Let me introduce my friend, law: a pedagogical tool for supporting diversity and critical thinking in the legal classroom

Abstract

If law was a person, what kind of person would they be? In this article I discuss the process of designing and delivering a first-year law seminar around this question. I explain how the question was leveraged towards the aims of (a) creating space for diverse perspectives and (b) developing critical thinking skills among the law students: dispositions we felt were important for law students to establish early in their legal studies. I further explain how critical pedagogy and playfulness informed the seminar structure and allowed us to design the class towards these two aims. While both student and tutor feedback on the seminar was positive, I conclude by outlining potential areas for improving the seminar design and delivery.