Natalie Skead

Running to well-being: A comparative study on the impact of exercise on the physical and mental health of law and psychology students.

Research indicates that, in comparison to other university students, law students are at greater risk of experiencing high levels of psychological distress. There is also a large body of literature supporting a general negative association between exercise and stress, anxiety and depression. However, we are not aware of any studies exploring the impact of exercise on the mental health of law students specifically. This article reports evidence of a negative association between exercise and psychological distress in 206 law and psychology students. Compared to psychology students, the law students not only reported greater psychological distress, but, in addition, there was a stronger association between their levels of distress and their levels of exercise. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a simple yet effective way law schools might support the mental health of their students.

A Bottom-Up Approach to Developing LLB Course Outcomes and an Integrated Curriculum

In 2006, the Law School at the University of Western Australia embarked on a Curriculum Review of its LLB degree. Central elements of the Review were the identification of graduate outcomes and the mapping and integration of those outcomes appropriately and progressively across the degree. This paper considers the process of undertaking this aspect of the Curriculum Review and describes the results achieved. A bottom-up approach was adopted starting with the development, refinement and statement of student learning outcomes at the level of individual units and progressing to the identification of student learning outcomes at the various year levels. From this data, the school endeavoured to identify those outcomes that required more and/or less focus through the degree and in so doing ensure that the integration of outcomes in the degree is progressive and comprehensive. The results of this exercise informed the formulation of the Course Student Learning Outcomes Statement and Graduate Attributes Statement and will further assist in other aspects of the Curriculum Review, for example, the introduction of new core units and the alignment of assessments with outcomes at unit and year level.

Looking beyond the mirror: Psychological distress; disordered eating, weight and shape concerns; and maladaptive eating habits in lawyers and law students

Research indicates that, in comparison to professionals and University students in other disciplines, lawyers and law students may be at greater risk of experiencing high levels of psychological distress. There is also a large body of literature supporting an association between stress, anxiety and depression and unhealthy eating. This article reports on the results of a study of Australian legal professionals and law students that evidence a positive association between psychological distress; disordered eating, weight and shape concerns; and maladaptive eating habits in lawyers and law students. Additionally, this study confirms a positive link between frequency of exercise and subjective physical well-being, that in turn is associated with enhanced emotional well-being. Based on the results of this study, we suggest simple yet effective strategies law firms and law schools might adopt to support the mental health of their staff and students.

“You must be joking”: the role of humour in the law classroom

ABSTRACT There is a body of literature, including persuasive empirical evidence, linking the use of positive humour in tertiary classrooms with the creation of a relaxed learning environment, student motivation, attendance and engagement as well as positive student evaluations of teacher performance. However, the literature on the use of humour in teaching law is generally limited to anecdotal evidence. Drawing on the literature on using humour in teaching courses that students perceive as “difficult” in other disciplines, in this article we explore the benefits and pitfalls of using humour in the law classroom and provide illustrations of how humour might be used appropriately and effectively in teaching law.

Learning to Feel Like a Lawyer: Law Teachers, Sessional Teaching and Emotional Labour in Legal Education

ABSTRACT Contemporary higher education, including legal education, incorporates complexities that were not identified even a decade ago. Law programs first moved from traditional content-focussed programs toward incorporating critique and legal skills. Many are now working toward recognising inclusion and student wellbeing as integral to law graduates’ professional identities and skillsets. Yet the professional dispositions law teachers require to teach in these environments are ostensibly at odds with traditional lawyering identities founded upon an ideal of rationality that actively disengaged from affect. This article draws on our teaching experience and data drawn from the Smart Casual project, which designed self-directed professional development modules for sessional law teachers, to identify the limits of a traditional teaching skillset in the contemporary Australian tertiary law teaching context. We argue that contemporary legal education demands considerable emotional labour and we present sample contexts which highlight the challenges law teachers face in doing what is expected of them. The article makes explicit the emotional labour that has often been implicit or unrecognised in the role of legal academics in general, and in particular, in the role of sessional legal academics.

Uncle Jack, Jaycee and the equitable doctrine of estoppel: using Second Life to support the development of advanced oral communication skills in law students

The ability to communicate appropriately, effectively and persuasively to a diverse audience is a mandated learning outcome for all Australian law students. Communication skills include both written and oral skills. This article examines and evaluates a project aimed at reconceptualising and, thereby, expanding the learning and teaching of oral communication skills in law through the digital presentation of a hypothetical problem using Second Life.

Taking up the challenge: embedding, mapping and maintaining threshold learning outcomes in the transition to the JD-the UWA experience

The University of Western Australia (UWA) has recently undertaken a restructure of all its courses. Under the new courses structure, law at UWA is offered at postgraduate Masters level only, as a three-year professional Juris Doctor (JD) degree rather than as an undergraduate Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB). In planning and preparing for the transition from teaching at an undergraduate Bachelor level to teaching at a postgraduate Masters level, the Law Faculty undertook a major review of its curriculum. An important objective of the review was to ensure that the new JD curriculum satisfies the current learning outcomes standards recently adopted by the Australian regulatory framework. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, the article provides a brief background to the changing legal education environment in Australia in the twenty-first century and considers some of the reasons for the adoption of the JD degree at UWA. Second, the article outlines from a practical perspective the planning, implementation and review processes that have been undertaken by the Faculty in meeting the challenges presented by the transition to the JD degree. The article concludes with a brief comment on the future challenges for the Faculty in implementing and maintaining the renewed curriculum.