A number of former and current students of King’s College London (KCL) have launched a petition against the removal of key modules from the LL.M programme.
As part of the overhaul of the law school, it is understood KCL is proposing to cut Negotiation and Analytical Methods for Lawyers from the curriculum; two subjects that the students say are “instances of exceptional innovative interdisciplinary teaching at the cutting edge of legal education”.
According to the petition, the university proposes to offer the courses as non-credit modules or short-term workshops, which the students believe is the equivalent to cutting them entirely.
In the petition, the students write: “It is our belief that King’s College would be a lesser institution without these modules and that by cutting them it loses a competitive advantage in the ever increasing rivalry between top universities in the UK, and the world.
“We are sad to see the College we hold dear cut its largest, most remarkable and reputable courses.”
In a statement from the university a spokesperson explained that it intends to include the modules in the LL.M programme, though in a different format.
It continues: “This follows from our recent decision to refocus our LL.M around the key areas that we believe are of most relevance to lawyers in global legal practice, and to look at new ways of offering an even richer postgraduate student experience.”
The university plans to offer a selection of courses of this nature in addition to the core legal modules around which the programme is built, providing both premium legal skills and certain crucial non-legal and soft skills valued by international lawyers.
The news follows a £20million donation to the law school by Hong Kong-based Philanthropist Dickson Poon CBE, which will go towards a £40million revamp (19 March 2012).
For full petition please follow this link.
Readers' comments (6)
Daniel Benighaus | 21-Mar-2012 10:42 am
I have taken the courses the petition refers to and I would like to add to the article that the actions of Kings College do not match their words. As the university has stated in their response, I think it is very valuable for postgraduate students to be offered both legal skills and non-legal skills courses because legal practice expects more from their employees than just applying the law, e.g. lawyers must negotiate settlements, analyse the prospects of a trial from an economic perspective and they must communicate with their clients. Uk and European law schools have not served this need. Therefore, many law firms have started their own inhouse training programmes. Mr Jeklic has offered similar courses based on his education in Harvard and on his experience as a banker in London in an academically sound way.
However, in the current LL.M. curriculum (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/graduate/master-of-laws/structure) the courses the petition refers to are the only non-legal soft skills courses. Therefore, if the school of law decides to cut these courses, no non-legal skills courses would remain. Further, I assume that by saying 'in a different format' Kings College might refer to the plan that they would like to offer the courses as so called 'non-credit modules'. However, offering these courses in such a format practically equals to cutting them because students in the LL.M. Programme already face a heavy workload. It will be likely that many students will not take the courses if they do not receive credit points for taking them. Further, I personally think that if Kings College wants to offer non-legal courses as an important part of their LL.M., it makes no sense to discourage students from taking these courses by awarding no credit points for taking them.
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Nico Koeppel | 21-Mar-2012 11:11 am
non-credit = oblivion!!
These coures were one of the few points which really distinguished King's from, e.g., LSE. Sad to see King's losing this competitive edge...
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David Allen | 21-Mar-2012 11:41 am
Current student in AQM. found the course to be extremely useful, love the opportunity it has given me to consider the law from a new perspective. The LL.M programme would be worse without it. Couldn't agree more with the sentiment above - non credit = oblivion.
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Soren Henriksen | 21-Mar-2012 3:39 pm
I am very concerned to object to the own goal, King's College is about to score. I went to King's College as it is famous for its inspiring lecturers: Mr. Mihael Jeklic was truly the most inspiring professor I've ever experienced and I took great pleasure in every single session he undertook. Furthermore, at every single interview I have gone to subsequently, it has been much appreciated that I have familiarized myself with the analytical and quantitative methods that Mr. Jeklic teaches. These are invaluable tools for every modern lawyer. To put the matter bluntly: If these courses are removed from the curriculum at King's College, the single most important reason that I chose King's College over LSE, Queen Mary and UCL would disappear. This would not only be sad to see for me personally, but also, THE reason for recommending King's to prospective students over the other unis would be gone.
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Anonymous | 28-Mar-2012 0:10 am
I was sad to hear about Kings' plans for reforming the LL.M, in particular making the AQM and negotiation classes (two of the most popular classes on the LL.M) non-credit. The lessons taught during these classes are very valuable to law firms, and indeed the magic circle firm where I trained before taking the LL.M put on similar classes and workshops for their trainees. Since the majority of graduates will seek to work for commercial law firms, it appears to be a short-sighted move by the university, as they are denying their students the opportunity to gain a edge over competitors, in this tough employment market.
Further, the action taken may also prove to be shortsighted in relation to donations from recent alumni, who may be prefer to make gifts to alternative alma maters.
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Viktoria Zioga | 30-Mar-2012 0:39 am
AQM and Negotiation offer invaluable tools for a modern lawyer which are much appreciated from the law firms. Commercial awareness,an economic sense of the deals and the ability of negotiating agreements successfully are basic skills that every lawyer should have.
Therefore,students that attend these courses would be much more prepared to enter the job market and be competitive in it , especially when courses are taught by Mr. Jeklic who does not only has deep knowledge of the subjects but also a true passion for his classes.
King's should rethink to make non-credit two of its most popular modules that distinguish it and were the reason for many students to pick it over other high caliber universities.
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