Adjunct faculty and lecturers play a vital role in legal education and in students’ lives. AALS is pleased to offer the resources below to help part-time law school faculty learn best practices, explore pedagogical methods, and deliver quality legal education.
AALS thanks Barbara Glesner Fines for her work creating and annotating the bibliography below.
Thursday, July 28, 2022, 1 – 3 pm (Eastern)
During the workshop, experienced teachers offered tips on such core matters as preparing a class, conducting class sessions, assessing student performance, and learning from student feedback.
Cynthia M. Ho, Loyala University Chicago School of Law
Presentation: Mostly Formative Assessment
Kris Franklin, New York Law School
Presentation: Summative Assessment
Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World, Deborah Maranville, Lisa Radtke Bliss, Carolyn Wilkes Kaas, & Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, eds.
A follow-up from two classic critiques of legal education Roy Stuckey’s Best Practices for Legal Education and the Carnegie Foundation’s Educating Lawyers, the text is directed largely toward full-time law school faculty and administrators. Several chapters are useful for adjunct faculty, however, especially those teaching in law clinics, externships, and alternative clinical models. The book identifies ten essential areas of legal education, together with guidance on what and how to teach them.
Teaching Law by Design for Adjuncts 2nd Edition, Gerald Hess, Michael Schwartz, & Sophie Sparrow.
A compact but thorough guide to all aspects of teaching law. The book’s suggestions are grounded in educational research and apply a “backwards design” approach. That approach begins with deciding what the students should be able to know, do, or believe at the end of the course and then back-tracks to design a course to get them there. The book provides practical suggestions on planning a course: designing a syllabus, selecting course materials, and planning course sessions. Techniques for teaching focus on engagement and motivation and diverse teaching techniques. Finally, the text provides suggestions on evaluating student learning, including how to design and grade an exam. The book largely addresses classroom teaching but includes materials on experiential learning, lasting learning, and troubleshooting.
Teaching the Law School Curriculum, Steven Friedland & Gerald Hess, eds.
A compilation of tips and techniques arranged by subject matter and covering most required courses in law schools, as well as clinical coursework.
So You Want to be an Adjunct Law Professor? The Process, Perils, and Potential, Catherine A. Lemmer & Michael J. Robak.
This article details best practices for attorneys interested in adjunct professor work. It provides suggestions for professors to incorporate in their adjunct teaching to enhance their teaching experience and create a productive learning environment for students.
Statement of Good Practices by Law Professors in the Discharge of Their Ethical and Professional Responsibilities, Association of American Law Schools.
The Statement of Good Practices in the AALS Handbook details how law professors honor the professional ethics of law and the ethics of the institution at which they teach.
Strategies and Techniques of Law School Teaching, Howard E. Katz & Kevin Francis O’Neill.
The book provides a catalog of tips and strategies for teaching a traditional doctrinal course, focusing on dialectic methods.
Symposium on Seven Principles for Good Practice in Legal Education, 49 J. LEGAL EDUC.
A compilation of seven articles focusing on good practice in legal education, including a questionnaire for faculty reflection. An excellent overview of the basics of great teaching. Available through online legal research services such as Hein Online, JSTOR, Westlaw, and Lexis.
Susan B. Apel, Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact
David Dominguez, Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students
Gerald F. Hess, Principle 3: Good Practice Encourages Active Learning
Terri LeClercq, Principle 4: Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback
Lawrence R. Dessem, Principle 5: Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task
Christian Okianer Dark, Principle 6: Good Practice Communicates High Expectations
Paula Lustbader, Principle 7: Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
Faculty Inventories
A follow-up article – The Seven Principles for Good Practice in [Asynchronous Online] Legal Education, Kenneth R. Swift, (2018) – provides suggestions for applying the principles to online teaching.
Laura P. Graham, “Safe Spaces and Brave Spaces”: The Case for Creating Law School Classrooms That Are Both, 76 U. Mia. L. Rev. 84 (2021)
Anna P. Hemingway, Intentionally and Systematically Integrating Diversity Discussions and Lessons in the Law School Classroom During a Race-Conscious Era, 73 Rutgers U. L. Rev. 33 (2020)
Erin C. Lain, Racialized Interactions in the Law School Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches to Creating a Safe Learning Environment, 67 J. Legal Educ. 780 (2018)
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Waiting for the Elevator: Talking About Race, in Symposium: Race and Access to the Justice System, 27 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 1203 (2014)
Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction
CALI distributes computer-assisted law lessons for students, provides software to enable faculty to develop computer-assisted lessons, and sponsors an annual conference that examines a broad range of issues regarding technology and teaching in law schools.
Institute for Law Teaching and Learning
The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning provides a blog, annual conference, resources, and training and consulting services.
Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions
The Holloran Center at the University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minneapolis) focuses on ethical professional formation in law. The Center working groups have produced resources for assessment and development of key skills essential to professional formation.
LibGuide- Teaching Tools for Law School Faculty (University of Minnesota Law School)
A comprehensive online bibliography of books and articles on teaching.
Blog- Best Practices for Legal Education
This blog was developed through the Clinical Legal Education Association as support and follow-up for current reforms in legal education arising from the publication of Roy Stuckey’s Best Practices for Legal Education and the Carnegie Foundation’s Educating Lawyers.
Website – Legal Education, ADR and Practical Problem Solving (LEAPS) Project
LEAPS is a project of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Law Schools Committee. The LEAPS website is designed to help faculty incorporate “practical problem-solving” (PPS) into their instruction. The site includes descriptions of teaching techniques, examples, and resources.
Video – Lustbader, Zimet, Hess, Teach to the Whole Class: Barriers and Pathways to Learning
A powerful 30-minute video and accompanying materials as designed to address some of the barriers to teaching a diverse class of students effectively. The video features law students discussing their learning experiences, both negative and positive. Unfortunately, the accompanying written materials are out of print, however, the video is a useful tool for reflection and discussion.
The American Bar Association hosts an adjunct faculty committee designed for law schools to discuss improvement in utilizing adjunct faculty. The committee resources include the following:
Based on a survey of associate deans at ABA-approved law schools, the report synthesizes best practices in recruitment and hiring, training, evaluation, retention, availability for students, and transition to full-time teaching.
A practical guide for law schools in managing adjunct faculty teaching. The handbook comprehensively outlines the information and guidance that should be provided to adjunct faculty with suggestions for methods to effectively communicate this material.
Professional Training, Diversity in Legal Education, and Cost Control: Selection, Training and Peer Review for Adjunct Professors, Marica R Gelpe.
This article describes the law school’s program for faculty development for adjunct faculty.
