Learning Intentionally and the Metacognitive Task

This article serves both to frame The Pedagogy of Procedure symposium it introduces and to itself explore the importance of metacognition and learning about learning to legal education and lawyering. The authors begin by suggesting why Civil Procedure doctrine is so challenging to teach and learn, noting how the symposium pieces help to tackle those challenges. They then join the growing number of law professors who advocate that learning how to learn deserves greater attention in the law school curriculum, suggesting that law schools should do more to demonstrate respect for the process of learning as an end in itself. They especially extol and explain the use of metacognitive strategies to help students develop greater self-sufficiency and proficiency in confronting learning challenges of any kind, Civil Procedure or otherwise. They highlight metacognition because of its importance to self-regulated learning and its benefits for professional development. To do so, they draw upon the literature in this area, from law faculty and from faculty in other disciplines, to create a helpful mini-primer-plus for use in Civil Procedure and other doctrinal courses. They close with suggestions for how law schools can show more institutional respect for learning as a subject worthy of independent attention

The Influence of Metacognitive Skills on Bar Passage: An Empirical Study

Working Paper This article builds on our prior research about metacognition and its importance for law students’ learning. We hypothesized that given our past findings about the relationship between metacognition and academic performance in law school, it was possible that metacognition might also play an important role in success on the bar exam. Our current study documents law students’ metacognitive skills during a final semester bar prep course and examines the relationship between those students’ metacognitive skills and bar passage. We found that students are capable of gaining metacognitive knowledge and regulation skills during law school and even as late as the last semester of law school. We also found evidence that instruction and prompts to practice metacognitive regulation during the first year of law school had a long-term impact on students’ continued use of those skills. This evidence is important because we also found, as we have in prior studies, that students’ success in a final semester 3L bar preparation course, as well as their cumulative law school GPA, are associated with their level of metacognitive knowledge and regulation skills. While we did not find evidence of a direct relationship between metacognitive skills and bar passage, there was a relationship between bar passage and both course performance and cumulative GPA. Accordingly, we contend that metacognitive skills are an indirect support of bar passage given that they contribute to success in law school, which in turn supports success on the bar exam. We conclude that, based on the relationship between metacognitive skills, academic success in law school, and bar passage, law schools have an ethical obligation to support law faculty in explicitly and intentionally incorporating metacognitive skills instruction into the law curriculum

Constraint-preserving boundary treatment for a harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations

We present a set of well-posed constraint-preserving boundary conditions for a first-order in time, second-order in space, harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations. The boundary conditions are tested using robust stability, linear and nonlinear waves, and are found to be both less reflective and constraint preserving than standard Sommerfeld-type boundary conditions.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted in CQ

A protein functionalization platform based on selective reactions at methionine residues.

Nature has a remarkable ability to carry out site-selective post-translational modification of proteins, therefore enabling a marked increase in their functional diversity1. Inspired by this, chemical tools have been developed for the synthetic manipulation of protein structure and function, and have become essential to the continued advancement of chemical biology, molecular biology and medicine. However, the number of chemical transformations that are suitable for effective protein functionalization is limited, because the stringent demands inherent to biological systems preclude the applicability of many potential processes2. These chemical transformations often need to be selective at a single site on a protein, proceed with very fast reaction rates, operate under biologically ambient conditions and should provide homogeneous products with near-perfect conversion2-7. Although many bioconjugation methods exist at cysteine, lysine and tyrosine, a method targeting a less-explored amino acid would considerably expand the protein functionalization toolbox. Here we report the development of a multifaceted approach to protein functionalization based on chemoselective labelling at methionine residues. By exploiting the electrophilic reactivity of a bespoke hypervalent iodine reagent, the S-Me group in the side chain of methionine can be targeted. The bioconjugation reaction is fast, selective, operates at low-micromolar concentrations and is complementary to existing bioconjugation strategies. Moreover, it produces a protein conjugate that is itself a high-energy intermediate with reactive properties and can serve as a platform for the development of secondary, visible-light-mediated bioorthogonal protein functionalization processes. The merger of these approaches provides a versatile platform for the development of distinct transformations that deliver information-rich protein conjugates directly from the native biomacromolecules

This is a Courtroom, Not a Classroom : So What is the Role of the Clinical Supervisor?

In this article, Gundlach examines the appropriate educational role of the clinical supervisor beyond the confines of the law school classroom or supervision in the clinical office and more specifically, within the context of a court appearance. She begins with a narrative, in which she recounts a situation in which a judge pronounced, “this is a courtroom, not a classroom” after one of her students turned to her for consultation during a court proceeding. Gundlach uses the narrative as an opportunity to evaluate the educational nature of the courtroom for all those present, including student attorneys. She then addresses the question of who should bear responsibility for facilitating the educational experience of the student attorney in the courtroom and evaluates the merits of allowing for supporting roles beyond the clinical supervisor. She also examines and evaluates the options available to the clinical supervisor, concluding that modeling, co-chairing and any method that prevents the student from “going it alone” are too easily employed without an adequate assessment of the risks and benefits for the student, the client, and the supervisor. Gundlach contends that clinical supervisors may underestimate what they can accomplish in the education of a student attorney before a court appearance and in facilitating a reflective evaluation in the aftermath. She offers several suggestions for exercises and supervisory discussions with the student to enrich this process. She ends by suggesting that clinical supervisors can enrich their educational value for their students by modeling their own evaluation and self-reflection about their supervision and teaching. Gundlach offers a sampling of the kinds of issues and questions a clinical supervisor might draw upon in her own self-reflection and assessment of her supervision of a court appearance

Learning Intentionally and the Metacognitive Task

This article serves both to frame The Pedagogy of Procedure symposium it introduces and to itself explore the importance of metacognition and learning about learning to legal education and lawyering. The authors begin by suggesting why Civil Procedure doctrine is so challenging to teach and learn, noting how the symposium pieces help to tackle those challenges. They then join the growing number of law professors who advocate that learning how to learn deserves greater attention in the law school curriculum, suggesting that law schools should do more to demonstrate respect for the process of learning as an end in itself. They especially extol and explain the use of metacognitive strategies to help students develop greater self-sufficiency and proficiency in confronting learning challenges of any kind, Civil Procedure or otherwise. They highlight metacognition because of its importance to self-regulated learning and its benefits for professional development. To do so, they draw upon the literature in this area, from law faculty and from faculty in other disciplines, to create a helpful mini-primer-plus for use in Civil Procedure and other doctrinal courses. They close with suggestions for how law schools can show more institutional respect for learning as a subject worthy of independent attention

Expanding the Federal Work Product Doctrine to Unrepresented Litigants

Clerk\u27 offices in federal courthouses across the country designate individuals who do not have counsel as pro se, a term that comes from the Latin inpropria persona meaning \u27for oneself The term is ambiguous as to the reasons why individuals appear without counsel. While some may purposefully choose not to hire a lawyer, for many it is not a choice. Access to justice in federal courts requires not just entry into the courts for all litigants, but also fair treatment during the course of litigation. Unfortunately, all unrepresented individuals face disadvantages in federal courts. They are, for the most part, expected to abide by the same rules of civil procedure and substantive law as lawyers, without receiving all the benefits therein. One example of this unequal treatment is Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(3), which provides for quailed immunity from production of documents and tangible things that are prepared in anticipation of litigation or trial by or for another party or its representative unless the seeking party can show substantial need. However, even if the court orders discovery of such material, it must protect against disclosure the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories of a party\u27s attorney or other representative concerning the litigation. Thus, an unrepresented litigant, unlike those with counsel, can be ordered to produce materials that contain their mental impressions, case strategy and the like. This article begins with an overview of the experience of unrepresented litigants in the American legal system. It explores the origins of the right to not have counsel, the reasons why litigants might proceed without counsel in civil cases, and the impact this has on these litigants\u27 access to justice (or lack thereof) in the federal civil legal system. In addition, it examines the number and type of cases involving individuals who appear without counsel in federal civil proceedings. The next section explains the genesis of the work product rule and the purposes it serves, its inclusion in Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and how unrepresented litigants cannot benefit from its coverage in the same ways as those who have lawyers. We survey federal decisions in which courts have considered the application of Rule 26(b)(3) to unrepresented litigants, and compare the approaches taken by state courts. The article concludes with a recommendation that Rule 26 be amended to expand work product protections to unrepresented litigants to equalize their experience in federal courts and improve access to justice

An Empirical Study of the Relationship Between Metacognitive Skills, Performance in a Bar Prep Course and Bar Passage

This article builds on our prior research about metacognition and its importance for law students’ learning. We hypothesized that given our past findings about the relationship between metacognition and academic performance during the first year of law school, it was possible that metacognition might also play an important role in success with a third-year bar preparation course and/or on the bar exam. Our current study documents law students’ metacognitive skills during a final-semester bar prep course and examines the relationship between those students’ metacognitive skills and performance in the course and bar passage. We found that students are capable of gaining metacognitive knowledge and regulation skills during law school and even as late as the last semester of law school. We also found evidence that instruction and prompts to practice metacognitive regulation during the first year of law school had a long-term impact on students’ continued use of those skills in their final semester. This evidence is important because we also found, as we have in prior studies, that students’ success in a final-semester 3L bar preparation course, as well as their cumulative law school GPA, is associated with their level of metacognitive knowledge and regulation skills. While we did not find evidence of a direct relationship between metacognitive skills and bar passage, there was a relationship between bar passage and both course performance and cumulative GPA. Accordingly, we contend that metacognitive skills are an indirect support of bar passage given that they contribute to academic success, which in turn supports success on the bar exam. We conclude that, based on the relationship between metacognitive skills, academic success in law school, and bar passage, law schools have an ethical obligation to support law faculty in explicitly and intentionally incorporating metacognitive skills instruction into the law curriculum