National Jurist - January 2009 - (Page 39)

New York Law School T alk about resume building — a recent group of New York Law School students can tell potential employers how they drafted a bill that Vermont signed into law this past summer. Another group working on patent issues proved so successful that many received job offers from the law school’s partner companies, including IBM. New York Law School is making history — and getting its students top-notch careers — through its academic centers, which focus on project-based learning. The idea, said Dean Rick Matasar, is to give students real-life skills such as team building, how to work on a deadline and the ability to respond to criticism in a positive way. “The beauty of (project-based learning) is it challenges students to engage in the project — and lets the whole world judge their work,” Matasar said. The students who helped draft the Vermont law were part of the law school’s Virtual Company Project, a course in the Institute for Information Law & Policy. Students helped write a bill that outlined how virtual corporations should be formed, and Vermont legislators embraced the idea, Matasar said. The other example is from the Peer-toPatent program, where second- and thirdyear students work with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Faculty members and students worked with the governmental office, private industry and other experts to help create a community patent system pilot that was put into practice. The program started with New York’s top-ranked students, but it has proven so successful that Matasar said he hopes to roll it out to the rest of the school within a year or two. Saint Louis University School of Law I t may sound strange, but doing puzzles just might improve a person’s success in law school. That is because they are kinesthetic learners, so cutting up a document and arranging the pieces helps them feel how an analysis should be put together, explained Christine Rollins, director of Saint Louis University School of Law’s Legal Research and Writing Program. The law school recently committed itself to a program that changes how its professors teach based on their students’ learning style. While the results are still preliminary, Rollins said the law school sees great promise. “It’s hard to be creative after saying the same thing three or 400 times. This has made everything more enjoyable for us and brought the excitement back into the classroom,” Rollins said. Here’s how it works. Incoming students take a 13-question online test. The VARK software lets students know their preferred method of learning based on the answers given, Rollins said. The results are: visual, audio, reader/writer, kinesthetic or a combination of several of these. During the first go-around, some 300 students or 85 percent completed the test. Faculty members, privy to this information, could then adjust their lesson plan to touch on as many different styles as possible. “We choose to present materials in more than one way to assure that more students get the concepts in their own language,” Rollins said. Fordham Law Belfast | Dublin June 21–July 21, 2009 Facilities QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Application DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: APRIL 9, 2009 MAXIMUM OF SIX CREDITS AVAILABLE Courses of Study June 21–July 10 INTERNATIONAL CONFLICT RESOLUTION INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN RIGHTS July 13–21 INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE TAX LAW INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW Contact Us 212.636.6804 | ireland@law.fordham.edu | http://law.fordham.edu/ireland January 2009 | THE NATIONAL JURIST | 39 http://law.fordham.edu/ireland http://law.fordham.edu/ireland

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Jurist - January 2009

National Jurist - January 2009 Contents Hot Button: Affirmative Action Entertainment: A Road Trip Through Law School News: American Justice, Kaplan Survey, Part-time Ranking The Firm Report: Diversity Law School Online No label No label Fordham Student Honored for Public Interest Work Former Law Student's Life Lives on After Her Death Most Influential People in Legal Education Most Innovative Law Schools Your Guide to Studying Abroad Career Hotline Texas Tech Law Grads Explore Dispute Resolution Evaluating First-Year Exams Disturbing the Peace

National Jurist - January 2009

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