We are excited to announce that nominations for the 2022 ALEA awards are open!

IMPORTANT - as of 4 April an extension has now been granted for submission of ALEA nominations till 11:59pm, 11 April 2022. If you have previously submitted a nomination, you are permitted to revise that submission and resubmit by the new time. Contact Julian Laurens about this.Thank you!

             

LEGAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATE DEANS NETWORK (LEAD)

The Law Associate Deans' Network was established in 2010. In September 2013 it was renamed the Legal Education Associate Deans Network (LEAD). It is comprised of the Associate Deans (Teaching and Learning) (or equivalent) of Australian Law Schools. The purpose of LEAD is to promote collaborative approaches to teaching and learning in Australian legal education. The Network intends to lead, encourage and document good practice in learning and teaching in the discipline of law and to create processes and strategies to sustain the network as a sub-Committee of the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD). It previously received funding from the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), and now receives assistance from CALD.

For discussion about the rationale for the Network see the article by original Project Lead Kate Galloway 'Networking supports legal education', Campus Review (May 2012).

Are you NEW to the role of Law School ADE or Director Learning & Teaching? To help you in the right direction, Network members have put together a CHECKLIST of introductory items that you may consider in your new role. Please note the list is currently being reviewed to bring it up to date (there is no more OLT for example). Click here for the checklist page.

RESOURCES FOR REMOTE LEARNING

In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the challenges to teaching and learning, we are compiling a repository of resources on teaching and learning remotely. This is being created with the input of members. There are some excellent resources here to get you thinking. We encourage you to share resources you may have by getting in touch with a Co-convenor or the Project Officer to include them!

The resources are located under the Resources tab -> select reading sub heading. Click HERE!

Good Practice Guides

A key goal of the Law AD Network has been the production and distribution of a series of Good Practices Guides (GPG's) designed to highlight good practices in legal education, particularly as they relate to the Law Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLO's).

On July 2015 the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) adopted a revised GPG on teaching Statutory Interpretation. The GPG produced by LEAD currently remains on the LEAD GPG resource webpage and remains of relevance when thinking about how teaching statutory interpretation can be aligned with the TLO's.

Smart Casual Project

The LEAD website hosts the professional development resources created by the Smart Casual Project. Available t by clicking the logo above and by clicking here. You can find further information about the Project at their new website at smartlawteacher.org or by clicking here.

Information about the LEAD Network.

Note the current Policy and Position Statements:

Legal Education Associate Deans Network (LEAD) Recommendations on Best Practice in Student Evaluations of Teaching during COVID-19 (27 March 2020)

Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and Legal Education Associate Deans Network (LEAD) call to Legal Publishers during COVID-19 (15 April 2020)

Recent conference papers presented by the LEAD Executive:

Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton and Julian Laurens, 'LEADing Collegial Culture in Australian Law Schools: Well-being and Motivation through Peer Collaboration' (Paper presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference 2021, Perth, Western Australia, online, 26-29 October 2021).

Julian Laurens, Kelley Burton and Judith Marychurch, ‘Student academic achievement and the contemporary Job Market: What role does honours have in effectively differentiating graduates of 21st Century Australian Law Schools?’ (Paper presented at Australasian Law Academics Association Conference, Sydney University and University of Technology, Sydney, online, 4-6 June 2021).

Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton, Michael Nancarrow and Julian Laurens, ‘Student Evaluations of Teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic: Law academics advocating for alternate measures of teaching quality’ (Paper presented at Asian Law Schools Association Symposium, City University of Hong Kong School of Law, online, 27-28 April 2021).

Judith Marychurch, Kelley Burton, Michael Nancarrow and Julian Laurens, ‘Harmonising Student Evaluations of Teaching in the Neo-Liberal University: Empowering Law Academics to Advocate for other Measures of Teaching Quality’ (Paper presented at Professional Legal Education Conference, Bond University Faculty of Law, online, 1-3 October 2020).