Law Students' Perceptions of Law School and Legal Education

Abstract

There are two important narratives which are telling as a precursor to reading this research. The first relates to those women students who felt compelled to speak to me about their experiences and the other is a chance conversation with an ANU Law School faculty member. A number of students approached me after participating in the research. All of these students were women and expressed their concern that several of the questions in the questionnaire had "challenged" and "surprised" them. Some stated they felt as if they were being pressured into "big firms" or "government jobs". Some of those pressures related to financial concerns (especially in regards to costs associated with ANU Legal Workshop or College of Law) but to a great extent, they felt their legal education had not prepared them to work in areas of public interest law and did not know what else to do. They described their experience of law school as "frustrating", "annoying" and expressed that they were "just over it". While these students praised those law teachers at the ANU who attempted to engage in "New Legal Realism", all of the students who spoke to me perceived their legal education as a one of systemic disregard for social, professional and personal responsibilities in relation to public interest law. At the ANU Law Faculty's social function in July 2002 for students beginning the research paper, a young lecturer asked me if I had selected a topic. I explained with great enthusiasm that I had and proceeded to detail the premise of this research along with the important issues at stake for law as a public profession which were involved. In reply, he asked/stated "so where is the law in your paper?" and walked away. I hope the findings of this research encourage this young lecturer and many others to ask themselves, what type of lessons are really being taught in their law courses.