Teaching Law Students to Self-Critique and to Develop Critical Clinical Self Awareness in Performance

Abstract

This article describes a feedback model designed to engage law students in a rigorous and routinized analysis of lawyering performance. The feedback model is intended to empower law students to take leadership in the exploration of their strengths and weaknesses and to internalize an effective approach to their ongoing professional development throughout their future years of law practice. The author explores the factors that contribute to feedback failure. The author then presents the core principles of learning theory that are the basis for the structured feedback model. The feedback model is then presented, exploring each of the stages. Finally, the model's strengths are identified and potential drawbacks are discussed.

Keywords: clinical legal education, supervision, feedback, feedback model, reflection, critique, debriefing, learning, professional development