Simulation in legal education and training: from adoption to adaptation

Abstract

Direct purposeful experience, a synonym of “doing the real thing”, occupies the most privileged position in the Cone of Experience (Dale 1969) which seeks to hierarchically rank learning experiences in terms of concreteness. It is followed by contrived experiences, synonymous to simulations. Both require the learner to ‘do the thing’, one in real life and the other through simulated case studies and exercises. Legal education in Asia has been undergoing significant changes in the past decade. In enhancing the interactivity and the degree of realism in students learning, some of these law schools have recently been taking advantage of experiential learning, with or without the aid of information technology, largely based on the models of the US and the UK. This paper showcases the reformed Postgraduate Certificate in Laws programme at the University of Hong Kong which has not just changed from a knowledge-rich curriculum to one with greater emphasis on transactional knowledge and lawyering skills through the use of case files adapted from real cases, but also implemented, with necessary adaption and modification, pedagogical practices which have been proven overseas namely: (a) the use of a transactional e-learning platform known as Simulated Professional Learning Environment; and (b) standardized client interviews. Through an unprecedented empirical study of these simulation initiatives in Hong Kong, a common law jurisdiction in Asia, we argue that any sustainable transplant of pedagogical practices for legal education needs substantial adaptation to the societal needs of lawyering in a specific jurisdiction together with a very close fit with the prevailing behaviour of students in their learning and social life. This paper also highlights challenges that this ‘adoption and adaptation’ strategy is facing in any common law jurisdiction in the region.