ABSTRACT

Concerns have been raised about how well legal education prepares law students for the reality of their future work life. Some research suggests that law students find it difficult to transfer and apply theoretical knowledge to decision-making in real-life contexts. This article presents a novel way, virtual law cases (VLCs), to teach and learn legal knowledge, analytical reasoning and decision-making skills in a safe environment without real-life repercussions. The paper sets out a number of steps when developing a virtual law case and illustrates the different elements that are included. The article also reports the results of the pilot testing with other colleagues, legal experts, as well as with law students in a Swedish legal education context. Early evidence suggests that colleagues and legal experts are confident that using VLCs is a valuable way to teach legal reasoning and decision-making, and that VLCs offer students a tool that allows them to see how legal fields are interconnected.

摘要

人们担心法律教育如何为法学院学生为他们未来的工作生活做好准备。一些研究表明，法学院学生发现很难将理论知识转移和应用到现实生活中的决策中。本文介绍了一种新颖的方式，即虚拟法律案例 (VLC)，可以在没有现实生活影响的安全环境中教授和学习法律知识、分析推理和决策技能。本文列出了开发虚拟法律案例时的若干步骤，并说明了所包含的不同要素。文章还报告了与其他同事、法律专家以及瑞典法律教育背景下的法学院学生进行的试点测试结果。