Legal Education in Asia

The teaching of law to non‐lawyers

“…We assume that teaching law to non‐law students is a common good, but we do not know it – and that is a huge gap in our knowledge of these subject. We need longitudinal studies of:graduating students to find out how well their “legal” education “took”; andof law teachers themselves for their perceptions of the same question.But even more than this, the academy must find ways, through civic education, to address the distressing findings of Tan et al (2006, p. 11):Many students did not feel that they benefited much from being required to read a certain number of non‐law subjects. It could also not be said that their study of non‐law subjects in any way materially enhanced their understanding and appreciation of their legal studies.…”

“…A recent article suggests that some progressive law‐school programmes are now attempting to “require or allow its law students to read a certain number of non‐law subjects” (Tan et al , 2006). They add that this integrative or conjunctive study is alleged to “broaden the perspective of law students in the belief that such an education will ultimately lead to a better legal professional,” all because of the perceived interaction and interdependence of law and society.…”

“…Students may read law and non‐law subjects together in a single law curriculum, or they may pursue another degree in conjunction with, and at the same time as, their law degree. However, after summarizing these various efforts at integration, Tan et al (2006, p. 11, original emphasis) then present this disturbing finding:Although there are good reasons for exposing law students to other disciplines, it is unclear to what extent students benefit from such exposure in practice . While it is reasonable to assume that they acquire a better understanding of, say, economics, sociology and history, and this is valuable in itself , the extent to which this leads to a deeper understanding of how the law has developed and evolved (and therefore a deeper understanding of the law itself) is unclear .…”