Do you know where your students come from and what their reasonable expectations of legal education might be?
New law teachers are embarking on a much “newer” career than they may have imagined when they decided to move into teaching. While many may attempt to “remember” what it was like to be a law student in an effort to empathize with their students, what new law teachers may not have imagined is that law students are not quite like those they remember. Unlike the parochial classes of law schools’ yesteryear, American law schools are finally catching up with the rest of American higher education: classes are comprised of increasing numbers of international students.
Who are these students you will find in your classes? Unlike many J.D. students, they are not blank slates in terms of law. Many will be finishing, not starting, their legal studies. They are not a monolith, however. These students come with experience and expectations as to what a legal classroom and a final examination will be.
To give you an idea of the educational experience and expectations of foreign law students, the panelists will present actual law school examination questions (translated into English) from over twenty countries. Because new law teachers will have increasing numbers of international students in their courses, they will benefit from having an idea of the context of these students.