Professor of Legal Writing Patricia Grande Montana’s latest article, Peer Review across the Curriculum, has been accepted for publication in the Oregon Law Review. Here is the abstract:
This paper examines the Carnegie and Best Practices Reports’ recommendation that law schools devote more attention to helping students develop the professional skills they will need in practice and proposes peer review as an attractive option.
Peer review, the process in which law students critique each other’s written work, is a powerful tool to teach students the knowledge, skills, and values essential to becoming a competent and professional lawyer. Through peer review, students improve their legal writing and analysis, enhance their editing skills, learn to cooperate with others, manage and evaluate constructive criticism, and develop a deeper appreciation of audience, among other things. For professors, it is an opportunity to assess their students’ performance and provide additional, useful feedback on their understanding of the legal doctrine and competence in legal analysis and writing.
As writing and professional skills instruction throughout the law school curriculum, not just in writing and skills courses, becomes more prevalent, law professors will need to find new and innovative ways to help their students achieve practical proficiency in the skills needed for legal practice. This paper explores peer review as one effective way.
The paper is not yet available on SSRN.
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