Curriculum
The LL.M. in Experiential Law Teaching curriculum includes a wide range of required and elective courses covering all aspects of pedagogy, clinics, advocacy, and litigation.
All students must take a special Seminar on Teaching Methodologies for Experiential Learning and complete a Master's Thesis.
Required Courses (13 units)
LL.M. Legal Process: 3 units
This course can be waived in the discretion of the Director of the Experiential Law Teaching Program in consultation with the Thesis Supervisor if the candidate has taken an equivalent course in law school or has practice experience that makes waiver appropriate.
One practical skills course: Trial Advocacy or Global Lawyering Skills II: 3 units
Seminar on Teaching Methodologies for Experiential Learning: 4 units
Masters Thesis: 3 units
The masters thesis requirement will be satisfied by research and scholarship on some aspect of advocacy or comparative advocacy and/or development of a syllabus and course materials for teaching of an advocacy course or courses.
Elective Courses (11 units)
Simulation courses:
Alternative Dispute Resolution: 2 units
Mediation: 2 units
Negotiation and Settlement Seminar: 2 units
Judicial Arbitration Practice: 3 units
Client Interviewing and Counseling: 2 units
Clinical courses [includes seminars attached to the clinics]:
Note that for clinical education international students will probably not qualify for student practice certification. Rather than acting as student practitioners or as teachers they will shadow clinical students and teachers in order to learn both about clinical practice and about how U.S. faculty teach clinical students.
Elder Law Clinic: 2 units
Immigration Law Clinic: 2 units
Bankruptcy Clinic: 3 units
Doctrinal Courses as approved by the Director.
Seminar on Teaching Methodologies for Experiential Learning: 4 Units per year
Enrollment limit: 15
Course description: Required for students enrolled in the LLM in Experiential Teaching program. This course will introduce students to the teaching of lawyering skills as practiced in a broad spectrum of the legal profession, from persuasive lawyering courses to dispute resolution.
The course will be divided into four modules. Each module will address the goals of the teaching and the pedagogy/methodology. Topics of the modules are as follows:
Module 1: Will cover learning theory and skills teaching methods generally, and the objectives of legal education. Students will audit one or more doctrinal classes to observe and shadow the U.S. professor teaching the class and will develop and then teach a segment of a doctrinal class to the seminar using experiential methods.
Module 2: Will cover teaching of clinical education and client representation, including client interview and counseling, fact development, and theory of the case.
Module 3: Will cover teaching of dispute resolution, including negotiation, mediation, and arbitration, including drafting of ADR agreements.
Module 4: Will cover teaching of trial and appellate litigation.
Masters Thesis for LL.M. in Experiential Teaching: 3 Units
Course description: Required for students enrolled in the LL.M. in Experiential Teaching program. Under the supervision of the Thesis Supervisor, each candidate will prepare a scholarly paper on some aspect of lawyering skills education and/or develop a syllabus and course materials for teaching a lawyering skills course or courses.