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Dossier on the Arthurs Report on Law and Learning: A Reaction from University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2014
Extract
Two years ago, while preparing a one week seminar for law professors at the Université nationale du Rwanda in Butare, I had the occasion to revisit the Arthurs Report on Law and Learning. I remember that my reaction was: how did things change so significantly since the Report was published?
That is why I was very interested to receive my new issue of the Canadian Journal of Law and Society that announced a complete dossier on the Report. After I read the first two articles by esteemed colleagues Roderick A. Macdonald and Constance Backhouse, I was shocked. How could there be such a gap between my perception and theirs? I was nevertheless relieved to see that Andrée Lajoie, in her “comments on the comments”, was as astonished as I was. I then decided to write my own comments in order to reflect a bit more the situation of the Civil Law faculties in Quebec and in particular the vision of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). I will limit my comments to three topics: the study of law at the undergraduate and graduate levels and the state of legal scholarship.
- Type
- Debate/Débat
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , August 2003 , pp. 115 - 122
- Copyright
- Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2003
References
1 Consultative Group on Research and Education in Law, Law and Learning: Report to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services, 1983). [Arthurs Report]
2 Macdonald, R.A., “Still “Law” and Still “Learning”? Quel “droit” et quel “savoir”?” (2003) 18:1C.J.L.S. 5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3 Backhouse, “Revisiting the Arthurs Report Twenty Years Later” (2003) 18:1C.J.L.S. 33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Lajoie, A., «Le Rapport Arthurs vingt ans plus tard: «commentaire sur les commentaires» (2003) 18:1C.J.L.S. 45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5 Arthurs Report, supra note1 at 155, Recommendation 1.
6 Ibid. Recommendation 2.
7 Ibid. Recommendation 3.
8 Ibid. Recommendation 5.
9 Ibid. Recommendation 6.
10 The description of the program is available at http://www-s.regis.uqam.ca/Programmes/Pdf/7118.pdf
11 Backhouse, supra note 3 at 42.
12 It is a bit ironic that even the Quebec Bar called for a multidisciplinary training of law students. In an important policy document on the future of the practice of law in Quebec published in 1996, the Bar states: “La formation devrait être davantage multidisciplinaire. L'exemple qui revenait le plus souvent [lors d'une table ronde sur l'emploi des avocats] concerne le droit administratif où les avocats estiment être perçus comme des professionnels qui compliquent les choses devant les tribunaux. Les avocats doivent posséder et présenter une dimension humaine qui déborde le cadre strict du droit. Bien qu'il ne faille pas sous-estimer les difficultés inhérentes aux autres professions, les universités devraient offrir aux étudiants en droit une formation de base dans certaines disciplines comme composantes essentielles à la pratique telles la psychologie, la sociologie etc. » See Barreau du Québec, “La pratique du droit au Québec et l'avenir de la profession” (June 1996), online: http://www.barreau.qc.ca/opinions/memoires/1996/avenirprofession.pdf at 14. The subtext of the argument is the following: lawyers are perceived as arrogant by other professionals and to give them courses in psychology or in another discipline in social sciences might teach them how to behave themselves!
13 Social Law practice necessitates a sound understanding of medical reports (for instance in work-related accident claims) which will be studied in this course. This new course will be given for the first time in January 2004 in team-teaching by a law professor and a biology professor.
14 The opening of the Bachelor's Degree in International Relations and International Law is an example of the opening by the Département des sciences juridiques of legal education outside the professional stream. The description of the program can be found at http://www-s.regis.uqam.ca/Programmes/Pdf/7060.pdf.
15 On the subject of teamwork in legal education two of my colleagues have written about the experience at UQAM. See Lafond, P.-C. et Villaggi, J.-P., “Le travail en équipe dans le cadre de la formation juridique: une formule pédagogique utile?” (1997–1998) 28:1–2R.D.U.S. 41.Google Scholar
16 Macdonald, supra note 2 at 15.
17 Arthurs Report, supra note 1 at 56.
18 Ibid. at 36.
19 Ibid. at 156, Recommendation 10.
20 Ibid. Recommendation 11.
21 Commission des universités sur les programmes, “Les programmes de droit, de philosophie et d'éthique des universités du Québec, Rapport no. 21” (January 2000), online: http://crepuq.qc.ca/documents/cup/Rapports/RapportDEP.pdf at 12 [2000 CUP Report].
22 Arthurs Report, supra note 1 at 142.
23 Macdonald, supra note 2 at 17–18.
24 The description of the program is available at http://www.regis.uqam.ca/Pdf/programmes/3019.pdf
25 Macdonald, supra note 2 at 17–18.
26 According to the 2000 CUP Report, UQAM had the highest percentage of professors holding a doctorate at 60%, closely followed by Laval University at 57%, McGill at 56%. University of Montreal was at 40% and Sherbrooke University at 16%. See 2000 CUP Report, supra note 21 at 30.
27 2000 CUP Report, supra note 21 at 32.