Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Fellow Encourages More Collaboration among Carnegie Implementers

Ben Madison, an Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Fellow, recently discussed teaching materials and help available for those who want to try Carnegie methods in a post on the Best Practices for Legal Education blog. He noted that “plenty know about Carnegie’s recommendations, but too few know of the steps taken, since the report, to implement it.” However, a collection of resources is available, including schools and professors who have shared their classroom adaptation techniques.

The problem is that those who have the questions [about implementation] often have not spoken with their colleagues who are using the skills and value formation method, and vice versa. As we move forward, professors who have questions ought to at least inform their decisions by talking to those who have taught using either of the approaches. And those who have developed experience can be more proactive about sharing it.

Madison is working to help advance this culture of sharing. As a Professor of Law at Regent University School of Law (an Educating Tomorrow's Lawyers Consortium member), his State Civil Procedure course has become one such resource for others, the details of which are shared online for other professors to get classroom teaching advice and techniques. The course includes collaborative lecture, group discussion, team learning, simulations, and professional identity journaling.

As part of his State Civil Procedure course, Madison also authored Civil Procedure for All States: A Context and Practice Casebook (Carolina Academic Press 2010), a truly unique casebook that addresses procedural doctrines that typically arise in the stages of any civil action by comparing the majority approach, the significant minority approach, and those states with other approaches.