Editors --- "Foreword" [2001] UTSLawRw 1; (2001) 3 University of Technology Sydney Law Review 5

Foreword

Volume Three of the UTS Law Review is a special edition entitled Legal Education in Australia: Current Issues and Recent Developments. The Review is a compendium of the critical questions and issues facing legal educators today from the perspective of law academics at the coalface of teaching practice. How we do address the challenges and opportunities thrown up by the advent of information technology in law teaching? How can we maintain and improve our teaching practices in poor funding environments? Is there enough time left over to be innovative, and how can we encourage each other to become innovative teachers?

The substantial growth of interest in legal education scholarship in the past decade or two is remarkable. The birth of specialised legal education journals—such as the Journal of Professional Legal Education in 1983 and the Legal Education Review in 1989—the ALTA Teaching Workshop in the 1990s, and the influential work of Le Brun and Johnstone’s The Quiet (r)evolution in 1994, are evidence of a trend towards viewing legal education as a distinct discipline worthy of serious academic attention. Legal educators now view the role of teaching and learning as central in their academic work. For this reason the Faculty of Law decided to choose legal education as its theme for the 2001 UTS Law Review.

Many contributions (such as Booth and Crofts) demonstrate significant empirical research. The breadth of research in education literature and legal education revealed in pieces in the Review shows a developing understanding of core education theory by those whose first calling was the law.

It includes a range of themes that are indicative of an increasingly scholarly approach to legal education in Australia. There is increasing focus on providing law graduates with a range of skills in addition to core knowledge. Contributions to this special edition focus on the generic skills (such as Hunter-Taylor; Taylor; Spencer and Monahan) and specific skills (such as Taylor, Bonanno, Harvey and Scouller, and Lancaster) expected of those who hold law degrees. This trend meets with the needs of the employers and external accrediting bodies (see for example Griffith, Monahan and Olliffe). How these skills can be developed forms the basis of further contributions (such as Hunter-Taylor, Childs and Taylor).

Insight into the future of legal education is provided in the reports of Johnstone and Redmond, and Trimmer. The increasing impact of globalisation on the what and how of law school curriculum is recognised by a number of contributions (Le Brun; Monahan and Olliffe).

The books reviewed are also in sync with the theme of how law teachers can best develop key skills and improve the curriculum to enhance the legal education of our students.

For Volume Three of the UTS Law Review a new structure has been adopted, including Reports, Articles, Essays and Book Reviews. All contributions were reviewed by one of the Editors and the articles were refereed by external independent members of the Editorial Board.

The Editors

Preface

I am very pleased to be able to add my congratulations to the UTS Faculty of Law for its initiative in devoting an entire issue of its Law Review to the important subject of legal education. The depth of the contributions reflect and advance the range of current thinking in this important area, and provide a valuable resource for legal educators everywhere. The volume constitutes a major contribution to the debates surrounding legal education, and will continue to act for many years to come as a stimulus to change and innovation.

Professor Richard Johnstone

Pro-Vice-Chancellor

(Education and Quality Enhancement

University of Technology, Sydney