Another New Tribe: Attendees at the Global Legal Skills Conference

Part of my transition as a new resident of the Arabian Gulf region involves finding new tribes to join and help lead.   In March 2016, I talked about the ADR tribes that I’ve found in Dubai and Doha.  I found another tribe that reflects my new place in the world.

At the end of May, I attended the Global Legal Skills Conference in Verona, Italy at the University of Verona's Facolta Giurisprudenza.  Last year, I attended this conference for the first time.  I came back for the reason that the folks organizing and attending this conference are highly dedicated professors of law from all over the world who want to learn how better to teach law across cultures and across languages.

  

In other words, they are process people – my type of people.  Mediators often say that if the process is good, the outcome will be just fine, too.   So, if we continue to explore skillful ways of teaching students for whom English is not their first language, then those students are likely to respond with higher engagement, greater feelings of success, and a deeper sense of connection. 

Attendees included people running and teaching in U.S.-based LL.M. programs.  Many law schools have started these programs to fill the gap created by declining enrollments of U.S. law students.  I suspect many law schools start these programs without having sufficient support systems in place for students arriving from many parts of the globe. 

Other attendees, like myself, teach courses in law schools located in countries other than the U.S.  Many of us are trying to describe the common law legal system to students embedded in a civil law culture.  We talked about the challenges of teaching the value, weight, and use of case law in a system reliant on precedent.

Still other attendees teach English as a Second Language (ESL).  They are often not lawyers, and they bring a completely different perspective to the conversation.

The conference is designed to give us all exposure to innovative ways to teach these students.  These colleagues have experimented with different teaching approaches and resources in an effort to find the best way to support student learning. Many of these teachers must create the handouts, readings, and other teaching tools they use because so few resources exist for each course topic.

I spoke on a panel about delivering high-quality online legal education.  My co-panelists explained a very sophisticated online program in Canada offered at the Osgoode Hall School of Law and the hybrid legal education (the first one approved by the ABA) at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.  These educational programs are supported by sophisticated (and expensive) technology, video, and teaching platforms.  

I was there to talk about my cheap work-around using a Google application called WebinarJam Studio, a Yeti microphone, a tri-fold screen as a backdrop, Thinkstock licensed images, and a Logitech webcam. 

I have to mention the fabulous location of the conference in Verona, Italy.  This city is designated as a World Heritage Site.  People were friendly and helpful.  

My centrally located hotel gave me easy access to the Roman stadium, Juliet’s balcony, the old city wall and arches, the medieval fort, the Justinian Gardens, Basilica San Zeno, and the medieval bell-tower.  After three days logging over 10,000 steps a day, I finally used the hop-on, hop-off bus tour for a day to cover more territory. 

I also discovered a cocktail that found its way to cafe tables at lunch and sunset -- the Spritz Apperol (or Spritz).
  

On my last day in Italy, Profs. Mark Wojcik and David Austin, the energy behind the whole event, organized a day-trip to Padua.  In many ways, I enjoyed this little college town more than Verona.  

Located here is the first independent university in Europe, which

offered its scholars and students greater intellectual freedom from the influence of the Vatican and the Italian government.  Founded in 1222, it educated Dante and Copernicus. Among other treasures, we saw the wooden lectern of Galileo, who taught there for many years.  It struck me how one teacher could so vastly influence the world and how we thought about it. Sorry, I could not take any photos once we entered the university buildings.

Our guide also showed us a work of art that commemorates the resistance of many university professors to Nazi politics and repression.  I keep that art in mind during this U.S. presidential election cycle. 

The 1594 Anatomical Theater in the medical school was an extraordinary example of advances in teaching.  During classes, a small chamber -- lit by candlelight -- held the cadaver, the professor, and the person doing the dissection. Above this chamber was a several story room that was shaped like a steeply-sided funnel. In the levels above, students would stand to watch the lesson.  Each level had a carved wooden railing high enough to prevent fainting students from falling over the railing and onto the dissection table several floors below.  Here, in the 17th century, scholars and students first understood blood circulation. 

I wish I had a photo.  In any event, a photo would not have captured this awe-inspiring place.  What a dedication to a whole new way of teaching!  Not quite active learning -- where students would later do their own dissections -- but a step away from pure lecture.

On our way out, we saw a fresco of a student.  As the image climbed the stairs, it showed the young man gaining age and wisdom.  











A sculpture paid tribute to Elena Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman to earn a degree at the university and the first woman in the world to earn a Ph.D.  She did that in 1678. 

This university tour had a profound affect on all of us.  We carry so much responsibility for teaching our students. It was the perfect ending to a conference focused on becoming better teachers. 

Back in the Middle with You: 

Re-Joining my U.S. ADR Tribe

In early April 2016, after a gap of several years, I finally joined an old tribe of ADR scholars, trainers, and practitioners at the annual conference, this year in New York, sponsored by the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution. This ABA tribe claims my heart. These are great folks doing interesting and world-altering work. I love being among them.

In my last post, I talked about several new tribes that reflect my transition to a new life in Doha, Qatar as a law professor. My new Arabian Gulf ADR tribes are important to my desire to scale-up my ADR practice and training.

Yet, the anchor for my work has always been my old ABA tribe. I have tried to serve it in several ways:

• Member, Standing Committee on Ethical Guidance for Mediators (2006-2011).
• Co-Chair, Mediator Ethical Opinions Database Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee on Ethical Guidance for Mediators (2006-2008). 
• Chair of Bar Exam Committee of the Am. Bar Ass’n Taskforce on Legal Education, ADR, and Problem-Solving (2010-2011).
• National Co-Chair, Am. Bar Ass’n Section of Dispute Resolution Representation in Mediation Competition (2003-2004).

But, when my little law school in Appalachia responded to declining student enrollments by cutting back, and then eliminating, money for conference travel by professors, my ability to play a role at the national ADR level diminished quickly. It made me very sad.

This spring, I was invited to join a conference panel discussing the topic of Teaching Conflict in the Midst of Conflict. Doha remains a very safe place, but countries dealing with civil war, terrorism, and other civil unrest encircle Qatar. 

I provided some information about my experience teaching in Qatar (so far, an excellent experience). I talked about teaching gender-segregated classes and the aspirations of my male and female students. Finally, I shared the information about the state of ADR in the region, which my new Arabian Gulf ADR tribe helped me assemble and understand better. See my last post for more on that topic. 

One question -- from Nancy A. Welsh, a distinguished ADR scholar and law professor at Penn State Dickenson Law School -- really sparked my thinking. I had emphasized the cultural expectation for “justice” in the Arab world. But, I could not tell her the true source of that expectation, what it meant in this cultural context, and how it would affect expectations about procedural justice in arbitration or mediation. Sounds like a future law review article.

On the last morning of each ABA conference, a mini-tribe assembles. It consists of law professors teaching ADR in what is called the Legal Educators Colloquium. Our closing question concerned the future of ADR.  Several folks talked about the role technology would play. 

As it happened, I had the final word. I said that in a world described by Daniel Pink and Richard Susskind, value would still involve high-touch and high-empathy services. We, as ADR professors, were perfectly positioned to teach law students what that means and how lawyers and ADR professionals offer those types of services to clients. I described it as heart-centered practice. Many heads nodded.