Book Review: What The Best Law Teachers Do. By Michael Hunter Schwartz,Gerald F. Hess & Sophie M. Sparrow

Abstract

What The Best Law Teachers Do. By Michael Hunter Schwartz, Gerald F. Hess & Sophie M. Sparrow. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, Harvard University Press, 2013, 368 pp. ISBN: 9780674049147

Published by the Harvard University Press in August 2013, the book ‘What the Best Law Teachers Do’ is a qualitative and ‘systematic, rigorous study of excellent law teachers’ written by Professors Michael Hunter Schwartz, Gerald F. Hess and Sophie Sparrow. After visiting the law schools of the profiled teachers, the authors observed their classes, read their scholarships, solicited input from the students and alumni and interviewed the subjects themselves, before analyzing the teaching techniques, attitudes and personal qualities of 26 U.S. law professors who were nominated by their students or colleagues. Despite the differences amongst the teachers in their areas of expertise, the location of their home institutions or the size of the classes they teach, the authors share a number of similarities. Most importantly, these teachers are passionate about teaching and facilitating the success of their students as aspiring legal professionals.

Worldwide, efforts to reform legal education are changing the way law courses have been taught for centuries. Greater emphasis on problem-solving, critical thinking and acquisition of practical skills is deemed necessary for students to compete effectively in the transnational legal market and to assume the various roles required by contemporary lawyers. The book’s authors, who have taught, lectured and served as consultants across the globe, suggest that characteristics of excellent teachers transcend location and culture. This review concludes by briefly examining whether this statement applies equally to law teachers in the Asian region.