Women In Legal Education, Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups, Balance in Legal Education

Go Back

This panel will discuss how best to teach students about sensitive issues related to topics of gender, race, poverty, sexual orientation, and other defining characteristics . The panel starts from the premise that professors’ identities affect how we teach and how our teaching is perceived by students. Students’ identities also affect how they learn and how they react when confronted with issues that trigger special sensitivities, or, conversely, issues and topics about which they have no personal experience. How can professors cultivate empathy among the students and raise the students’ emotional intelligence? How can professors best teach students to understand and tolerate differing viewpoints? This is important not only to teaching and learning, but also to the effective representation of clients and practice of law.