Affiliation: Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Professional Law Institute, King’s College London
Country: United Kingdom
Abstract: The Ever-Growing Importance of Reflective Practice for Lawyers and How This Can Be Taught at Law School
 Having published on our efforts to incorporate reflective practice into the MSc in Law and Professional Practice at KCL (), this presentation will show how the implementation of reflective practice into the assessment of the dissertation on the MSc has developed and will also assess the efficacy of other incorporations of reflection (such as within a Careers Skills portfolio that we have developed). Additional suggestions will also be presented to further incorporate reflection within our course (which is taught using a bespoke-problem based learning pedagogy), including assessment by way of a reflective portfolio for a 45-credit module, as will developments in the UK with regard to CPD that have elicited a clear responsibility for UK lawyers to reflect on their practice and, therefore, I would argue, a responsibility on law schools to teach this essential skill.
Bio: Reflective practice is a topic that I am passionate about. I have published on the benefits of reflective practice (see above) and am in charge of incorporating reflective practice into the MSc course detailed above. In addition to this, I am a qualified solicitor of England and Wales and so have a clear intersection between the teaching and practice of law and can therefore champion the benefits from both practitioner and academic angles. Topically, earlier this year, I wrote and taught a module on reflective practice for the International Bar Association’s International Legal Practice executive education course, which received the highest feedback score of all KCL modules and showed a real demand from lawyers globally for this type of training.
Where presenting: Association of Law Teachers (ALT) Conference
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Affiliation: Senior Counsel (Institutional Affairs Division), The World Bank Legal Vice-Presidency
Country: USA
Abstract: From Attention to Action in an AI Era: MEVA seva as Reflective Praxis for Justice-Facing Lawyering
From Attention to Action in an AI Era: MEVA seva as Reflective Praxis for Justice-Facing Lawyering Legal education often trains sharp analysis yet leaves a praxis gap: students can name injustice without reliably acting with integrity under pressure. In an AI era, as technical tasks are automated, the lawyer’s distinctive value becomes human—judgment, ethical discernment, accountability. Drawing on Gandhian ethics (dharma; satyagraha; ahimsa), my 30-year career at the World Bank and in U.S. community development, and contemplative teacher training, I present MEVA seva (Meditate– Elevate–Vibrate–Activate–seva) as a reflective pedagogy that turns attention into principled action. Meditate is a brief, secular mindful pause (2–4 minutes) to reduce reactivity. With an anonymized live legal issue, Elevate clarifies values, duties, and identity. Vibrate (validate viewpoints) strengthens deep listening and stakeholder perspective-taking. Activate sets a bounded next step (act accordingly)—who I will speak with, what I will say, and what I will do and by when—with follow-up. Seva (Sanskrit: service) names the justice outcome: equity, responsibility, and accountability for clients, communities, and institutions. The session provides prompts, a rubric, and an evaluation approach.
Bio: Alpita Shah is Senior Counsel (Institutional Affairs Division) in the World Bank Legal Vice-Presidency, with 30 years of legal experience spanning international development and U.S. inner-city community development, as well as serving on non-profit boards. A certified mindfulness and yoga teacher, she draws on contemplative approaches to ethics, service, and social justice. Throughout her career she has mentored junior lawyers and interns and supported structured learning and supervision in complex, multi-stakeholder institutional settings, as well as been a guest lecturer for law students on experiential learning. Her symposium contribution is MEVA seva, a practical reflective praxis framework designed to help educators strengthen the human capacities AI cannot replace: ethical discernment, relational accountability, and principled action under pressure.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice, University of Maryland Baltimore
Country: USA
Abstract: Modeling Reflective Practice: Pedagogical Opportunities in Natural Spaces of Encounter
The concept of “natural spaces of encounter” (Friedman et al, 2020) describes professional education as an organic enclave for transformational change through shared endeavours. Such change can benefit students and the communities they will serve as professionals, often as members of interdisciplinary teams. During a time of local and global polarization and crisis, the academy far too often exacerbates fractured dialogue rather than modelling collaboration to advance positive change. The combination of failed professional vision and a context shaped by performance pressures and precarity can make it hard to live and work according to our professional and academic ideals. This presentation will draw from empirical examples and conceptual frameworks for collaborating across disciplinary, social, and ideological divides to enhance our capacity for reflective practice within didactic and practicum professional education to better align our professional values with actual practice.
Bio: With a background in law and social work, Corey Shdaimah has explored how professionals reconcile day-to-day practice with challenges to their ethical commitments and their professional codes of ethics for over two decades. She conducts empirical research with students and professionals from diverse fields (e.g. social workers, lawyers, and nurses) on how they identify, navigate, and understand ethical challenges in practice, as well as how they work as members of interdisciplinary teams (e.g. Shdaimah, 2012; Postan-Aizik, Shdaimah, & Strier, 2020; Franke & Shdaimah, 2022) or in hybrid practice (settings where their professional norms are not the guiding mission) (Shdaimah, McCarthy, Imboden, & Forrester, 2025). Dr. Shdaimah has also taught law and social work students, provided continuing professional education, and lectured widely on these topics.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Instructor and Lawyer-in-Residence, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
Country: Canada
Abstract: I Will Survive: Building a Sustainable Access to Justice Practice
This presentation will focus on how a reflective practice can sustain the ability to run a law firm with an access to justice focus. Developing, implementing, and teaching strategies to sustain an access to justice practice requires careful and consistent reflection. I intend to draw on my experience as a long- time practitioner in the immigration and refugee field to offer practical strategies on sustaining an access to justice practice. I will also draw on my mentorship of students in my practice and my work designing and teaching both law and non-law students. I will first explain the importance of a reflective practice in access to justice law. I will then address the aspects of a law practice that should be considered from a reflective practice standpoint. These include both client and practice management issues. Next, I will turn to practical tools for success, such as prevention and problem-solving techniques. Finally, I will conclude with thoughts about how educators can best prepare students for the realities of the workplace.
Bio: Maureen Silcoff has practised immigration and refugee law since 1988, serving for five years as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Maureen is at the forefront of high-impact litigation addressing systemic issues in Canada’s immigration and refugee regime. Maureen serves on the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyer’s Litigation Committee. She also offers commentary to the media and speaks at conferences. Maureen designed five courses at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law and currently teaches Public Interest Litigation and The Business of Lawyering. She was appointed Lawyer-in-Residence at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law for the 2025–2027 academic years. In December 2025, she received the Dean’s Teaching Award for outstanding commitment to student mentorship.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Touro University Law Center
Country: USA
Abstract: Cultivating Professional Identity for a Sustainable Life in Law
A relatively recent ABA standard requires helping students develop their Professional Identity. However, few curricula focus on helping students develop a life in the law that will sustain them in the long run, providing the tools for a happy, healthy, rewarding existence, both personally and professionally. That is the focus of my Civil Practice Externship seminar. My students work in a variety of placements, including private firms, corporations, government, and public interest offices. The curriculum is designed to enhance not only their experience while in law school, but to arm them with the tools they will need to sustain a balanced and meaningful life and career. It includes goal setting, professionalism, professional identity development, reflection, ethics, mindfulness, positive psychology, effective communication, relationship-building, emotional competence, and navigating cultural differences. This presentation will offer some of the tools and exercises geared to accomplish these goals, most, if not all, of which one might adapt for any simulation, clinical, or externship course.
Bio: I have been teaching law since 1983, and as a full tenured professor since about 1993, and although I spent the first part of my career teaching only doctrinal courses, over time I discovered that what I cared about most was the wellbeing of my students, the lawyers they would become, and the clients they would serve. For the past several years, I have taught only the Civil Practice Externship seminar. In addition, I have published two books and numerous law review articles regarding the importance of psychological-mindedness, emotional competence and relational approaches to practicing law and ordering legal processes.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Lecturer, Monash Law Faculty and Principal Lawyer, Monash Law Clinics, Monash University
Country: Australia
Abstract: Today's Question is... Embedding Daily Reflective Practice Rituals and Exercises
This paper explores the use of daily, scheduled, reflective practice sessions during client facing clinical legal education placements at Monash Law Clinics, Monash University. It analyses the reflective practice strategies, techniques, activities and their impact/success, using qualitative data from the author's experiences teaching in a variety of client facing clinics over a four-year period (both online and in person). The paper will discuss the 'best practice' approaches from respected clinical legal education and reflective practice literature as used by the author in her teaching, and reflect on the effectiveness of a variety of processes trialled within an otherwise relatively controlled environment. The clinical context is a community legal centre providing legal assistance services to vulnerable, marginalised and disadvantaged members of the community.
Bio: Emily Singh is a Lecturer at Monash Law and is currently a Principal Lawyer and Practice Manager (acting) at Monash Law Clinics. With extensive practice experience in administrative (social security, refugee, immigration and counter human-trafficking) and general social justice practice, in the community legal sector, Emily is dedicated to advancing access to justice through both direct legal service, education and systemic reform. She brings a wealth of social justice practice experience, legal sector leadership, and legal services delivery design, to her role at Monash. Emily teaches in a range of clinical units, integrating hands-on legal practice with student learning. Her work focuses on community empowerment, innovative approaches and access to justice create the ideal backdrop for teaching students through an immersive reflective practice model, reflecting a career as a reflective practitioner and seeking to embed reflective practice in her students.
Where presenting: Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) conference
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Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Law and Director of the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic, University of Idaho College of Law
Country: USA
Abstract: Teaching Executive Functioning to Law Students
Law students and new attorneys are often most worried that they will do the wrong thing—that is, a failure of competence. However, my experience supervising law students practising in a legal clinic is that their most significant mistakes and the majority of their stress arise not from incompetence but from deficiencies in their executive functioning. Executive functioning is the general term for the cognitive skills and processes that support things like planning, attention, emotional regulation, and task initiation. Even highly competent students struggle when these executive functions are underdeveloped.
This presentation will provide an overview of the various skills comprising executive functioning, including planning, time management, task initiation, organization, working memory, attentional control, and self-monitoring. It will then connect those skills directly to the ethical rules governing attorney conduct. Finally, it will highlight successes and lessons learned from teaching executive functioning skills within a law school clinic. Over the course of the semester, students engaged in structured assessments, targeted exercises, and received curated resources to further their development. The core premise is that intentional instruction on executive functioning not only improves students’ clinical performance, but also helps them internalize transferable strategies for professional and personal effectiveness. By naming these skills, normalizing struggle, and providing tools for development, law schools can better support students in becoming self-directed, reflective, and resilient practitioners.
This session will invite participants to share their own practices and innovations related to teaching executive functioning. The goal is to create a collaborative space to examine how explicit instruction in executive functioning can enhance student learning, supervision, and long-term professional readiness.
Bio: Nick is an assistant professor of law and director of the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic at the University of Idaho College of Law. His primary research interest is how law affects the relationship between businesses and communities. Prior to teaching, he practised law in Idaho and American Samoa.
Where presenting: Nottingham Trent Centre for Legal Education Conference (NTCLE)
Affiliation: Associate Professor; Externship Program Director; Academic Clinic Director, Class Action Clinic, University of Windsor
Country: Canada
Abstract: Reflective Practices: Pathways Through Uncertainty 
Uncertainty is an embedded, inevitable part of professional practice. Clinical and experiential learning as a site of learning requires students to grapple with substantive, ethical, and emotional uncertainty. Aspects of law practice - including ethical complexity, poor empiricism, and disconnect between doctrine and practice - make uncertainty a particular challenge for new law students and lawyers. Reflective practices provide pedagogical approaches that support students' facility with uncertainty; however, reflective practice relies on pedagogies that exist largely at the margins of Western approaches to legal education. Clinical and experiential learning invites reflective approaches and epistemologies into learning, providing a container within which uncertainty can be reframed and, perhaps, celebrated.
Bio: Professor Smyth is Associate Professor, Externship Program Director, and Academic Clinic Director for the Class Action Clinic at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, on the territories of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations. Professor Smyth has spent twenty years at the faculty teaching and researching in clinical and experiential learning. Professor Smyth researches and writes in the areas of clinic law, dispute resolution, lawyering skills, and legal education. Among her publications is an open source, online text, , now in its third edition. She is also a co-author of the first text on clinical legal education in Canada, with Professors Sarah Buhler and Sarah Marsden.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Doctoral Student, Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University
Country: Canada
Abstract: Professional Knowledge and the Epistemology of Reflective Practice: Engaging a Continuum of Reflection
This session explores how critical reflection can reveal the unintended effects of institutional policies, service misalignment, and systemic fragmentation across health and social systems. Drawing on a case study examining health profession students’ reflections during fieldwork placements in homeless shelters, the session highlights how critically reflective learning can deepen learners’ understanding of vulnerability while opening space to question fragmentation of institutional structures, recognize social and structural inequities, and consider pathways toward more just and accountable systems.
Bio: Niki Soilis, PhD(c), is currently a doctoral student in Health Sciences Education at the Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University. She brings two decades of experience designing large-scale educational programs across public and private health sectors. Her expertise across diverse educational modalities has guided the development of socially responsive curricula that address critical gaps in health professions education while advancing professional competency and social accountability. Niki’s work emphasizes experiential approaches that immerse learners in the lived realities of diverse communities, fostering critical reflection in the interests of advancing equitable, community-centred care. Her PhD research examines health professions students’ experiences of critically reflective learning about homelessness through virtual reality simulation and fieldwork in a homeless shelter.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Founder, Gaa-minwaajindizowaaj (GAAM)
Country: Canada
Abstract: Naanaagadawenindizowin: Reflecting on Legal Education and Gidinaadiziwininaanan
This presentation is co-presented with Larissa Speak. Larissa nindizhinikaaz. Animikii-wajiw nindoonjii. Animikii-wiikwedong nindaa. Gaawiin mashi ingikenimaasii nindoodem. Cass nindizhi-gikenimigoo. Mashkiigogamaag nindoonjii. Name nindoodem. Mii onowen wenji-ozhibii’amaangin ezhi-inendamaang nindoonaakonigewininaan anishinaabewiyaang. We are two of the many voices that come from Gidakiiminaan (“Anishinaabe land”). Cassandra Spade and I are both lawyers. However, we are situated differently within the legal profession, come from different communities, have different lived experiences and backgrounds, and offer different perspectives. Bringing our voices together through conversations and visiting, we offer this paper as one way to engage Inawendiwin (“Anishinaabe relationality”) and Naanaagadawenindizowin (“Anishinaabe reflectivity”). Our conversations and visits will explore (1) the realities, challenges, and possibilities of engaging Gidinaadiziwininaanan (“Anishinaabe ways of learning and being”) in Canadian law schools; (2) our responsibilities to our communities and what those responsibilities mean for us within the law school environment and legal profession; and (3) how to resist the erasure of Gidinaadiziwininaanan.
Bio: Cassandra Spade (she/her) is an Anishinaabe human rights activist from the Mishkeegogamang First Nation, located in Northwestern Ontario. She is the founder of , a grassroots organization that provides Anishinaabe language and cultural programming. She holds a B.A. from the University of Manitoba and a J.D. from the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. Cass indizhi-gikenimigoo. Ninndanishinaabekwew, Mishkeegogamang geniin nindoonjii, nisawayi'ii ningaabii'anong giiwedinon inake. Gojijiing ishkoniganing nigii-izhi- ombig gaye. Name nindoodem. Mii iwe Gaa-minwaajindizowaaj (“GAAM”) nindoozhitoon ji-aanikenamawidwaa abinoojiinyag anishinaabemowin.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Assistant Professor & Co-Director Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan Indigenous Law and Justice Institute, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University
Country: Canada
Abstract: Naanaagadawenindizowin: Reflecting on Legal Education and Gidinaadiziwininaanan
This presentation is co-presented with Cassandra Spade. Larissa nindizhinikaaz. Animikii-wajiw nindoonjii. Animikii-wiikwedong nindaa. Gaawiin mashi ingikenimaasii nindoodem. Cass nindizhi-gikenimigoo. Mashkiigogamaag nindoonjii. Name nindoodem. Mii onowen wenji-ozhibii’amaangin ezhi-inendamaang nindoonaakonigewininaan anishinaabewiyaang. We are two of the many voices that come from Gidakiiminaan (“Anishinaabe land”). Cassandra Spade and I are both lawyers. However, we are situated differently within the legal profession, come from different communities, have different lived experiences and backgrounds, and offer different perspectives. Bringing our voices together through conversations and visiting, we offer this paper as one way to engage Inawendiwin (“Anishinaabe relationality”) and Naanaagadawenindizowin (“Anishinaabe reflectivity”). Our conversations and visits will explore (1) the realities, challenges, and possibilities of engaging Gidinaadiziwininaanan (“Anishinaabe ways of learning and being”) in Canadian law schools; (2) our responsibilities to our communities and what those responsibilities mean for us within the law school environment and legal profession; and (3) how to resist the erasure of Gidinaadiziwininaanan.
Bio: Larissa Speak is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan Indigenous Law and Justice Institute at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. She has both Anishinaabe and settler roots and is a member of Anemki Wajiw (or Fort William) First Nation. Her work at Bora Laskin focuses on decolonization and Anishinaabe law practice through community engagement and land-based practices. She is part of a team of staff, faculty, and community members who design and deliver the Gaa-maadaa’ooniding Law Camp, which is currently the only mandatory land-based course component at a Canadian law school. Larissa is an active member of Thunder Bay’s grassroots urban hide-tanning community. Larissa is committed to supporting and centring Anishinaabe ways of bei
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Educational Developer and Instructional Designer, ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą
Country: Canada
Abstract 1: Beyond Bans: AI Literacy, Reflective Practice, and Assessment Integrity in Legal Education
This co-authored paper with Sharry Aiken examines how the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping legal education, disrupting traditional assessment practices and opening new opportunities for innovation in teaching and learning. Drawing on a multi‑year collaboration developing an online graduate diploma in immigration and citizenship law at Queen’s University, including instructor reflections, anonymized student work samples, and course‑level assessment data, the paper advances an argument for integrating reflective practice (RP) pedagogies (Leering 2019, 2023) to prepare students to engage with GenAI ethically and effectively in both law school and practice.
The analysis synthesizes recent scholarship and institutional policy guidance to propose a structured model of AI literacy for law students, distinguishing between domains in which GenAI tools can support learning—such as editing, feedback, and study planning—and domains in which they remain unreliable, including critical analysis, legal research, and accuracy in the face of bias (Bliss 2024). Empirical and practice‑based observations from the diploma program indicate that, when carefully scaffolded, GenAI‑supported activities can enhance formative assessment, deepen student engagement, and promote writing development. At the same time, the paper situates this work within emerging critical literature that cautions that uncritical or unregulated reliance on GenAI may undermine critical thinking, compromise assessment integrity, and reproduce or amplify systemic bias (Veale et al, 2025).
Rejecting blanket prohibitions on GenAI as both unenforceable and pedagogically unsustainable, the paper argues for embedding GenAI within student workflows through rigorously designed RP tasks that require documentation, analysis, and critical evaluation of AI‑generated outputs. This RP‑centred design, the presentation contends, can foster critical thinking and metacognition while supporting the development of ethical, innovative, and accountable legal professionals, and the session will conclude by outlining practical parameters for implementing such activities and assessments in law curricula.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Abstract 2: Reflective Practice in the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Refugee Law
This presentation is co-presented with Sharry Aiken and Christa Bracci. This paper describes a multi-year collaboration to design and deliver rigorous reflective practice instruction across the curriculum in the online Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s Law. Grounded in a program-level learning outcome that requires students to self-assess their developing competencies and develop a concrete plan for ongoing professional growth, we position reflective practice as a skill in itself, one which is central to sustained competency development during and, more importantly, beyond formal study. Our pedagogical approach focuses on the process—not the substance—of reflection: we provide explicit frameworks that model rigorous, evidence-informed inquiry while allowing students to select subject matter from their own learning experiences that they feel warrants examination. The program-wide curriculum begins with a foundational unit on reflective practice theory in the introductory course; incorporates scaffolded formative exercises throughout; and culminates in the creation of a reflective practice portfolio. In this portfolio, students document their own development across courses and articulate a forward-looking plan for continued professional growth after graduation. This paper will share practical educational design strategies and transferable tools to support meaningful integration of reflective practice into course curricula, especially in the context of pre-professional education.
Bio: Andrea Speltz is an Educational Developer and Instructional Designer at Queen’s University Faculty of Law, where she leads innovations in legal education with an emphasis on active and collaborative learning, reflective practice, and competency-based assessment. In addition to her role at Queen’s, Andrea teaches German literature and language at universities across Ontario.
Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference
Affiliation: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą
Country: Canada
Abstract: Strengthening the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Law Through Reflective Practice
This keynote presentation explores how the reflective practice of legal educators can deepen and strengthen the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) within legal education and the broader educational community. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, the session offers practical frameworks and evidence-based strategies to demonstrate how intentional reflection fosters innovation in pedagogy and enriches student learning. At the core of this exploration is the recognition that reflective practice actively advances justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion by cultivating critical awareness of teaching methods, curriculum design, and disciplinary and institutional priorities. By illuminating the intersection of reflective inquiry and professional integrity, attendees will be invited to reflect on their own practices and encouraged to engage with SoTL as a means to further advance legal education.
Bio: Dr. Denise Stockley has a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and is a Professor and Scholar in Higher Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on ethical inquiry, reflective practice, and integrity in higher education. A past president of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), she has played a key role in shaping national and international conversations about how educators create and sustain scholarly approaches to teaching. Her research explores how cultures develop within and across institutions, with a focus on faculty engagement, leadership, curriculum renewal, and research ethics education. She examines how ethical inquiry and scholarly practice intersect to support integrity and reflection in teaching and learning. At Queen’s University, Dr. Stockley leads initiatives that connect principles of ethical and reflective teaching within program design, faculty development, and policy innovation. Her scholarship also includes health professions education, where she integrates competency-based education, interprofessional learning, and universal design for learning. These approaches offer valuable insights for advancing professional education across diverse disciplines, including law.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Executive Director, Mediate BC Society
Country: Canada
Abstract: Team-Based Learning Activities as Encouragement of Reflective Practice
This presentation is co-presented with Rowan Meredith. Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a collaborative pedagogical approach. Students answer a series of multiple-choice questions: first on their own before class, then again as teams in the classroom. Teams come to a collective answer for each question, then use scratchcards to reveal whether they are correct. This gives students immediate feedback. Teams whose answers are incorrect are then encouraged to seek partial credit by choosing a second answer. Our presentation will discuss TBL as a strategy for encouraging reflective practice in law students. First, we will discuss the benefits of students coming prepared with answers before reflecting on their answers as teams. (We have found that teams consistently score higher than any single student.) We will then examine the immediate feedback mechanic and the ability to obtain partial credit – these teach students to re-evaluate their thinking. Finally, we will discuss the value of giving teams an opportunity to argue on behalf of an (ostensibly incorrect) answer at the end of the class session – this encourages students to think critically about their work even after completing the activity, and to advocate on behalf of a position.
Bio: Sharon Sutherland is Executive Director at Mediate BC Society. She is a former Allard School of Law faculty member and currently teaches mediation and conflict resolution in a variety of contexts, including both continuing legal education for lawyers and training for child protection mediators across BC. Sharon has utilized team-based learning (TBL) activities in mediation courses and Torts and is exploring online TBL approaches for a developing course in agreement writing.
Where presenting: ľĹĐăÖ±˛Ą Law virtual Symposium
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Affiliation: Associate Professor Cassandra Seery; Associate Director Teaching and Learning (Community Based Delivery), NIKERI Institute, Deakin University
Country: Australia
Abstract: Decolonising Curriculum, Processes and Ourselves in Australian Legal Education: A Conversation
This paper explores decolonising legal education as a reflective and dialogic engagement with curriculum transformation. Drawing on Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s critique of virtue as an expression of the “white possessive,” the paper interrogates how seemingly benevolent educational practices can reproduce colonial power through claims of neutrality, care, and moral authority. These dynamics are examined alongside William Pinar’s concept of curriculum as currere, emphasizing subjective reconstruction and ongoing self-reflexivity. The conversation foregrounds tensions between institutional commitments to inclusion and the persistence of epistemic dominance, highlighting how educators may unconsciously reinscribe privilege through unexamined assumptions. By situating decolonisation as both structural and deeply personal work, the paper argues that reflective practice must move beyond performative gestures toward sustained critical self-interrogation. Engaging Pinar’s framework enables legal educators to consider their own positionalities, histories, and investments in knowledge production, while Moreton-Robinson’s analysis challenges the moral comfort of “doing good” within colonial systems. Together, these perspectives open a space for rethinking curriculum as an ethical and political practice. The abstract ultimately positions decolonising work as an ongoing, relational process that requires discomfort, accountability, and a willingness to unsettle the self as much as the institution.
Bio: Cassandra Seery is an award-winning legal academic, researcher and public policy professional specialising in decolonising Australian legal education. She is currently an Associate Professor and Associate Director at the National Indigenous Knowledges Education and Innovation Institute at Deakin University (formerly the Institute of Koorie Education), having previously worked at the Melbourne Law School, the not-for-profit sector and the Victorian Public Service. An experienced leader, strategist and advocate, Cassandra has served as a board member with Amnesty International Australia and the Bravehearts Foundation. She currently sits on Women’s Legal Service Victoria board and as an independent member of the Stolen Generations Reparations Package Independent Assessment Panel in Victoria.
Where presenting: Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) conference
Affiliation: Winthrop Professor of Law, Law School, University of Western Australia
Country: Australia
Abstract: The Associative Mind: Reflective Legal Practice, Cognitive Formation, and Human Judgment in an Automated Age
Contemporary debates about legal education in an age of automation tend to focus on the acquisition of new skills. This paper argues that such an approach overlooks a more fundamental question: what is the nature of the mind capable of legal judgment? Drawing on convergent insights from cognitive science, ancient and modern philosophy, and linguistic theory, it advances the claim that human cognition is inherently associative, integrative, and formed through the internalisation of knowledge. Reflective practice, on this account, is not an auxiliary pedagogical technique but the outward expression of an underlying cognitive structure. Against this, legal education continues to operate with an implicit model of thought as modular and rule-bound, thereby mischaracterising both understanding and expertise. The paper further examines the implications of artificial intelligence and digital systems, arguing that while they create the illusion that knowledge need not be possessed, such externalisation risks eroding the internal structures upon which association depends. Yet these same technologies, when engaged by a mind already richly formed, can extend and deepen intellectual capacity. The paper concludes that the task of legal education is not merely to transmit information, but to cultivate the associative mind as the condition of reflective judgment in conditions of complexity and uncertainty.
Bio: Professor Nolan Sharkey is Winthrop Professor of Law at the University of Western Australia. Trained across law, accounting, taxation, Chinese studies, linguistics, theology, history, fine arts and music, his work is characterised by an unusually interdisciplinary approach to questions of law, language, cognition, and culture. He speaks Mandarin Chinese, Irish, and several other languages. A barrister, chartered accountant, and trust and estate practitioner, he has advised the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the Chinese legislature, and other governmental and international bodies. His current research examines legal judgment, reflective practice, and the future of professional expertise in an age of artificial intelligence.
Where presenting: Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) conference
Affiliation: Lived Experience Lead, La Trobe Law School
Country: Australia
Abstract: From Individual Burden to Collective Responsibility: Educating the Legal Profession on Reflective Practice
The legal sector is increasingly aware of the crucial role that targeted reflective practice plays in maintaining the human element of contemporary legal practice. This has led to practice-based initiatives to build relevant skills, drawing on tools such as the Systems Theory of Change framework supported by the VLSB+C. This presentation explores reflective practice implementation across two research projects, the Lawyer Wellbeing Project, and the Supporting Trauma Informed Legal Services (STILS) project, in partnership with the VLSB+C and the legal aid commissions, respectively. Whilst the many benefits of reflective practice are well-known, including reducing burnout, improving professional judgement and ethical decision-making, and supporting boundary navigating with clients, the burden has largely remained on the individual. The Lawyer Wellbeing Project drew on co-design methods and introduced structured, reflective practices to address the pressures, emotional demands and uncertainties of legal practice and, in turn, support enhanced lawyer wellbeing and improve client engagement practices. Two streams were co-designed and piloted. The first targeted lawyer wellbeing, specifically offering supportive, structured reflective practice approaches as a means embedding professional judgement, self-management and sustainable career strategies; the second focused on client interactions, using reflective practice methods to enhance professional boundaries and reduce conflict. Meanwhile, the STILS project implemented reflective group supervisions for staff as part of a broader empirical study on trauma informed practice across six diverse legal assistance services. Drawing on these projects, this presentation shares our experiences introducing reflective practice as a formal, disciplined professional practice support tool at the firm or practice level, rather than as an individual responsibility. As well as outlining the pilot interventions and initial findings from the project, the presentation will examine the broader role of reflective practice in the legal profession and explore how legal educators might train students in these skills based on lessons from the projects.
Bio: Bowzer Scharka is Lived Experience Lead for La Trobe Law School’s Supporting Trauma Informed Legal Services (STILS) Project and Lawyer Wellbeing Project. They are also Co-Chair of the Transgender and Gender Diverse NSW Criminal Justice System Advisory Council (TAGDAC) and co-facilitate National Legal Aid’s With You training. Bowzer supports legal services’ engagement with lived experience as a mode for promoting staff capacity for trauma informed, reflexive practice.
Where presenting: Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) conference