Call for Presentations/Papers/Panels/Posters

A Code/Charter of Best Practice in International Legal Education?
Is it possible? Is it desirable? What would even be included?

Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic (25-26 June 2020)

1. Conference Concept & Background

This two-day conference will focus on what might be the best practices/approaches in legal education when a law school/faculty includes non-domestic law students (international or foreign law students). The first day will be devoted to panel/poster presentations on the many different issues/challenges/ approaches/solutions arising for the international/foreign students, local students, academics, non-academic staff and institutions. The presentations/papers might then be collected into an edited collection in a book or journal – but details to be determined (at the conference itself). Suggested topics are noted below in Part 2.

Drawing on the presentations and discussions from the first day of the conference, the second day will focus on what might be needed to develop an aspirational Charter/Code of Best Practice for Legal Education of International/Foreign Students, assuming such a code/charter was desirable and possible. On that second day there will also be discussion of the next steps for the work, for example: whether and how the results or conclusions from that day could then be circulated to those not in attendance at the conference (mainly law schools/faculties around the world) for their input. Also on the second day, input will be sought on whether and how often a conference or workshop of the Working Group should then reconvene to continue working on the development of a Code/Charter to which law schools/faculties could aspire, among other things.

The “Working Group” was created following a series of international workshops on issues concerning international/foreign students in legal education. The first was held at the Faculty of Law, UNSW in Sydney in 2015 and the second at Bangor Law School, University of Bangor in Wales in 2016. The most recent meeting, and third meeting, was held at O.P. Jindal Global University in India in early 2019. The participants in the Working Group have included academics from all six inhabited continents.

The Working Group is an ad hoc and open international forum for the discussion of issues related to the education and welfare of law students studying in a foreign country. The Working Group has considered issues and challenges associated with the ever-growing international legal education in Europe, Asia, North America, Oceania, Latin America and Africa. While some scholarship has come out of the workshops, the primary goal of the Working Group is to gain better understandings of best practices/solutions to common challenges associated with the increasing large role of international legal education in a largely domestically focused legal education sector.

In part, the conference derives from concerns raised within the Working Group that the teaching, support and professional development that law schools offer to domestic students may be experienced differently by international/foreign students in legal education, and perhaps of greater concern that they may not always be getting the best or most appropriate teaching, support and development at the foreign law schools they are being recruited to attend. Relatedly, there is concern that academics may not be provided with the training or support needed to provide quality legal education and support to international/foreign students or within the mixed cohorts of domestic and international/foreign students that is often the case in the classes. Of course, the Working Group recognises that these are complex issues, as different international students and different law schools have different contexts and needs, hence requiring great care to avoid the pitfalls of generalisations – even as we seek to identify some common principles and approaches.

2. Presentations/Papers/Panels/Posters – Proposal Procedures

Presentations/Papers: If you are interested in submitting a presentation/paper proposal, please provide a 200-word abstract discussing the presentation/paper idea along with a 100-word bio of relevance.

Panel Proposals: If you are interested in proposing a panel for inclusion at the event, please provide a 200-word abstract of the idea(s) the panel would be presenting as well as 100-word bios of relevance for each proposed panellist.

Poster Proposal: If you are interested in submitting a poster proposal, please provide a 200-word abstract discussing the poster idea along with a 100-word bio of relevance.

All proposals must be submitted to cpicker@uow.edu.au by 15th February 2020. The conference committee will then consider proposals and do its best to inform those invited to present by 15th March 2020.

Examples and brief discussion of some of the issues that may arise from the presence of international/foreign law students in law schools can be found in the article that resulted from the first of the Working Group’s workshops: “Comparative Perspectives on Teaching Foreign Students in Law: Pedagogical, Substantive, Logistical and Conceptual Challenges” by Colin Picker, Alex Steel, Lucas Lixinski and Dominic Fitzsimmons), 26(1) Legal Education Review 161-185 (2017) (available here). The issues there, as well as others, could be reflected in the topics/subjects of proposals for the conference. For example, the following issues (in no specific order and not exclusive) could be considered by presentations at the conference:

• Language issues (comprehension, instruction, accent, writing, oral, etc.)
• Admissions (language, tests, visas, etc.)
• Academic success (attrition, assessments, supports, etc.)
• Personal success (mental health, socialisation, financial wellbeing, etc.)
• School administrative issues (recruitment, admin supports, relation to budgets, etc.)
• Cultural issues (legal cultural, academic culture, popular culture, etc.)
• Substantive issues (curriculum, foundations, specialisations, legal practice, etc.)
• Pedagogical issues (participation, interaction with local students, academic misconduct, etc.)
• Macro issues (cost/benefits, country/region source or destination, legal tradition specific, etc.)
• Teacher/instructor issues (training, cultural conflicts, supports, etc.)

3. Conference logistics

The conference will be held at the Faculty of Law, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic on 25-26 June 2020. 
The conference fee will be 200 EUR which has been set as low as possible but able to cover the direct costs incurred by the host (coffees/teas/lunches and the dinner on the 25th). Travel, accommodation, visa, and other such expenses will be the responsibility of the participants.
Sponsorships of the conference would be very welcome (and would be used to help cover the costs of developing country and doctoral participants). Please contact the co-chairs to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
As noted above, at the moment there are no specific plans for joint publication of the conference presentations/papers, but there will be discussion at the conference as to whether or how that should be done.
The conference webpage is at http://leis.law.muni.cz. At the webpage additional logistics will be posted (included accommodation recommendations).

For more information:

• Colin B. Picker (University of Wollongong, Australia) (Chair Working Group)
• Michal Radvan (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) (Host)

Conference Committee:

• Colin B. Picker (University of Wollongong, Australia) (Co-Chair)
• Michal Radvan (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) (Co-Chair)
• Lucas Lixinski (University of New South Wales, Australia)
• Michael Peil (Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law, Bhutan)
• Carole Silver (Northwestern University, USA)
• Jeffrey Thomas (University of Missouri Kansas City, USA)
• Kalyani Unkule (OP Jindal Global University, India)
• Heng Wang (University of New South Wales, Australia)