James G. Milles SUNY Buffalo Law School
Jim Milles is a Professor of Law at SUNY Buffalo Law School; he presented with the Beyond Traditional Law Subjects Pod at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching Conference. In his talk, “Returning the Client to Legal Education,” Professor Milles explains that tradition legal education excels at teaching the law student to “think like a lawyer.” The current downturn in the legal market is leading many law schools to respond by promoting the J.D. as an all-purpose education that trains lawyers for leadership roles in any field. He asserts that we are failing, however, in teaching aimed at inculcating a sense of responsibility to the client. Teaching lawyers to value their client’s interests above their own may be the greatest benefit of an increased emphasis on experiential learning.
Legal Ethics, Information Privacy Law, and Computer Crime are the courses that Professor Milles can be found teaching at SUNY Buffalo Law School. He was formerly a law librarian, first at Saint Louis University, where he earned his J.D., and then at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. His research interests include cognitive biases and behavioral ethics.
LegalED aims to harness the power of the internet for legal educations. It facilitates blended or flipped learning – by migrating lectures to the web, LegalED frees up classtime for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. Professors may assign the videos in any combination for students to view outside of the classroom for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. LegalED seeks to develop and maintain a vibrant online community of teachers and students of the law, creating a central hub for the community. Through the video collection, teachers can be inspired to borrow, adapt, and bring great teaching moments into their own courses. With an internet platform, LegalED opens up formerly isolated classrooms by sharing showcasing, celebrating and inspiring innovative teaching. Simply put, the vision of LegalED is to inspire innovation in legal education. Join the movement!
The LegalED 2015 Igniting Law Teaching conference will take place on Friday, March 20th, from 9am to 6pm. Register to attend in person or live stream the event.