visited May 17, 2009); Error! Reference source not found..
iv
“Critical thinking” is variously defined as thinking that is reasoned, active, and
investigative. Some educators also include creativity in approach to problems in the definition.
Necessary for success in education and in the professions, critical thinking is often valued more
than subject‐matter knowledge. See, e.g., Partnership for 21st Century Skills The Intellectual and
Policy Foundations of the 21st Century Skills Framework 8,
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/images/stories/epapers/skills_foundations_final.pdf
(last visited May 17, 2009).
v
See generally Sarah E. Redfield, Thinking Like A Lawyer: An Educator’s Guide to Legal
Analysis and Research (Carolina Academic Press 2002).
vi
We the Students—Marshall–Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, American
University Washington College of Law, http://www.wcl.american.edu/marshallbrennan/ and
http://www.wcl.american.edu/marshallbrennan/fellows.cfm (Marshall–Brennan website) (last
visited May 17, 2009); Error! Reference source not found..
vii
Margaret Fisher, ABA, Putting on Mock Trials,
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/mocktrialguide.pdf (last visited May 17, 2009).
viii
Center for Civic Education, We the People Project Citizen,
http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=introduction (last visited May 17, 2009); Error!
Reference source not found..
ix
Principal, Elana Karopkin, School of Law and Justice in Brooklyn, NY. The School of Law
and Justice partners include Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and Brooklyn Law School. Elana
Karopkin, It Takes a City to Build a School: A Community Partnership in Brooklyn, Community
Partners, Voices in Urban Education,
http://www.annenberginstitute.org/vue/Spring05/Karopkin.php (last visited May 17, 2009).

8. x
Quoted in High School Directory, Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ),
http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/High/Directory/school/?sid=1608 (last visited May
17, 2009).
xi
See, e.g., ABA Model Rule 6.1 Voluntary Pro Bono Publico Service,
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/rule61.html (last visited May 17, 2009).
xii
See, e.g., the Cardin Requirement for public service at the University of Maryland Law
School, http://www.law.umaryland.edu/publicservice/cardin.html (last visited May 17, 2009).
xiii
See generally, e.g., Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind: Why Right‐Brainers Will Rule
the Future Ch. 3 (Riverhead Books 2005) (discussing importance of not only knowledge skills but
also conceptual ability).
xiv
Thurgood Marshall Academy (TMA), http://www.thurgoodmarshallacademy.org/ (last
visited May 17, 2009).
xv
Bar Association of San Francisco, School‐To‐College (STC),
http://www.sfbar.org/diversity/schooltocollege.aspx (last visited May 17, 2009), Error!
Reference source not found..
xvi
Lynn Carrillo‐Cruz, J.D., Los Compañeros Mentoring Program Evaluation Report; Brett
G. Scharffs, Starting a Law School Youth Mentoring Program, 2002 BYU Educ. & L. J. 233 (2002),
Error! Reference source not found., Error! Reference source not found..
xvii
E.g., CLEO, http://www.cleoscholars.com/ (last visited May 17, 2009). See also Legal
Educational Opportunity Program, 20 U.S.C.A. § 1136 (2008), Error! Reference source not
found..
xviii
ENLACE, http://enlacenm.unm.edu/ (last visited January 15, 2009); email
correspondence with Karen Griego, Principal Atrisco Heritage High School and former director
ENLACE Albuquerque (March 30, 2009) (on file with author).
xix
Wingspread Call to Action (2004),
http://www.usm.maine.edu/pdc/edlaw/calltoaction.pdf (last visited June 1, 2008) (on file with
author), Error! Reference source not found..