GLOBALISATION AND TECHNOLOGY ARE KEY SHAPERS OF LEGAL EDUCATION, FINDS IBA AND LSGL RESEARCH
A report published today cites internationalisation and technological disruption as the key trends and opportunities in the field of global legal education, as well as the root of many challenges facing legal educators. The research for the report, entitled Developing a Blueprint for Global Legal Education, was undertaken by the International Bar Association (IBA) and the Law Schools Global League (LSGL), with coordination by IE Law School.
Fernando Peláez-Pier, former president of the IBA commented, ‘There is a need for law faculties around the world to adjust their blueprints to include all the new skills that lawyers require to meet the demand for legal services in the 21st century and to practice law effectively and competitively. The findings of this report are particularly poignant in the context of COVID-19, which has highlighted the importance of technological adoption in the sector.’
Developing aBlueprint for Global Legal Education aims to help legal education institutions navigate ongoing paradigm changes and offer a legal education model that responds to current needs of the legal profession. The research was conducted by eight researchers, with the assistance of four supporters from seven regions around the world – Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Latin America and the United Kingdom. The researchers analysed more than 200 articles of relevant literature; scrutinised 420
school websites; received over 300 responses to online surveys; and held interviews with more than 60 law schools and bar associations across the globe.
Soledad Atienza, Dean of IE Law School said, ‘We have seen that only a few law schools achieve a sophisticated level of internationalisation. These institutions include a full internationalisation process to achieve programmes that allow graduates to obtain legal qualifications for more than one jurisdiction, which is hugely beneficial in our interconnected world where students are crossing borders with greater frequency.’
The Blueprint outlines a range of trends and key challenges, ranked by importance and categorised by region, that law schools are embracing and/or facing, together with existing and suggested responses that some schools are already taking and others could adopt.
The key challenges identified include:
globalisation – the number one trend in legal education. Legal institutions around the world are working on becoming more international. However, they are introducing elements of internationalisation, rather than a complete overhaul to attain the full internationalisation of legal education;
technology is being used in legal practice in ways that were inconceivable a few years prior. The impact of technology in legal practice and in education do not marry. COVID-19 has brought to the fore the requirement for technology to be prioritised as a teaching tool;
regulation is regarded as the biggest challenge to innovation in legal education as frameworks that govern access to the legal profession can also hinder progress, and professional bodies, including law societies and bar associations, place restrictions on curriculum according to jurisdiction;
diversity in all forms – including ethnicity, gender, culture and socioeconomic background – of both students and faculty members is also problematic. Lack of diversity and inclusion limits the experience of all pertaining to diversity of thoughts and ideas and ways of working, that people from different backgrounds, experiences and identities bring to the profession; and
affordability and access to legal education among students have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with law schools observing the chasm between those who can afford the necessary technology to pursue studies remotely, away from the law school environment, and those who cannot. Access to laptops, computers or smart phones for e-learning is a challenge that law schools currently face.
The results of the Blueprint will be discussed on Tuesday 10 November at 1600 – 1700 GMT during the IBA 2020 – Virtually Together Conference at the IBA Showcase: reinventing global legal education to address the ongoing transformation of the legal professions: a blueprint for change. A group of qualified experts
representing law firms, in-house lawyers, national bars, organisations and regulators will participate in the Showcase, analysing Developing aBlueprint for Global Legal Education recommendations, as well as the key goals of the project, including to:
understand how globalisation, technology and the fourth industrial revolution, amongst other drivers, impact legal education globally;
identify the challenges that are common to legal education around the world, while recognising the significance of local contexts (cultural, regulatory, historical and so on) that frame these challenges;
identify and understand the main responses to those challenges by law schools globally, in particular, in official degrees;
identify the main challenges still present as well as the negative consequences of lack of adaptation;
develop shared solutions to the challenges while recognising the necessity of locally-sensitive solutions;
generate a compendium of best practices per jurisdiction;
generate a model or blueprint to assist law schools navigate the paradigm change; and
disseminate and implement the model, working with key stakeholders.
The joint initiative forms part of the ongoing research by the IBA’s Commission on the Future of Legal Services into the trends that are shaping the legal profession, chaired by Dr Peláez-Pier alongside Dr Soledad.
Members of the Commission include:
Sarah HutchinsonChair, IBA Section on Public and Professional Interest (SPPI)
Amnon LehaviPresident, LSGL
Gonçalo MatiasPresident, LSGL
Ken MurphyPast Co-Chair, IBA Bar Executives Committee
Petra ZijpPast Co-Chair, IBA Capital Markets Forum
Notes:
Further information on the Developing a Blueprint for Global Legal Education project, including a description of the methodology, content, key deliverables, region representatives, phases, subjects of analysis, timeline and implementation is available here.
The International Bar Association(IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, it was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world’s bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.
The Law Schools Global League (LSGL) brings together 25 law schools with a strong vision about the need to promote a global approach to legal education, research and impact upon society at large.
Greetings from São Paulo. We hope you are doing well.
FGV Direito SP is delighted to announce the 3rd Edition of our Global Fellowship Program for PhD of Law in the areas related to our research centers. With this program FGV Direito SP hopes to attract young talents whose ambition is to be a professor and develop the legal thought in the world. On the other hand, certainly, these young professionals could contribute to the internalization of FGV Direito SP.
The Global Fellowship Program offers economic and intellectual resources to support insightful and promising young legal scholars all over the world.
The application deadline for Global Fellowship Program 2019 is February 28th, 2020.
Call for the 8th LSGL Summer School Course Proposals
We are pleased to announce that the League is now accepting course proposals for the 8th LSGL Summer School which will take place at HSE University, St. Petersburg campus, between 12-25 July 2020.
You are invited to send your proposals that correlates with the guidelines no later than 22 January 2020 to the LSGL Presidency office (presidency@lawschoolsgloballeague.com)
Fundação Getulio Vargas Rio de Janeiro Law School – FGV DIREITO RIO is pleased to announce the second edition of the CyberBRICS Fellowship Programme.
The programme, which is part of the CyberBRICS projectand of FGV DIREITO RIO’s Fellows in Rio initiative, has been developed in partnership with the Higher School of Economics and the Center for New Media and Society, in Moscow, Russia; the Centre for Internet and Society, New Delhi, India; the Fudan University, Shanghai, and the University of Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, China; and Research ICT Africa and the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
The goal of the programme is to support a selected group of highly qualified post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral scholars working in the area related to the activities of the 2020-2021 work plan of the CyberBRICS project, namely regulation of Internet access and digitalisation of public administrations in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).
The programme will offer five fellowships for a duration ofup to 6 (six) months, ideally from February to July 2020, at FGV DIREITO RIO, providing economic, intellectual and networking resources to support selected scholars coming from the BRICS or having relevant experience in at least one of the BRICS country.
The CyberBRICS 2020 fellows will be selected by a commission formed by Prof Luca Belli, from FGV DIREITO RIO, (Brazil), Prof Alexey Ivanov, from the Higher School of Economics (Russia), Ms Elonnai Hickok, from the Centre for Internet and Society (India), Prof Shen Yi, from Fudan University (China), and Prof Alison Gillwald, from the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance University of Cape Town (South Africa).
We are very pleased to invite all members to participate in the winter Deans’ Meeting of the Law Schools Global League (LSGL) to be held at Stockholm University on February 18th, 2019.
Please fill out registration form via the link below and confirm your participation by January 20th, 2019.
GLOBAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR PhD and POST PhD STUDENTS IN LAW
Application Deadline: September 14th, 2018
Fundação Getulio Vargas São Paulo Law School (FGV DIREITO SP) is pleased to announce the selection process of the research grants program for PhD Students and Post–PhD in Law. The Global Fellowship Program aims to attract young academic talents interested in advancing their scholarship in Brazil. These young professional talents will have the opportunity to develop their academic research and to contribute to FGV DIREITO SP internationalization process. The program offers economic and intellectual resources to support insightful and promising young legal scholars from all over the world willing to do research in Brazil.
1. ELIGIBILITY
Applicants may be of any nationality, including Brazilian, and must have completed (or be about to complete) a Doctoral Program in Law or in another correlated area. Although desired, knowledge of Portuguese is not required.
2. APPLICATION
i. Curriculum Vitae and/or CV Lattes
ii. Recommendation Letter
iii. Research proposal and/or thesis summary – up to 5000 characters
iv. Proposed activities at FGV DIREITO SP (item 3)
v. Period of the visit (first or second Semester)
Please send the documents listed above to cri.direitosp@fgv.br (Reference: Global Fellowship– Candidate’s name) Deadline: September 14th, 2018
3. Scope of research and activities at FGV Direito SP
Candidates should prepare the research proposal and the specific activities to be undertaken at FGV Direito SP considering the following possibilities: a) original research on a topic in Brazilian law. b) comparison of Brazilian developments with those in another country, done in collaboration with FGV scholars or in accordance with the FGV research agenda. c) a research project unrelated to Brazil but of interest to scholars in Brazil
4. RECRUITMENT
Candidates approved in the selection process can start its activities in February or August 2019, depending on the period for which he/she has been selected. The applicant must submit, on time pre-established, to FGV DIREITO SP’s International Affairs Coordinator, all documents required for his/her hiring. The foreign candidates shall be responsible for obtaining visas and permits required for residency in Brazil. Approved candidates in the selection process will have to stay at FGV DIREITO SP, and cannot be absent during the fellowship period without the consent of Program’s Coordinator.
5. SCHOLARSHIP AMOUNT (PER SEMESTER)
Six months’ scholarship for PhD Students: R$ 36.000,00, paid in 6 (six) installments of R$ 6.000,00. Six months’ scholarship for Post-PhD: R$ 45.000,00, paid in 6 (six) installments of R$ 7.500,00.
6. FELLOWSHIP DURATION
Period 1 – February to June 2019 Period 2 – August to December 2019 The applicants must specify the period of their choice. The scholarship duration may be exceptionally extended for additional six months if there is mutual interest of the FGV Direito SP and the fellow.
7. FELLOW AT FGV DIREITO SP ACTIVITIES
Fellows are expected to advance their scholarship, engage in the intellectual life of FGV DIREITO SP, and develop their professorial skills, by joining our Legal Education Center, and participate in direct class activities, supervised by senior members of the faculty. Fellows will also be welcome to participate in researcher’s groups at FGV DIREITO SP, and to conduct seminars, in English, to FGV DIREITO SP students.
