Volume 41, Issue 3

This article examines the implications of globalization for legal practice, law students, and law school curricula. It opens with a review of the impact of globalization on the legal profession, together with an overview of the benefits and challenges that come with globalizing legal education. The article then examines the current state of U.S. legal education by identifying some of the schools that have expressed or demonstrated a commitment to providing a global legal education, and surveying the types of reforms that these schools have adopted in order to meet this objective. The article considers schools’ attitudes to and choice of reforms in light of the view that the typical new American lawyer is inadequately prepared to practice law in today's global legal order, in which he or she is increasingly likely to be called upon to resolve legal issues of a transnational nature. Preparing students to practice law in a globalized society, the article contends, should therefore be a key objective for American legal educators. With this goal in mind, the article examines the current program at Northwestern University School of Law as a case study and offers recommendations that can help to achieve the goal of globalizing legal education while responding to the needs and concerns of today's law students and future legal practitioners.

This paper examines the use of reflection as a qualitative research method within the system of legal education in Nigeria. It analyzes the importance of reflection as a way of encouraging participation in professional roles in the legal workplace. The article is based on a research study conducted among graduate law students who were undergoing professional training at the Nigerian Law School. The study employed a case study research design while the methodology involved the administration of structured questionnaires and the use of reflective journals produced by the students. This article focuses on the findings obtained from the reflective journals and provides an understanding of the value of reflection in information literacy skills development in the legal workplace in Nigeria.

During its 2012 session the Florida Legislature amended the text of the Florida Statutes which lists exemptions from the requirements of obtaining a Florida drivers’ license. Removed from the text of Florida Statute 322.04 was the line concerning nonresidents, both fellow Americans and international visitors, “who has in his or her immediate possession a valid noncommercial driver's license issued to the nonresident in his or her home state or country [emphasis added].” Inserted was a new line, “An International Driving Permit issued in his or her name in his or her country of residence and a valid license issued in that country.” International visitors were required to have in their possession not only a valid drivers’ license, but also an International Driving Permit (IDP) that translated into English the personal identification information of the driver. The change took effect January 1, 2013, but even before that date, Florida faced allegations that it was violating international law with this new requirement.

The Social Science Research Network (SSRN) offers online posting of papers on the SSRN web site. The system of posting is advertised by the SSRN as open access. Nevertheless, the SSRN hinders access to posted papers. This hindrance arises from the gatekeeper function of the SSRN system. Specifically, subjective determinations are made by the SSRN site administrators about whether posted papers should or should not be searchable by the SSRN search engine. It is difficult, sometimes impossible, to find posted papers on SSRN when a posted paper is not connected with the SSRN search engine. A posted paper which is not searchable is, in effect, not really posted, regardless of the nominal posting by the SSRN because it. Thus, the advertised open access feature of SSRN is essentially a misrepresentation by the SSRN of its true nature. The SSRN gatekeeper function is ill advised for another reason. It is doubtful that the SSRN site administrators are actually capable of distinguishing between posted papers which should benefit from the SSRN search engine, and posted papers which should not. The result: some poorly written or researched papers could be located through the SSRN search engine, while some very good papers may not be discovered through an SSRN search. Given this situation, three solutions are offered for the negation, by the SSRN, of open access to posted papers.

As a country, Ethiopia needs no introduction. Its three thousand years of history has been told and documented by many who lived in and traveled to Ethiopia The discovery of Lucy, the 3.2 million years old hominid, iconic fossil in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 1974, attests to the fact that Ethiopia is indeed one of the oldest nations in the world. The origin of the northern Ethiopian Empire, is chronicled in the legendary story of Cush, the son of Ham and the founder of the Axumite Kingdom, who gave the name Ethiopis to the area surrounding Axum and later to his son. Ethiopia is thus derived from it which in Greek means land of the burnt or black faces.