Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University

The Centre for Legal Education (CLE) at Nottingham Law School focuses on research and consultancy in legal education and the enhancement of legal practice. The centre's aim is to transform legal education in the UK and globally, working with others to understand what works in legal education and why, and to analyse the shape and future of the legal professions.

The CLE was launched in 2012 and is the focus for Nottingham Law School’s activity in research and consultancy in legal education and the enhancement of legal practice. The CLE's mission is to:

• work with and for those involved in educating in and for the legal services sector actively to enhance standards and public confidence;
• and contribute to, influence and drive thinking about education and regulation in and for the legal services sector from an informed and practical perspective.

The CLE takes 'legal education' and 'the legal services sector' as wide definitions, not confined to what goes on in universities, colleges or in workplaces, or even in the traditional legal professions. Nor do the centre's members think legal education is a topic only of interest for those in common law jurisdictions. CLE researchers investigate how legal education can be improved for everyone, how they can better understand its history and relations with other disciplines, and how it can be better regulated.

The centre's work is eclectic and wide ranging. Some of its members would describe themselves as legal realists; others as pluralists. Some members design innovative courses and teaching approaches, including work on skills teaching, experiential and reflective learning, and curriculum design. Others are concerned with student wellness, the assessment of legal learning, the teaching of values and legal ethics, or the place of digital technologies in legal learning.

CLE researchers engage in theoretical as well as empirical research. They work with colleagues from other disciplines, including education, psychology and medical education. They work with professional regulators both in the UK and elsewhere, and with bodies such as the Higher Education Academy and the International Legal Ethics Association. This has included reforms to structures of legal education in the UK for the professions of solicitors, barristers, legal executives, trade mark attorneys and licensed conveyancers. It has involved the centre in research beyond the UK in, for example Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Mauritius.

Contacts

• Centre for Legal Education
  Nottingham Law School
  Nottingham Trent University
  50 Shakespeare Street
  Nottingham NG1 4FQ
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• website