The document discusses using standardized clients (SCs) and simulated practice environments (SIMPLE) to teach professionalism to law students. SCs are laypeople trained to discuss legal cases with students and assess students' client-facing skills. SIMPLE involves online simulations of authentic legal work. The authors propose converging the two approaches at the University of New Hampshire law school by having SCs role-play clients that students interact with through a SIMPLE simulation over video conferencing. This would allow formative and high-stakes assessment of students' professional skills in an immersive simulated practice environment.
Slides used in a session on the SCI during the Legal Ethics Teaching Workshop, City University, October 2011, hosted by Clark Cunningham and Nigel Duncan.
Slides used in a session on the SCI during the Legal Ethics Teaching Workshop, City University, October 2011, hosted by Clark Cunningham and Nigel Duncan.
Slides presented by John Garvey (U of New Hampshire) and Paul Maharg (Northumbria U) to Future Ed 2: Making Global Lawyers for the 21st Century, Harvard Law School, October 2010.
Slides for the presentation by Patricia McKellar (UKCLE) and Karen Barton (Glasgow Graduate School of Law) at the Higher Education Academy's ePortfolios for the 21st century meeting on 23 April 2008.
Presentation to the Legal Education and Scholarship: Past Present and Future Workshop in Honour of William Twining, 20.10.10. IALS, University of London.
Slides presented by John Garvey (U of New Hampshire) and Paul Maharg (Northumbria U) to Future Ed 2: Making Global Lawyers for the 21st Century, Harvard Law School, October 2010.
Slides for the presentation by Patricia McKellar (UKCLE) and Karen Barton (Glasgow Graduate School of Law) at the Higher Education Academy's ePortfolios for the 21st century meeting on 23 April 2008.
Presentation to the Legal Education and Scholarship: Past Present and Future Workshop in Honour of William Twining, 20.10.10. IALS, University of London.
Shared space: regulation, technology and legal education in a global context
Professor Paul Maharg
Australian National University College of Law
Abstract
The LETR Report on legal services education and training (LSET), published in June 2013, is the most recent of a series of reports dealing with legal education in England and Wales. Many of these reports do not deal directly with technology theory and use in legal education, though it is the case that the use of technology has increased substantially in recent decades. This is a pattern that is evident in reports in most other common law jurisdictions. LETR does have a position on technology use and theory, however, and it positions itself in this regard against other reports in England and Wales, and those from other jurisdictions, notably those in the USA.
In this paper I shall set out that position and contrast it with regulatory statements on technology and legal education in England, Australia and the USA. Based on a review not just of recent practical technological implementations but of the theoretical educational and regulatory literatures, I shall argue that the concept of ‘shared space’ outlined in the Report is a valuable tool for the development of technology in education and for the direction of educational theory, but most of all for the development of regulation of technology in legal education at every level.
Seminar on the use of digital resources, particularly webcasts & podcasts, in legal education, and their effects on the design of learning and teaching.
Slides based on the Editorial to a Special Issue on the subject published in The Law Teacher and edited by Maharg. Presented at the 2016 BILETA (British and Irish Law Education Technology Association) conference at the University of Hertfordshire.
Seminar for LERN, Legal Education Research Network, UK, @ IALS, 28 Jan 2015, on the use of new media tools and the need for digital research literacies in legal education research.
Our Behavior-based Interviewing Course is suitable for recruitment agency staff, human resource managers/professionals, selection panels, line management, supervisors, and consultants who interview for recruitment and selection and wish to ensure they conform to scientific principles, international best practice, and techniques which reliably and validly predict performance at work.
Slides from the presentation given by Paul Maharg (University of Northumbria) at the joint conference Open Educational Resources in the disciplines in October 2010.
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SCs, SIMPLE and Daniel Webster programme
1. Standardized Clients and SIMPLE
(SIMulated Professional Learning
Environment): learning
professionalism through simulated
practice
Karen Barton, Strathclyde University Law School
John Garvey, University of New Hampshire Law School
Paul Maharg, Northumbria University Law School
2. Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program
Two year Bar practicum
Training in professional skills and judgment through simulated,
clinical and externship settings
Exposure to numerous fields, including real estate, business, and
litigation is offered.
Instead of a two-day bar exam, the program provides a two-year,
comprehensive exam in conjunction with the training received.
Students who complete the program are certified as having passed
the New Hampshire Bar examination, subject only to passing the
Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) and the
New Hampshire character and fitness requirements.
See: http://law.unh.edu/assets/pdf/johngarvey-article-
newmodel.pdf
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 2
3. The Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program
"...fuses instruction and assessment in the most
intimate and integrated way that I have ever seen.
Two years of it. It’s two years of what we actually
recommended in [the Carnegie Report], integrated
in such a way that truly instruction and assessment
are indistinguishable.”
— Lloyd Bond
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 3
4. Standardized
standardized client initiative
Clients
We train lay people to simulate clients, and do two things well:
Discuss their case with the (trainee) lawyer in a way that is
standard across the cohort of students/lawyers that the SC meets
Assess the client-facing skills of the lawyer.
Initiative is developed from medical education, now extensively used
in final exam ‘OSCE’ stations in UK medical schools
A correlational study in 2006 concluded that use of SCs in legal
education was as reliable and valid as tutor assessments
We make what the client thinks important in the most salient way for
the student: a high-stakes assessment where most of the grade is
given by the client
Now developed by Maharg et al for SRA Qualifying Lawyers’ Transfer
Scheme in England & Wales
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 4
5. Standardized
feasibility? cost? impact?
Clients
Progress...?
Six clients trained and used already in a comparison of Webster
scholars with newly-admitted Bar members.
Used twice per year for interviews with Webster Scholars, and as
clients and witnesses elsewhere.
Feasible…?
Very: lots of experience out there in Strathclyde, Northumbria.
Refresher training needed for SCs, but no high-maintenance
Cost…?
Training of SC trainer + SCs; payment of SCs.
SC documentation is freely available under CC:
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 5
6. Standardized
sample feedback
Clients
Impact…?
Big: on students, on ethical performance, practice of skills within
professional value contexts; formative and high-stakes assessment.
Also on regulatory bodies, eg Law Society of Scotland, SRA.
‘When I reflect on my law school tenure, the standardized client
experience was the most educational aspect of my legal training. It
set a foundation for me to begin the practice of law. As a new lawyer,
I feel confident meeting with a client because I know I can rely on the
interviewing and counseling skills I learned through the process.’
-- Webster Scholar
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 6
7. SIMPLE
What is SIMPLE?
SIMulated Professional Learning Environment enables
students to engage in online simulations of professional
practice. Its special pedagogy is based on transactional
learning:
active learning
through performance in authentic transactions
involving reflection in & on learning,
deep collaborative learning, and
holistic or process learning,
with relevant professional assessment
that includes ethical standards
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 7
9. SIMPLE
what are we assessing in SIMPLE?
Professionalism and ethical performance
Skilled performance to benchmarked levels
Substantive knowledge of law
Procedural knowledge
Many other categories of assessable experience
Purpose of assessment:
Formative (feedback and feedforward)
Summative
Think of a social space where both workspace, learning space &
assessment space co-exist, eg, between master & apprentice.
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 9
10. SIMPLE
how are we assessing in SIMPLE?
1. Discrete tasks, eg drafting,
letter-writing, research (Estate Planning)
2. Whole file + performative skill (Personal Injury)
3. Tasks + whole file (Real Estate)
4. Tasks + file + performative skill (Litigation)
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 10
11. SIMPLE
feasibility? cost? impact?
Feasible…?
Very: lots of experience out there in Strathclyde, Northumbria, ANU.
Once sims are created using the SIMPLE Toolset, easy to maintain.
Cost…?
Development of sims; learning support for students
SIMPLE is open-source and freely available – there is technical
support (funded by CALI) till June 2011
SIMPLE blueprints are freely available under CC licences
guidance documentation is freely available under CC:
Impact…?
Big: on students, on ethical performance, practice of skills within
professional value contexts; formative and high-stakes assessment;
transactional learning; learning by doing (Dewey)
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 11
12. SIMPLE
feedback
‘I found the whole experience to be extremely worthwhile. I believe
it was as close as students will get to experiencing the ‘real thing’
before we commence our traineeships. It certainly taught us the
importance of fact gathering before jumping in and trying to find a
solution.’
‘[…] if we had thought a little harder we could have minimized the
number of letters we sent, by requesting all relevant information
form a person in one go, rather than having to continually request
further details. This was particularly true of our correspondence
with [the client], and in real life I suspect that a client would get a bit
impatient if he was constantly harassed for more evidence. I did feel
that we all lacked a little bit of experience in such matters; knowing
what to ask for and from whom, and I am confident that this exercise
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 12 has helped us in that regard.’
13. SIMPLE
Converging SCs + SIMPLE at UNH
Process:
1. SCs role-play client (or others)
2. SCs remain in role throughout SIMPLE sim
3. Lawyers take instructions from client
4. Comms via video conferencing & cell phone
Assessment:
1. Formative & high stakes
2. Creation of body of professional work by students.
Karen Barton, John Garvey & Paul Maharg 13