Abstract:
The keynote address looks at the future of legal education from a civil law perspective and concentrates on the situation in continental European law schools and law faculties. The current situation is characterized by obvious shortcomings and a general consent among all stakeholders (students, professors, politicians, representatives of all legal professions) about an urgent reform movement, which has partly already set in and seems to be irreversible. It is fair to say that the countries of civil law systems (both of Romanic and of Germanic descent) are learning a lot form the pragmatism of common law jurisdictions, particularly from Anglo-American law schools and their educational ideals. Noticeable shifts are taking place in many countries away from the old civil law educational standards and ideals – shifts into the direction of modern orientations. The catchwords are: from ivory tower scholarship to professional pragmatism; from comprehensive knowledge to versatile legal skills; from application of law to legal reasoning; from encyclopedic universalism to exemplary specialization; from tricky details to value-oriented principles; from narrow-minded nationalism to inter-cultural competence; from domestic legal studies to comparative problem resolutions; from elaborate treatises to efficient internet techniques; from one-way lectures to discursive workshops; from analogue to digitized teaching and learning; and from lone wolf attitude to team spirit. The gist of the paper is that a convergence of legal education in common law and civil law systems can be clearly recognized leading to the educational ideal of the jurist as cosmopolitan legal service provider and manager.
Speaker:
Prof. Michael Martinek, University of Saarland, Germany