Integrating Problem Solving Exercises in Federal Criminal Law Courses

Abstract

Since the landmark Best Practices for Legal Education Reports was published in 2007, law schools have struggled with the issue of integrating problem-solving exercises, real-world lawyering, ethics lessons, and clinical opportunities into their curricula to supplement traditional lectures and Socratic dialogue. In this short essay, I describe how I have utilized mock exercises and projects in my upper-level Federal Criminal Law class, creating new projects every year to cover the greatest number of skills using the most current legal problems and issues.