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Globalization is coming to the legal profession. Regulators in England, Wales, and Scotland are dealing with this change in three ways: 1) the Qualifying Lawyer's Transfer Scheme allows lawyers to transfer between England and Wales; 2) the Law Society of Scotland emphasizes values like integrity and professionalism; 3) the Legal Education and Training Review is conducting a comprehensive review of legal education across England and Wales and considering reforms.
Ncbe slides
- 1. Globalization comes to Main St, USA Professor Paul Maharg
- 2. preview Context Globalization & competence-based approaches Three instances of regulators dealing with a globalized profession: Qualifying Lawyer’s Transfer Scheme (QLTS) – England & Wales Professionalism in Scottish legal education (Law Society of Scotland) Legal Education & Training Review (LETR) – England & Wales NCBE 2012 2
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- 5. Scotland N. Ireland Ireland Wales England NCBE 2012 5
- 6. globalization…? Eight broadly agreed social trends, leading to an increase in: People Environmental pressure Scarcity Security Economic globalization (ie international flows of capital, labour, goods; increase in regional & sub-regional economic co-operation agreements) Diffuse power constellations (at international, regional, national, local levels, and between public & private) Information. Thanx to Law Scenarios to 2030: Signposting the Legal Space of the Future @ www.lawofthefuture.org NCBE 2012 6
- 7. key issues Uniformity – mobility Unitary profession – multi-disciplinary practices / ABSs Proportionality Harmonization Knowledge, skills, attitudes, values NCBE 2012 7
- 8. is competence the standards answer…? Proponents say it gives: public confidence in the profession homogeneity and normatization within the profession clarity and transparency of standards. NCBE 2012 8
- 9. is competence the answer…? Critics say of competence frameworks that they: Inhibit performance or creativity at a level above that stated in the framework Encourage a mechanistic approach to learning and evaluation Don’t provide an adequate conceptual structure for understanding or for personal/professional self- development Cannot represent professional work adequately in a pre- determined framework because it’s too complex & creative, and therefore one struggles to incorporate meaningful assessment of values and attitudes Create problems with snapshot evaluation of competence. NCBE 2012 9
- 10. alternative evaluation…? Experiential approaches, eg Qualifying Lawyers’ Transfer Scheme -- http://www.sra.org.uk/qlts/ The assessment is in three parts: Part 1 is a multiple-choice test that evaluates Day One Outcomes. Part 2 is a practical examination that evaluates interviewing and advocacy skills in the context of three areas of practice—business, civil and criminal litigation, and property and probate. Part 3 is a technical legal skills assessment that tests the skills of legal research, drafting and writing. NCBE 2012 10
- 11. interesting features & questions of QLTS Use of: Attempt to move beyond knowledge & basic skills Standardized clients (SCs) Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) Sophisticated statistical tools (Cronbach’s alpha for reliability, SEm for accuracy) Some integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes. But: Ethical dimensions? SCs may provide data, but not on legal professional issues. Professionalism? NCBE 2012 11
- 12. professionalism…? Key description: ‘a dynamic, contingent and contested practice, responsive to a range of ideological, economic and situational factors’ Webb, J. (2008). The dynamics of professionalism: The moral economy of English legal practice – and some lessons for New Zealand? Waikato Law Review, 16, 21-45 at 22. NCBE 2012 12
- 13. the regulatory perspective in Scotland: core professionalism values http://www.lawscot.org.uk/becomingasolicitor NCBE 2012 13
- 14. Law Society of Scotland: professionalism learning outcomes Throughout the programme a student should demonstrate a commitment to: 4 The interests of justice and democracy in society 4 Effective and competent legal services on behalf of a client 4 Continuing professional education and personal development 4 Diversity and public service 4 Personal integrity and civility towards colleagues, clients and the courts NCBE 2012 14
- 15. Law Society of Scotland: indicators for professionalism outcome Outcome Positive indicator Negative indicator 5. Personal integrity and Is honest with all others Exhibits traits of civility towards on the course; relates to arrogance, intemperate colleagues, clients and colleagues on the behaviour, the courts programme with civility; mismanagement of own treats tutors, affairs; lies to colleagues administrative staff and or programme personnel; others with respect. plagiarises work; adopts the work of others as own work; is abusive or contemptuous towards colleagues or programme personnel. NCBE 2012 15
- 16. evidence on professionalism from medical education ‘We found that UCSF, School of Medicine students who received comments regarding unprofessional behaviour were more than twice as likely to be disciplined by the Medical Board of California when they become practicing physicians than were students without such comments. The more traditional measures of medical school performance, such as grades and passing scores on national standardized tests, did not identify students who later had disciplinary problems as practicing physicians’. Papadakis, M. et al (2004) Unprofessional behaviour in medical school is associated with subsequent disciplinary action by a state medical board, Academic Medicine, 79, 244-79 NCBE 2012 16
- 17. Legal Education & Training Review (LETR) Joint project of BSB, IPS, SRA Sector-wide review Commenced in May 2011; due to report in December 2012 Evidence-based approach NCBE 2012 17
- 18. LETR: phases and outputs NCBE 2012 18
- 19. focus of LETR The primary focus is on: The role of LET itself as a regulatory tool for assuring competence The appropriate form(s) such regulation should take (particularly the balance between specific training regulation and the use of conduct of business rules and entity regulation as drivers of LET compliance) The scope and reach of regulation – eg, whether reach should be extended into currently unregulated areas of work; whether it is appropriate to move away from the dominance of regulation by title to greater emphasis on activity-based authorization and, possibly, regulation. NCBE 2012 19
- 20. key issues emerging in LETR What structure(s) will increase choice over the processes of qualification, whilst delivering greater certainty to consumers/the professions as to the quality of outcomes achieved? Flexibility and diversity – facilitate common training and cross- qualification across broader range of regulators Activity-based authorisation/regulation Linkage to ‘partial access’ to reserved activities New (para-)professions – eg ‘personal injury attorney’, ‘probate attorney’ etc National standards for sector? Is this now the tiebreak question: what policy and regulatory choices are most likely to maximize net consumer welfare? (cf s.1(1)(d) LSA 2007). NCBE 2012 20
- 21. where are we now? Project team and infrastructure – including website at http://letr.org.uk Published draft literature review Published survey of cross-section of existing competence frameworks in the sector. Completing review of approved regulators’ current training regulations Empirical work for Phases 2 and 3 ongoing – qualitative and quantitative Too soon to talk in any depth about findings. Full listing of events and publications on the LETR website NCBE 2012 21
- 22. options for discussion? Abolition of the concept of a qualifying law degree; The introduction of national assessments at point of entry to the profession; Specification of sector-wide national standards for key areas of work, and a move to greater activity-based authorization/regulation; Removal of at least some of the linear breaks and distinctions between ‘vocational courses’ and work-based learning, whether through the training contract, pupillage or paralegal experience; NCBE 2012 22
- 23. options for discussion? Facilitation of greater common training between regulated occupations, both course-based and work-based (insofar as that distinction is retained); Replacement of the pupillage/training contract with a more flexible period of ‘supervised practice’; Development of a sector-wide CPD scheme or alignment of schemes NCBE 2012 23
- 24. signature pedagogies (Lee Shulman) Sullivan, W.M., Colby, A., Wegner, J.W., Bond, L., Shulman, L.S. (2007) Educating Lawyers. Preparation for the Profession of Law, Jossey-Bass, p. 24 NCBE 2012 24
- 25. critical thinking requires us to transform the pedagogy…? NCBE 2012 25
- 26. contact details Paul Maharg, Professor of Legal Education Email: paul.maharg@northumbria.ac.uk Blog: http://paulmaharg.com Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/paulmaharg NCBE 2012 26
Editor's Notes
- #25: A signature pedagogy is a kind of language of a particular profession. It can be imagined to have 4 dimensions – its observable, behavioural features – surface structure; the underlying intentions, rationale or theory the behaviour models – the deep structure; the values and dispositions that the behaviour implicitly models – the tacit structure; its compliment, the absent pedagogy that is not or only weakly engaged – the shadow structure. In law’s case method – surface structure – set of dialogues entirely focussed through the instructor. Students expected to engage in dialogue to ascertain facts and principles. Deep structure is about the process of analytical reasoning ‘thinking like a lawyer’. Tacit structure is legal encounters are of a different order than every day moral behaviour (legal understanding can diverge from what students understand as moral norms or standards of fairness) – an important part of the hidden curriculum of case-dialogue teaching. Underdeveloped area – clinical teaching, or supervised practice in the preparation of lawyers.