Clare Cappa

Conceptualising, developing and assessing critical thinking in law

‘Critical thinking’ is commonly included in the lists of graduate attributes (GAs), which all Australian universities are now required to develop and implement. That efforts to do so have met with limited success is due to a range of factors including inconsistent or naive conceptualisations, the failure to explicitly develop or assess GAs, and the persistence of ‘signature’ disciplinary practices. This paper describes the design and implementation of a law course in which the development and assessment of critical thinking were core objectives. Key features of the course included an operational conceptualisation of ‘critical legal thinking’, the development of closely aligned teaching and learning activities, and an aligned, coherent and innovative assessment programme. An evaluation of the first iteration of the course identified a number of successful outcomes as well as implications for ongoing course development.

Developing generic criteria and standards for assessment in law: processes and (by)products

This paper reports the outcomes of a School of Law project undertaken in response to issues arising during the implementation of an institutional criterion‐referenced assessment policy. The project involved the development of a set of generic assessment criteria and standards, or rubric, which could be customized to the requirements of individual law subjects. Of significance are the key decisions that shaped the generic resource and additional outcomes or byproducts of the project which include the professional learning experienced by individual members of the project working party and the identification of mutually reinforcing relationships between criterion‐referenced assessment practice and other institutional policies and priorities. The paper concludes that analysis of project processes can produce findings whose value and significance are of equal interest to those resulting from implementation studies.

Student Pro Bono and Its Role in Contemporary Australian Law Schools

This paper examines the similarities and differences between student pro bono activities and clinical legal education placements, in an Australian context. It describes the benefits to law schools, law students and the broader community that derive from having a carefully designed law school pro bono program.