The first-year experience in Law School

The first year of law school is the beginning of the new. For students, it is the start of a new way of looking at the world, the foundation for a career in the law or a law-related field; for law teachers, it is the induction of the uninitiated into the professional and disciplinary traditions of the law; for the profession, it is the first step towards building, renewing and extending its membership base; for the community, it is the doorway through which the next generation can continue to uphold society's commitment to the rule of law and the principles of justice. This book is a "new beginning" for reflecting on this "new beginning". The suggestions are many and varied: new teaching methods and resources to engage students in their new learning experience; new emphasis on "'good" thinking and ethical behaviour in first-year learning outcomes; new techniques for ensuring the health and wellbeing of first-year students; new ideas for support infrastructure, both intra-curricular and co-curricular, to enhance the learning experience; and new reform processes to integrate the first-year experience into the rest of the law degree and to ensure quality assurance in response to external regulatory pressures. The proposals are practical; the solutions are sourced from the scholarship of learning and teaching.