The Red Velvet Lawyer

Feeling Like a  Master of the Universe! As many of you know, I spent the last year in a mastermind business coaching program that has made me comfortable with web-based platforms designed to build communities, deliver content, and market services.   I have proved that old dogs can learn new tricks.  In fact, this old dog is teaching the new tricks to folks much younger than myself.  My latest focus is on the "flipped" or "blended" classroom. These classes use the best of on-line education married with more traditional classroom approaches.   The Instructional Technology blog from Albany Law School provides a number of links to information about the "flipped" classroom.   Other resources include the following: Sean F. Nolan, Using Distance Learning to Teach Environmental Problem-Solving Skills and Theory , 28 J. Envt'l Law & Litigation 211 (2013). Gerald F. Hess, Blended Courses in Law School: The Best of Online and Face-to-Fa...

Protect Experiential Learning in Law School -- Let the Market Solve the Problems Two well-respected legal scholars, who also write frequently about how to teach law, offered an op-ed piece in The New York Times , entitled: Don't Skip on Legal Training .  Erwin Chermerinsky and Carrie Menkel-Meadow open the conversation by providing this context: Legal education, like all education, can certainly be improved, but the widely made claims of a “crisis” are exaggerated and do not reflect the contributions legal education makes to achieving justice and well-being for many in the world. In January, an American Bar Association Task Force on the Future of Legal Education declared that it had rushed to release its report because “the urgency of the problem and the serious threats to public confidence demanded rapid action.” This crisis mentality is not only unfounded, but is also creating pressure for reforms that would make legal education worse, not better. The ...

New Experiential Learning Programs As part of our practice-ready, experiential curriculum , we are adding two bridge-to-practice components. Here is how Professor Derrick Howard describes them. Beginning in the summer of 2014, the Appalachian School of Law will unveil its Bridge to Practice Fellowship Program. This Program has two distinct aspects vital to the maturation of future practitioners: mentoring and training.   The mentoring component links first-year law students with upper classmen to impart a greater understanding of the rigors of law school. ASL alumni are also paired with upper classmen to prepare them for life as attorneys upon graduation. The second aspect of this Program involves the placement of rising second-year students and recent ASL graduates in internships and fellowships with legal providers whose services complement ASL’s educational concentrations in Natural Resources Law and Litigation/Alternative Dispute Resolution.   Approxim...

Earlier, I profiled one of the three  pro bono legal service opportunities available at ASL.  Today, I profile the second pro bono  program offered by students to area residents in need of low cost legal services.  Later in this series on student organizations, I profile the third opportunity -- title work for the Great Eastern Trail  project . The ASL Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program offers free tax preparation to local Buchanan County residents and fellow students with low income (below $53,000) or special need. Fellow students train incoming students during the fall semester.  New students become IRS-certified volunteers in the spring semester.  With guidance from faculty supervisor, Professor Alan Oxford, and our community coordinator, Linda Midget at People's Inc., VITA volunteers give back to our community and gain hands-on tax experience. Benefits of the VITA Program VITA offers many great benefits to the volunt...