Lost in Translation in the Law School Classroom: Assessing Required Coursework in LL.M. Programs for International Students

Abstract:     
This article presents survey results of all ABA-accredited law school LL.M. programs for English-as-second-language (ESL) students. The field of contrastive rhetoric has focused on these students, many of whom have technical expertise in particular areas, such as the law, before entering U.S. graduate programs. Unfortunately, the techniques and pedagogy developed to assist these students has not found its way into the legal literature. One purpose of this article is to document these students' needs. Another purpose is to present an overview of what U.S. law schools are doing (or not doing) to assist these students who are being admitted in greater numbers to U.S. law schools. A final purpose is to compare these students to entering J.D. students who are similar in the sense that they too are learning to navigate a new culture and a new language, the language of the law. The techniques and pedagogy used separately with these two groups of students can and should be shared.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 52

Keywords: contrastive rhetoric, English-as-a second-language, international law students, legal writing, LL.M., pedagogy

Accepted Paper Series