Active Learning Through Appellate Simulation: A Simple Recipe for a Business Law Course

• Date: 01 August 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2009.01057.x
• Published date: 01 August 2009

Active Learning Through Appellate

Simulation: A Simple Recipe for a

Business Law Course

William J. McDevitt

n

I. INTRODUCTION

Although the concept is not new, the dawn of the twenty-first century has

seen a heightened interest in ‘‘active learning’’ in business education.

Numerous articles have been written in recent years touting the benefits of

‘‘learning by doing’’ and providing detailed instructions on how to conduct

various active learning exercises, using everything from contract drafting

to online resolution.

1

The renewed interest in active learning is under-

standable not only because of the well-documented benefits of the

methodology,

2

but also because business leaders are demanding that

graduates of business schools possess a more realistic sense of the business

world.

3

Business law professors have long recognized the pedagogical value

of using simulations in the classroom. For example, many professors have

r2009, Copyright the Author

Journal compilation rAcademy of Legal Studies in Business 2009

245

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 26, Issue 2, 245–262, Summer/Fall 2009

n

Associate Professor of Management, Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University.

1

See, e.g., Larry A. DiMatteo & T. Leigh Anenson, Teaching Law and Theory Through Context:

Contract Clauses in Legal Studies Education,24J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 19 (2007); Lucille M. Ponte,

The Case of the Unhappy Sports Fan: Embracing Student-Centered Learning and Promoting Upper-

Level Cognitive Skills through an Online Dispute Resolution Simulation,23J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 169

(2006); Susan W. Denbo, Contracts in the Classroom–Providing Undergraduate Business Students

with Important ‘‘Real Life’’ Skills,22J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 149 (2005).

2

For a discussion on the value of active learning in legal studies education, see DiMatteo &

Anenson, supra note 1, at 21–27.

3

See, e.g., Robert Weisman, B-schools Get Back to Basics, BOSTON GLOBE, Mar. 11, 2007, at E1.

The author points out that some deans are concerned that ‘‘B-schools have grown overly

academic and removed from the actual workings of business’’ and that ‘‘[m]any . . . schools are

beefing up their ‘hands-on’ or ‘experiential’ learning programs.’’ Id.

written about the positive experience that their students have enjoyed in

participating in mock trials.

4

Such exercises generate excitement in the

classroom and leave a lasting impression on participants.

5

Communication

skills, both oral and written, are enhanced.

6

Also, in-class simulations can

serve to develop the all-important critical thinking skills that educated

people are expected to possess in today’s complex legal environment.

7

Moot court exercises, also known as appellate argumentation or

appellate simulation, can be just as effective as mock trials and simulated

hearings in teaching skills to students. Law schools, many of which utilize a

moot court as part of their regular curriculum, find that it provides

students with the opportunity to sharpen their writing skills, to polish

their oral presentation skills, and to help them think more carefully about

the interplay between factual contexts and legal principles.

8

A moot court,

like a mock trial, also ‘‘brings excitement into the classroom and stimulates

4

See, e.g., Robert B. Bennett, Jr., Using a Jury Simulation as a Classroom Exercise,15J.LEGAL

STUD.EDUC. 191 (1997); Murray S. Levin, Learning About the Unpredictability of Litigation

Through a Mock Jury Exercise,16J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 271 (1998); William J. McDevitt, Three

Ready-to-Use Mock Jury Trials for the Classroom,16J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 149 (1998); Carol J.

Miller, Mock Jury Trial: A Model for Business Law Courses, 6 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 91 (1987).

5

See Arthur Gross Schaefer, Mock Trials: A Valuable Teaching Tool, 8 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 199

(1989-90). ‘‘The rewards of student excitement that generates learning, though, seems well

worth the time invested. . . . It has certainly been my experience that many former students

recall material covered in the mock trial exercise better than most of the other items covered

in class.’’ Id. at 206–07.

6

See Stanley K. Mann, A Simulated Hearing Modified for Teaching Business Law to Graduate

Business Students,13J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 311 (1995). ‘‘The simulation is an excellent

opportunity to train students in presentation skills in an exciting, enjoyable, and competitive

environment.’’ Id. at 312.

7

See Anne M. Lawton & Lynda J. Oswald, The Use of Simulated Hearings in Business Law Courses,

11 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 103 (1993). ‘‘[Students] learn to think critically about legal issues and

problems.’’ Id. at 104. See also Miller,supra note 4. ‘‘[I]t also helps develop critical thinking and

persuasion skills of the students.’’ Id. at 95.

8

See Linda F.Smith, Pedagogy: Designing an External Clinical Program: Or As YouSow, So Shall You

Reap,5CLINICAL L. REV. 527 (1999). ‘‘Certainly ‘legal writing’ and ‘moot court’ programs have

long been part of the law school curriculum and have successfully used simulation to teach the

skills of writing, brief writing, and appellate oral argument.’’ Id. at 532. See also Carol

McCrehan Parker, Writing Throughout the Curriculum: Why Law Schools Need It and How to

Achieve It,76N

EB.L.REV. 561 (1997). ‘‘Law reviews, moot courts . . . all provide opportunities

for students to use writing to help them think carefully about the factual context in which

doctrine operates and the intended and unintended consequences of policy choices.’’ Id. at

597–98.

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