A symposium at the University of Virginia School of Law will examine how lawyers are trained and how legal education could improve.
“Interrogating Legal Pedagogy and Imagining a Better Way to Train Lawyers” will be held online Feb. 18. The event is hosted by the Virginia Law Review Online.
Presenters and panelists will explore gender and racial gaps in legal education, whether legal pedagogy should involve more clinical or theoretical education, how legal pedagogy can exacerbate inequalities in the justice system and the capacity for legal training to change, among other topics.
The event will feature two keynote addresses, by Professor LaToya Baldwin Clark of UCLA School of Law and by Alec Karakatsanis, founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps.
“We wanted to host the symposium we wanted to go to. From the role of critical race theory in education to diversifying law school classes, these topics are surfacing in our day-to-day conversations right now,” said Online Development Editor Elizabeth Adler ’22. “How burgeoning lawyers are taught directly influences how they practice law, how the law forms and how society reacts as a result. We think the ripple effects of legal education are significant yet under-discussed.”
Schedule
(links for panels listed separately below)
10:30-10:45 a.m.
Introductions
- Risa Goluboff, Dean, Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law, Professor of History, University of Virginia School of Law
10:45-11:45 a.m.
Paper Presentations
- “Gender Differences in Law School Classroom Participation: The Key Role of Social Context,” by Molly Bishop Shadel (Professor of Law, UVA), Sophie Trawalter (Associate Professor of Public Policy and Psychology, UVA) and J.H. Verkerke (T. Munford Boyd Professor of Law, UVA)
- “The Gender Participation Gap and the Politics of Pedagogy,” by Anne Coughlin (Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Professor of Law, UVA) and Molly Bishop Shadel (Professor of Law, UVA)
- “Moving Law Teaching Beyond Opinions to Spark Students’ Legal Imaginations,” by Sherri Lee Keene (Associate Professor of Law, Legal Practice, Georgetown Law) and Susan McMahon (Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law)
- “Feminist Legal History and Legal Pedagogy,” by Paula Monopoli (Sol & Carlyn Hubert Professor of Law, Maryland)
11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Keynote Address
- LaToya Baldwin Clark, Assistant Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
12:15-1:30 p.m.
Lunch for Registered Guests
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Panel 1 | Writing and Legal Skills Instruction Across the Curriculum
- Bridget J. Crawford, University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Law, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
- Jennifer Murphy Romig ’98, Professor of Practice, Emory University School of Law
- Oscar J. Salinas, Director, Academic Excellence Program and Clinical Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law
- Kathryn M. Stanchi, E.L. Cord Professor of Law, William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV
- Moderator: Joe Fore ’11, Professor of Law, General Faculty; Co-Director, Legal Research and Writing Program, University of Virginia School of Law
Panel 2 | Training Lawyers or Thinkers? Balancing Clinical and Theoretical Approaches to Legal Education
- Deirdre M. Enright ’92, Professor of Law, General Faculty; Director, Project for Informed Reform, University of Virginia School of Law
- Robert R. Kuehn, Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
- Daniel Nagin, Clinical Professor of Law; Faculty Director, WilmerHale Legal Services Center and Veterans Legal Clinic, Harvard Law School
- Moderator: Sarah Shalf ’01, Professor of Law, General Faculty; Director of Clinical Programs, University of Virginia School of Law
Panel 3 | The Importance of Incorporating Race Into the Traditional Legal Curriculum
- Carliss Chatman, Associate Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law
- Camille Gear Rich, Dorothy W. Nelson Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
- Zahr K. Said, Associate Dean, Research and Faculty Development; Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law
- Moderator: H. Timothy Lovelace Jr. ’06, John Hope Franklin Research Scholar, Professor of Law, Duke University School of Law
2:45-3:45 p.m.
Discussion With the Hosts of the Podcast “5-4”
- Michael, Peter and Rhiannon, Hosts
- Moderators: Charles Barzun ’05, Horace W. Goldsmith Research Professor of Law; Thomas Frampton, Associate Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
4-4:30 p.m.
Keynote Address
- Alec Karakatsanis, Founder, Executive Director, Civil Rights Corps
4:30-4:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Founded in 1819, the University of Virginia School of Law is the second-oldest continuously operating law school in the nation. Consistently ranked among the top law schools, Virginia is a world-renowned training ground for distinguished lawyers and public servants, instilling in them a commitment to leadership, integrity and community service.
