New Approaches to the Methods of Legal Education

Legal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law (such as politics or academic) or business. We, the law professors, need the efficient methods of legal education, because laws are very difficult to understand. In this situation, conventional methods of legal education (including theory-oriented teaching and case- oriented teaching) need to be changed in modern complex society. Therefore, concerning the new approaches to the methods of legal education, I suggest three new points from the viewpoint of the learning motivation. 1. Teaching by Story-Type Cases As a compromised combination between theory-oriented teaching and case-oriented teaching, the teaching by textbook cases is a very significant teaching method in continental jurisdiction. A textbook case is a case derived from judicial precedents or made by lawyers (especially law professors). As a kind of this textbook case, there can be a story-type case, which has very various legal items inside one story which proceeds as time goes. 2. Legal Education using Multimedia, especially court movies Multimedia is the use of several different media to convey information (text, audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity). As the information is presented in various formats, multimedia enhances user experience and makes it easier and faster to grasp information. Presenting information in various formats is nothing new, but multimedia generally implies presenting information in various digital formats. Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, education. Multimedia lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats. In the light of this multimedia’s character, it is realized that ‘legal education using multimedia’ has much to do with court movies, having a combination form of many multimedia's factors. 3. Legal Education by PBL (Problem-Based Learning)PBL(Problem-Based Learning) is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems. Working in groups, students identify what they already know, what they need to know, and how and where to access new information that may lead to resolution of the problem. The role of the instructor is that of facilitator of learning who provides appropriate scaffolding and support of the process, modelling of the process, and monitoring the learning. The instructor must build students confidence to take on the problem, and encourage the student, while also stretching their understanding. In the light of this conception of PBL, we must distinguish between case-oriented teaching and PBL in legal classes. Above methods can be combined in one course in various ways according to the characteristics of each chapter. But we must be careful that methods are not to overlap with each other, treating one legal subject.