Strategies and Techniques of Law School Teaching: A Primer for New (and Not So New) Professors

Abstract

Much has been written about law school teaching. In our view, the contributions of Kent Syverud, Susan Becker, and Douglas Whaley are especially valuable. Why, then, did we bother to write this article? Because most articles focus narrowly on specific teaching techniques or on particular law school courses. Only a few offer general advice to the new teacher. No article, to our knowledge, has ever furnished detailed and comprehensive advice on how to teach a law school course - from choosing a book and designing a syllabus to orchestrating the classroom experience to creating and grading the final exam. That is the aim of this article.

Keywords: teaching, law school teaching, teaching techniques, teaching strategies, classroom, casebook, syllabus, courtroom simulation