Legal Academics Cultures and Identities

by Cownie, Fiona

• ISBN13: 9781841130613
• ISBN10: 1841130613
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-01
• Publisher: Hart Publishing

Summary

This detailed study of the lived experience of legal academics explores not only the culture of legal academia and the professional identities of law teachers,but also addresses some of the most pressing issues currently facing the discipline of law. Given the diverse nature of contemporary legal scholarship, where does the future lie? With traditional doctrinalism, socio-legal studies or critical scholarship? What does academic law have to offer its students, the legal profession and the wider society? How do legal academics 'embody' themselves as law teachers, and how does this affect the nature of the law they teach and study? In the context of the RAE, the QAA and all the other pressures facing universities, legal academics discuss the realities of contemporary legal academia in the UK.

Author Biography

Fiona Cownie is the H.K. Bevan Professor of Law at the University of Hull.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Studying Legal Academics	1	(26)
Why Study Legal Academics?	1	(3)
`Culture' and `Identity'	4	(1)
`Culture'	5	(5)
`Identity'	10	(4)
Method	14	(12)
Conclusion	26	(1)
Legal Education and the Lived Experience of Legal Academics	27	(22)
Legal Education	27	(1)
Legal Education: Pedagogy	28	(2)
Legal Education: Policy	30	(5)
Legal Education: Approaches to Law	35	(3)
Inaugural Lectures and Other Occasional Writing	38	(1)
Historical Perspectives	39	(2)
Empirical Surveys of the Legal Academy	41	(1)
The `Private Life' of Legal Academia	42	(5)
Conclusion	47	(2)
Inhabiting the Discipline of Law	49	(24)
Approaches to Law	49	(5)
A Discipline in Transition: From Doctrine to Socio-Legal Studies	54	(6)
The Impact of Feminism	60	(3)
The Future of the Discipline	63	(2)
Possible Difficulties Ahead	65	(4)
Anti-Intellectualism of Law	69	(3)
Conclusion	72	(1)
The Legal Academic Career	73	(24)
Careers and the Culture of Academic Law	73	(1)
Reading Law	73	(2)
The Legal Academic Career: Vocational or Academic?	75	(4)
Academia as Second Best	79	(2)
The Qualities/Skills of a `Good' Academic Lawyer	81	(5)
Getting On	86	(6)
Success	92	(3)
Conclusion	95	(2)
The Experience of Being a Legal Academic	97	(24)
Introduction	97	(1)
Proud to be a Legal Academic?	97	(4)
Job Satisfaction	101	(3)
Autonomy	104	(1)
Variety	105	(2)
The Worst of Times	107	(4)
Working at Home	111	(2)
Work-Life Balance	113	(5)
Conclusion	118	(3)
Teaching and Research in the Legal Academy	121	(22)
Teaching	121	(3)
Lecturing as Performing	124	(5)
Teaching as Part of Professional Identity	129	(1)
The Institutional Attitude to Teaching	130	(3)
Research in the Legal Academy	133	(2)
The RAE effect	135	(3)
Evaluation of the RAE	138	(3)
Conclusion	141	(2)
Inside and Outside the Academic World	143	(24)
Introduction	143	(1)
Administration	143	(8)
Outside Concerns	151	(2)
Networking	153	(6)
The Changing World	159	(6)
Conclusion	165	(2)
Identity Matters	167	(30)
Introduction	167	(1)
Gender	168	(7)
Class	175	(6)
Race, Ethnicity and Legal Academics	181	(2)
Sexual Orientation	183	(3)
Dressed for the Part	186	(10)
Conclusion	196	(1)
Conclusion	197	(10)
Introduction	197	(1)
Law as a Discipline	197	(2)
The Changing Culture of Academic Law	199	(1)
Different Perspectives on the Culture of Law: Old and New Universities	200	(1)
Key Aspects of Professional Identity	201	(2)
Other Identity Matters	203	(1)
`Culture', `Identities' and the Discipline of Law	204	(3)
Bibliography	207	(16)
Index	223