NLS is the law faculty of Nottingham Trent University in the UK. The Centre for Legal Education (CLE) was launched in 2012 and is the focus for NLS’ activity in research and consultancy in legal education and the enhancement of legal practice. Our mission is to:
- work with and for those involved in educating in and for the legal services sector actively to enhance standards and public confidence
- contribute to, influence and drive thinking about education and regulation in and for the legal services sector from an informed and practical perspective.
The CLE has grown to be a national centre for research and consultancy in legal education and the enhancement of legal practice. We have worked on a wide variety of projects, many connected to the legal and other professions. We aim to transform legal education in the UK and globally, working with others to understand what works in legal education and why, and to analyse the shape and future of the legal professions.
Our work is eclectic and wide ranging. Some of us would describe ourselves as legal realists; others as pluralists. Some of us design innovative programmes and teaching approaches, including work on skills teaching, experiential and reflective learning, and curriculum design. Others are concerned with student wellness, the assessment of legal learning, the teaching of values and legal ethics, or the place of digital technologies in legal learning.
We engage in theoretical as well as empirical research. Some of us work with colleagues from other disciplines, including Education, Psychology and Medical Education. Some of us work with professional regulators both in the UK and elsewhere, and with bodies such as the Higher Education Academy and the International Legal Ethics Association. This has included reforms to structures of legal education in the UK for the professions of solicitors, barristers, legal executives, trade mark attorneys and licensed conveyancers. It has involved us in research beyond the UK in, for example Canada, Hong Kong and Mauritius. Many of us work with colleagues in other institutions.
In the next decade, our focus is to work increasingly with global partners.
All of us are committed to our work, our students and the cause of legal education in all its forms everywhere.