Escaping the Appellate Litigation Straitjacket: Incorporating an Alternative Dispute Resolution Simulation Into a First-Year Legal Writing Class

Mary L. Dunnewold, Hamline University School of Law
Mary B. Trevor, Hamline University School of Law

Abstract

This article discusses the incorporation of a mediation exercise into the first semester of a legal research and writing course. At the author’s institution, we have been including this exercise in our curriculum for sixteen years. In the article, we first briefly review the historical underpinnings for incorporating ADR into non-ADR law school classes. We then examine the current pedagogical theories supporting such incorporation. We next discuss why the exercise fits well within the LRW curriculum. Finally, we address the nuts-and-bolts of the exercise and offer our observations and conclusions about the exercise, including discussion of student feedback obtained through an assessment instrument. We believe the exercise has been successful over the long term for several reasons. First, the exercise is consistent with educational theory and with calls for change within the legal academy. Second, the exercise is easy to implement every year once the required templates are in place. Finally, the exercise fits well within the first semester LRW curriculum. Thus, we believe that the effort required to set up the simulations, which in our experience diminishes after the first year, is well worth the resulting educational experience provided to our students.