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Aristotle Goes to Suffolk Law School

The Pilot Program at the Suffolk University Law School LL.M. Program in Global Technology
On a warm and sunny day at the end of August, in the heart of an historic New England city, in a newly constructed building of a law school with a tradition, a class in Introduction to U.S. Law is about to meet for the first time. Professor Stephen C. Hicks, Faculty Director of the LL.M. Program in Global Technology at Suffolk University Law School, welcomes each of the students, who have traveled far to study in the program. One of the many firsts the students will experience in their academic and professional journey, this is the first course in a three-year pilot by the first graduate program for international students to use the Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program as a class textbook.

Orienting New Students

Today is the first day of Orientation. Patricia A. Davidson, the Administrative Director of the LL.M. Program, is there providing direction and encouragement as everyone makes an effort to settle down and gain perspective. A language specialist is also present to assist students with any language-related questions and concerns.
Professor Hicks projects onto a screen in a state-of-the-art classroom a page from the Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program and then looks at the students. He begins to explain the format of the program, the function of the hyperlinks, the character graphics that project classroom, professional, and survival tips. As he makes the presentation with logic and patience, he puts everyone at ease and sets the tone for an enriching classroom experience. The students are sent home with an assignment to read the Introduction Chapter and to make their way through the accompanying workbook. The class focuses on the Introduction during the first week or so, and Aristotle discovers its place on the front line of Orientation.

The Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program

Aristotle is the key to a foundation in substantive U.S. law and legal education. This is a solid foundation on the core subjects of U.S. law, e.g., Tort Law, Constitutional Law, Property Law, Contract Law, etc. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive perspective on the subject of law while maintaining clarity, conceptual accuracy, and depth. For the language component of the program, the subject sections of Aristotle are accompanied by a set of Companion Workbooks, which provide language support using the content-based approach. For example, the Constitutional Law reading is accompanied by a workbook that uses that reading as a context for building exercises on prepositions and prepositional phrases, one of the most difficult grammar areas for students to learn and for instructors to teach. The Comprehension Questions placed at strategic sections in the workbooks with respect to the readings help students to think about and to put into perspective the information they have read. Considering the inextricable relationship between law and language, the combination of the core Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program, which focuses on the content of the subject, and the Companion Workbooks, which focus on language study through the content of law, constitute an ideal set of materials for international students.

The Art of Coordination

The weeks following Orientation each focused on a particular subject, with the class meeting once a week for an hour and a half. Students brought annotated printouts of the readings to class and class discussion focused on the substantive matter of the law. Time was scheduled for the language component, in the form of individual study with the Companion Workbooks and tutoring by the language assistant of individual students. The program also worked in cooperation with the Academic Support Center of the law school, which students could turn to for extra help or guidance in legal writing.

In addition to his teaching, Professor Hicks added a special element to the program by inviting other professors, experts in each of the law disciplines, to be guest speakers in the course. On the week that the class was studying Property Law, for example, the Property Law Professor visited the class and spoke to the students about that subject. This added perspective not only gave the students an opportunity to meet professors from each discipline, but also enriched the experience of everyone participating in the LL.M. Program, including that of a layperson, the language instructor. With Professor Hicks facilitating, class discussion developed as professors and students connected the topics to current issues and to their respective comparative law experiences, leading to a whole new perspective for international students on their educational experience.

Professor Hicks comments, "We have been using the 'Aristotle' books of law at Suffolk University Law School for three years now. The Englica materials, separately and cumulatively, provide the best introduction to U. S. law I know of for international post-graduate law students. The Workbooks encourage self-reflection on the learning process. The links in the materials provide details and depth unavailable in other formats. The individual chapters offer a survey of the substantive law suitable for an introductory overview of law, or for a series of lectures on a particular subject, or for a foundation for bar review. The whole course of materials works to successfully expose students to the basics and to the complexities of the different areas of law. Student reaction has been uniformly positive and encouraging. In my role as Director of our LL.M. program I am now beginning to explore other uses for the materials in new contexts, such as for study abroad programs and for international students who may study U. S. law in universities abroad under the aegis of Suffolk University Law School." The quality of the materials combined with their appropriate application by the professor resulted in the Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program being a perfect fit to the LL.M Program. From one of the special guest speakers of the course the crowning glory for Aristotle came with Professor Andrew Beckerman-Rodau, who commented, "Excellent materials." Aristotle provides an unprecedented learning environment, transporting students to a field newly developing, where learning, teaching, and academic hospitality are at their finest.

The Classic and the Leading Edge

With a fresh approach to learning law, the Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program is deliverable in a state-of the-art electronic format, over the Internet or on CD-ROM, as well as in traditional format. This combination affords the learner two advantages: the efficiency of the new technology and the stability of the traditional learning process. For example, Aristotle makes optimal use of hyper-linking technology to organize a complex subject in such a way as to make it possible for students to sort through the various concepts of the law efficiently and make sense out of them early enough to get the most out of their law school experience while gaining an important foundation. Correspondingly, the traditional format of the workbooks is structured enough to provide the stability of time-tested practice, giving students the opportunity to work out with paper and pencil language-related questions, cultivating endurance, and among other benefits also reinforcing reading comprehension. The two together mutually reinforce one another, without weakening the flexibility of the materials.

Patricia Davidson comments on her experience with Aristotle at Suffolk, "The flexibility of the series is one of its most beneficial features, permitting students to work selectively on particular content areas (e.g., Tort Law) and grammar issues (e.g., passive voice) with which they need help." This flexibility allows the breadth necessary for the learners to absorb the material effectively and enjoyably while keeping on schedule with their other courses.

In an historic city of colleges and universities, where academic tradition and the forefront of technology meet, Aristotle went to Suffolk Law School. It was at this crossroad that the meeting of the Aristotle Law School Preparatory Program and the Suffolk University Law School LL.M. Program in Global Technology took place. Thus an exciting new learning environment was formed, resulting in a genuinely successful learning experience for international students.