In the
Time-Traveling Lawyer, we will explore the ways clinical law faculty might harness the appeal and fascination of time travel and thereby enrich the educational experience of law students. We will look for parallels in the fictional world of the time traveler and the real world of law students and young practitioners. Collectively, we will identify ways we can use these to improve our teaching and help meet the challenges young lawyers face.
The following questions provide a framework for this project: What are the compelling aspects or “truths” of time travel as we know it from popular fiction, movies, and television? In what ways do these truths relate to the relationships, dynamics, and processes associated with lawyering? How can students in clinical and practice-based programs benefit from these ideas? Can we improve the education of our students in identifiable ways by sending them into a theoretical wormhole? How can we do this?
Everyone in the session will be invited to participate by considering a few well-known time travel stories with a fresh perspective. An informal idea sheet will be distributed. We will use an unorthodox approach to legal education by projecting ourselves and our students into the past and as well as the future and identifying truths in the experience that can ultimately translate as permanent resources in the world of lawyering. We will consider different ways to implement these ideas in clinical and experiential courses. What is most valuable?
Specific areas of practice will be considered. For example, interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and trial practice will be discussed in the context of a time-travel teaching model. Specific skills and arts will be considered. These will include the art of persuasion and the skill of cross examination. Broadly, concepts of professionalism and professional identity will be addressed.