teaching thinking like a lawyer

THINKING, READING, PROBLEM-SOLVING NEXUS:

THE SMART CASUAL APPROACHKate Galloway, Bond University.

Mary Heath, Flinders University.Anne Hewitt, University of Adelaide.

Mark Israel, Adjunct Professor, Flinders University. Natalie Skead, University of Western Australia.

Alex Steel, University of New South Wales.Unless otherwise noted, content in this resource is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching.

Professional development resources for sessional legal educators

Discipline-specific

Peer-to-peer model

Available freely online

Addressing identified national need

The modulesWellness

Communication & collaboration

Critical legal thinking

Reading law

Legal ethics & professional

responsibilityEngagement

Problem solving

Feedback

Indigenous Australians &

the law

Four themes embedded

Some intersections… Problem solving

Critical thinking

Reading law

Thinking skills – the TLOs

3a – identify, articulate legal

issues

3b – apply legal reasoning

solution

3c – critical thinking

6 – self management

‘Thinking like a lawyer’There’s no way I’d ever be a lawyer. All they ever do is

sit at their desks. All. Day. Long.

(Then) 16 year old daughter of two lawyers. Now a first year law student

‘Thinking like a lawyer’There’s no way I’d ever be a lawyer. All they ever do is

sit at their desks. All. Day. Long.

(Then) 16 year old daughter of two lawyers. Now a first year law student

How do we explain to students what goes on

inside lawyers’ heads? Can we explain it ourselves?

Module design choicesBreak down the

elements structure

Does this obscure what’s really going

on?

Design decisions

Expose elements to aid reflection; explanation to

students

Legal skills have become intuitive

Audience is experienced

lawyers

Thinking skills – micro and macro

Problem solvingReading lawCritical legal thinking

Reading law (micro)

Genre - purpose

Language

Critical approaches

Critical legal thinking (micro)Knowledge – cognition (Bloom’s)

Layers of thinking: text, contexts, metacognition

Thinking + dispositions

Iterative process that requires effort

Problem solving (micro)Structured approach

MIRAT (as an exemplar)

Use examples

Explain challenges students experience

Thinking like a lawyer…

The ‘onion’ diagramMetacognitive reflections

Social/theoretical analysis

Legal context analysis

Text context analysis

Text analysis

Emphasises the iterative approach; used across modules

What does this look like all together? (Macro)

Bloom’s cognitive objectives

Problem solving Reading law Critical legal thinking Thinkingmode

Knowledgeentry point

KnowledgeElements of law, authority

Meaning of legal terms

Elements of law, authority

Text

Comprehension

What facts are relevantWhich rules are relevant

Purpose of this text/genre; role of the text structure

What is provided for, what is lacking in this law?

Text context

Application

How does law apply to facts

Legal doctrine, processes that frame the text eg statutory interpretation; doctrine of precedent

What policy considerations have been brought to bear/omitted?

Legal context

Analysis

Broader theoretical/social context underpinning law/facts that might bear on the problem

What is the social context of this law, what theory supports/opposes it

How does this law stand against social or legal theory? What assumptions are embedded in law? What are the social implications?

Social/theoretical context

Synthesis

Propose a solution to the problem

Make a choice as between the layers of knowledge, to ascertain meaning of text

Proposal as to how the law might address a social/theoretical problem per selected critical frame

Text + contexts

Evaluation

What process have I adopted to reach this conclusion, is it limited & if so, how?

What reading techniques have I used here, and are they fit for purpose?

Where do I stand within this analysis – identity, emotions, bounded knowledge

Metacognitive reflection

How does the Smart Casual analysis help?

Smart Casual approach: thinkingThinking is complex

Tacit knowledge & processes

The experienced professional does it automatically

Teaching it requires reflection & the language and structures to explain it

http://www.lawteachnetwork.org/smartcasual.html @smartcasuallaw

Kate Galloway, Bond University.Mary Heath, Flinders University.Anne Hewitt, University of Adelaide. Mark Israel, Adjunct Professor, Flinders University. Natalie Skead, University of Western Australia. Alex Steel, University of New South Wales.