Imperatives for Legal Education Research: Then, Now and Tomorrow

by Ben Golder (Editor), Marina Nehme (Editor), Alex Steel (Editor), Prue Vines (Editor)

In the last few decades university teaching has been recognised as an activity which can be studied and improved through educational scholarship. In some disciplines this is now well established. It remains emergent in legal education. The field is rich with questions to be answered, issues to be raised.


This book provides the first overall review of legal education scholarship. The chapters outline the history of legal education research and provide a detailed analysis of the trends in areas of publication. Beyond this, the book suggests a typology for further conceptualising the field and a series of suggested paths for future research. The book originated from the 2017 UNSW conference "Research in Legal Education: State of the Art?" It features internationally respected authors who bring their perspectives on how legal education – as a field of research – should be conceptualised. The collection is arranged into three themes. First, a historical view is taken of the emergence of legal education scholarship and its roots that predate modern educational theory. Secondly, the book provides overviews of the extant field of publications, highlighting areas of interest and neglect, and delineating the trends in current publication. Thirdly, the book provides a set of suggested typologies for describing legal education research and a series of essays for future directions which both critique current approaches and provide inspiration for future directions.


The State of Legal Education Research represents an authoritative introduction to the field, a set of conceptual tools with which to describe it, and inspiration for researchers to expand and grow research into legal education.

About the Author
Ben Golder is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is the Law Faculty Associate Dean (Education). Ben teaches courses on law and social theory, on public law, and on the politics of human rights. His current research is into contemporary critiques of human rights discourse

Marina Nehme is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales and a fellow of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy. Her teaching excellence has been recognized at the national and institutional level. She was formerly the Law Faculty Director of Learning and Teaching. Marina’s research interests are in in corporate law, regulatory sanction and legal education.

Alex Steel is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia and a fellow of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy. His teaching excellence has been recognized at the institutional and national level. He was formerly the Law Faculty Associate Dean (Education) and is Acting UNSW Pro Vice Chancellor Education. His research interests are in the pedagogy and regulation of legal education, curriculum design and assessment practices, student wellbeing and teacher development.

Prue Vines is Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, Australia and a fellow of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy. Her teaching excellence has been recognized at the institutional level. She is the Director of First Year Studies and incoming Law Faculty Associate Dean (Education). Prue’s research is in tort law, particularly the impact of apologies on civil liability, Indigenous issues in succession law, and legal education, in particular the first year at university and student wellbeing