Presenters' Abstracts, Bios, and Presentations

Affiliation: Professor, Queen's University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Beyond Bans: AI Literacy, Reflective Practice, and Assessment Integrity in Legal Education

This co-authored paper with Andrea Speltz examines how the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping legal education, disrupting traditional assessment practices and opening new opportunities for innovation in teaching and learning. Drawing on a multi‑year collaboration developing an online graduate diploma in immigration and citizenship law at Queen’s University, including instructor reflections, anonymized student work samples, and course‑level assessment data, the paper advances an argument for integrating reflective practice (RP) pedagogies (Leering 2019, 2023) to prepare students to engage with GenAI ethically and effectively in both law school and practice.

The analysis synthesizes recent scholarship and institutional policy guidance to propose a structured model of AI literacy for law students, distinguishing between domains in which GenAI tools can support learning—such as editing, feedback, and study planning—and domains in which they remain unreliable, including critical analysis, legal research, and accuracy in the face of bias (Bliss 2024). Empirical and practice‑based observations from the diploma program indicate that, when carefully scaffolded, GenAI‑supported activities can enhance formative assessment, deepen student engagement, and promote writing development. At the same time, the paper situates this work within emerging critical literature that cautions that uncritical or unregulated reliance on GenAI may undermine critical thinking, compromise assessment integrity, and reproduce or amplify systemic bias (Veale et al, 2025). 

Rejecting blanket prohibitions on GenAI as both unenforceable and pedagogically unsustainable, the paper argues for embedding GenAI within student workflows through rigorously designed RP tasks that require documentation, analysis, and critical evaluation of AI‑generated outputs. This RP‑centred design, the presentation contends, can foster critical thinking and metacognition while supporting the development of ethical, innovative, and accountable legal professionals, and the session will conclude by outlining practical parameters for implementing such activities and assessments in law curricula.

Abstract: Reflective Practice in the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Refugee Law

This presentation is co-presented with Christa Bracci and Andrea Speltz. This paper describes a multi-year collaboration to design and deliver rigorous reflective practice instruction across the curriculum in the online Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s Law. Grounded in a program-level learning outcome that requires students to self-assess their developing competencies and develop a concrete plan for ongoing professional growth, we position reflective practice as a skill in itself, one which is central to sustained competency development during and, more importantly, beyond formal study. Our pedagogical approach focuses on the process—not the substance—of reflection: we provide explicit frameworks that model rigorous, evidence-informed inquiry while allowing students to select subject matter from their own learning experiences that they feel warrants examination. The program-wide curriculum begins with a foundational unit on reflective practice theory in the introductory course; incorporates scaffolded formative exercises throughout; and culminates in the creation of a reflective practice portfolio. In this portfolio, students document their own development across courses and articulate a forward-looking plan for continued professional growth after graduation. This paper will share practical educational design strategies and transferable tools to support meaningful integration of reflective practice into course curricula, especially in the context of pre-professional education.

Bio: Sharry Aiken is a law professor and founding academic director of the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law (GDipICL) at Queen’s. She co-developed the flagship GDipICL "Foundations" course and continues to collaborate with colleagues Andrea Speltz and Christa Bracci in the design and refinement of skills instruction and assessment in the program.competency. 

Where presenting: CALT and Queen's Law virtual Symposium

Presentation: TBA

Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, University of South Australia and Managing Solicitor, UniSA Legal Advice Clinic

Country: Australia

Abstract: Teaching Students to Reflect (and Reflecting on How) 

Teaching reflection in law school can be especially challenging. So much of legal education trains students to detach from their feelings, be “objective,” and find the “right answer” in a revered rule-based system. Students learn that law and its practice privilege efficacy, certainty, and rigid analytic thinking. They obsess over grades, strive for perfection, and fear showing vulnerability. In this context, asking students to slow down, sit with ambiguity, and examine their own role within that rule-based system and its practice can feel risky, uncomfortable, and, at times, counter-cultural. 

This presentation shares how I introduce reflection in my CLE course. In the first class, I deliberately position reflection as core to lawyering rather than a soft add-on, beginning by asking students why they enrolled and what they hope to gain. By combining scholarship on reflection, Mentimeter, and classroom discussion, I invite students to engage in self-reflection, reflection on practice, and critical reflection. I connect this discussion to students’ favourite topic assessment and provide an exemplar of a past student’s reflective writing. With this presentation, I hope to invite reflection among participants and generate practical ideas for cultivating reflective practice in our own clinical programs. 

Bio: Matthew Atkinson is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Managing Solicitor of the University of South Australia’s Legal Advice Clinic. He teaches and researches CLE and professional ethics, with a sustained focus on reflective practice as a vehicle for social-justice learning. Matthew co-edited Contemporary Challenges in Clinical Legal Education: Role, Function and Future Directions (Routledge 2023) and authored the volume’s chapters on supporting reflective writing and on emerging CLE pedagogies. His empirical work – including an International Journal of Clinical Legal Education article on blogging, journaling and reflection – examines how digital tools and supervision techniques cultivate critical reflection. He is currently investigating how clinicians promote social-justice reflection within diversified Australian CLE programs. The symposium offers a welcoming opportunity to test these ideas, receive feedback, and contribute to a broader conversation on integrative reflective practice. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

Presentation: TBA

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Affiliation: Lecturer, O.P. Jindal Global University

Country: India

Abstract: From Critique to Praxis: Building Reflective Capacity in Legal Education

Contemporary legal education faces a persistent gap between critical legal scholarship & professional formation. While doctrinal training remains central & critical perspectives are increasingly introduced, law schools often fail to cultivate reflective capacities that enable students to translate critique into responsible legal practice. This paper examines how reflective pedagogy can bridge this divide by embedding ethical judgment & contextual reasoning within legal education. Drawing on clinical legal education, community-based lawyering & judicial training initiatives, the paper analyses pedagogical practices that institutionalise reflection as a core element of learning. Experiential clinics addressing bail reform, custodial justice & gender-based violence illustrate how guided reflection enables students to examine positionality, professional responsibility & the social consequences of legal intervention. The paper argues that sustaining such approaches requires institutional change that values reflexivity & sustained partnerships. These shifts move legal education beyond critique toward a reflective praxis capable of advancing reform-oriented & people-centred justice.

Bio: Avni Bahri is a socio-legal scholar & educator with extensive experience at the intersection of criminal justice, gender, human rights & institutional reform. Trained in law & grounded in both academic research and field-based practice, her work examines how legal institutions operate in everyday contexts, with a particular focus on prisons, policing, vulnerability, and access to justice. Her research draws on critical legal theory, feminist & caste-critical scholarship & comparative socio-legal methods, with a strong emphasis on translating critique into practice. As an educator, she integrates reflective pedagogy into legal education through clinical learning, experiential exercises & structured reflection, enabling students to connect doctrine, ethics & lived realities of law. Her work is especially attentive to developing self-reflection, collective reflection & critically engaged praxis among emerging legal professionals.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Manager, Education, Law Society of Alberta  

Country: Canada 

Abstract: Reflective Practice Across the Lawyer Lifecycle: From Bar Admission to CPD 

This session will explore how reflective practice is being embedded across the continuum of legal professional development. Drawing on examples from the Law Society of Alberta and the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, the presenters will examine how structured reflective exercises are being used to support both entry-to-practice learning and post-call continuing professional development (CPD). The session will highlight Alberta’s competency-based CPD model, including its Professional Development Profile and CPD Tool, which guide lawyers through self-assessment, goal setting, and year-end reflection. It will also profile how reflective practice is embedded within Newfoundland and Labrador’s bar admission program, supporting student reflection on professional identity, competency development, and challenging experiences throughout the articling term. Together, these perspectives will show how reflective practice can be meaningfully integrated into legal education and regulation to enhance competence, self-awareness, and professional growth. 

Bio: I was the staff lead on the team that designed and developed the Law Society of Alberta’s continuing professional development (CPD) program, as well as an online platform (the “CPD Tool”) that guides lawyers in Alberta through the creation of a CPD plan for each year. This process incorporates reflective practice, both in the selection of competencies to focus on each year, and in reflecting on the effectiveness of the learning activities the lawyer has engaged in to develop or enhance those competencies. We also worked with academics specializing in this area to create a course on reflective practice to help lawyers better understand how that process works and how it can benefit their CPD. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium 

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor and Education Scientist in the Department of Surgery at McMaster University; Research Associate, College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice and Public Protection: Professional Identity Formation in Immigration Practice

This presentation with Megan Marshall and Beata Pawlowska situates reflective practice at the intersection of professional identity formation, professional competence, and public protection. Taking immigration practice as its site of inquiry, it examines how reflective practice enables practitioners to interrogate their own assumptions, exercise judgment under conditions of uncertainty, and remain attentive to the technical, relational, and moral dimensions of practice. In this account, professional competence is not exhausted by technical proficiency; it includes disciplined reflection and the capacity to recognize how professional decisions are shaped by the lived realities of practitioners and those subject to immigration processes. The development of this dimension of competence becomes especially acute in the early years of practice, when the transition from learning environment to professional practice is often marked by uncertainty, readiness gaps, and heightened risk of attrition. From the perspective of a public-interest regulator, the cultivation of reflective competence is therefore integral to supporting professional identity formation, strengthening practice, and advancing public protection.

Bio: Dr. Cassandra Barber, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Education Scientist in the Department of Surgery at McMaster University and a Scientist at the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Research Institute. She is also an Adjunct Scientist with the McMaster Education Research, Innovation and Theory (MERIT) Centre and an ICES Scientist (Fellow). Dr. Barber is a demographer and health professions education researcher whose work focuses on surgical education, workforce distribution, and the relationship between training systems and patient outcomes. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Western University and a PhD from the School of Health Professions Education at Maastricht University. Drawing on expertise in psychometrics, competency-based medical education, and population health methods, her research uses large-scale administrative data to examine how education systems influence healthcare quality, physician workforce distribution, and equitable access to care.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

Country: Canada

Abstract: Teaching Self-Reflection for Decolonial Disruption

This presentation and subsequent paper will engage with the intersection of Indigenous pedagogy in reflective practice to create opportunities for connection and solidarity through value clarification and ethical engagement. I provide several different examples of this work across different leaning modalities, including teaching clinical praxis, Indigenous laws, and other subjects within the Canadian legal framework, such as sentencing and family law, as well as facilitating instruction to prepare law students for their bar exams through the PLTC program here in BC. This presentation (and subsequent paper) contemplates the value of reflective practice to support not just justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, but also decolonization and Indigenization in legal education and student learning in order to disrupt the normative violence of legal education in Canada.

Bio: I am Métis from Alberta. I bring both breadth and depth of experience teaching the value self-reflective practice through a lens that engages Indigenous pedagogies across diverse modalities and to various learners, including law students, articling students, lawyers, civil servants, and judges. My work examines the intersections of justice and law, with an emphasis on the experiences of Indigenous peoples, and disrupting the normative violence of colonial legal education. My research focuses on Indigenous laws, access to justice for Indigenous peoples, decolonizing and Indigenizing law, and using Indigenous pedagogies in experiential learning and skills-based legal education and training. I currently teach in the areas of Indigenous and Aboriginal laws, including Métis law, family law, and Indigenous and feminist legal theory. I have also practiced across a broad spectrum of law including administrative, civil, class action, criminal, child protection, family, and prison law.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor, Canada Research Chair in Mental Health and Access to Justice, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law (French Common Law)

Country: Canada

Abstract: From Reflective Learning to Political Engagement: How Can We Get Students Interested in the Law of Marginalized People?

This presentation will be based on individual and collective community involvement experiments conducted as part of my Mental Health and the Law course and at the Outaouais Interdisciplinary Social Law Clinic, which works with people experiencing homelessness. These experiments are based on three premises: the association between social determinants of health and structural legal inequalities, the value of experience-based knowledge, and working directly with community groups. Through community involvement, students go beyond their theoretical knowledge to co-construct a comprehensive conception of justice rooted in community experiences and needs. As they become aware of their privileges and of different ways of transmitting and using their legal knowledge for the benefit of marginalized people and the groups that support them, they also question the role of legal professionals in structural social change. 

Bio: I have been teaching Mental Health and the Law for over 10 years in the third year of law school, and I am part of the founding team of the Outaouais Interdisciplinary Social Law Clinic at the University of Ottawa. On the teaching front, I have had a number of community experiences, such as holding part of my classes in a museum featuring an exhibition of artworks by people who have experienced seclusion and restraint, conducting reflective work based on audience observations, and enrolling in the Community Service Learning Program, in which students produce research or documents for the benefit of community groups. I have also carried out several studies in legal clinics focusing on the experiences of students and users.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  - see Programs tab

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Affiliation: Professor, Université de Sherbrooke

Country: Canada

Abstract: Integrating Reflective Practice and Professional Identity Formation in Week 3 of L1: Too Soon?

In Sept. 2024, Université de Sherbrooke introduced a new course entitled “Becoming a Legal Professional”. This 45-hour course was developed in response to the study by Nathalie Cadieux et al. (2022) on the mental health of legal professionals in Canada, which revealed that more than half of the respondents reported experiencing psychological distress, with even higher rates for professionals with less than 10 years of practice. Through various experiential activities, the course aims to foster the development of transversal competencies, and to develop students' reflective practice, with particular attention to professional identity formation and reflections on the role of lawyers in society. Our contribution will outline the structure and objectives of the course, highlighting both its early successes and the challenges encountered in the first years of its implementation. In the Quebec context, where most law students enter law schools at 19 years old without prior undergraduate degree, we will discuss the issue of timing. Is it too soon to introduce professional identity formation as early as the third week of the first year of Law school? Spoiler alert: we think it is not.

Bio: After practicing law in private practice for nearly 10 years and arguing high-profile cases before all of Quebec’s courts, Claudia Bérubé now devotes her time to teaching law as an adjunct professor at the Université de Sherbrooke. She also provides legal training to professionals and serves as a consulting attorney. In addition to teaching several undergraduate law courses, she is now involved in various special projects related to professional development and student well-being, including the design, implementation, and coordination of the new course "Becoming a Jurist". In her teaching, Ms. Bérubé is particularly interested in active teaching methods and the use of technology to enhance learning.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Georgia Gwinnett College

Country: USA

Abstract: From Bedside Manner to Bar-Side Manner: Adapting Healthcare’s Emotional Intelligence Training for Legal Education

Through an analysis of these different autonomy models, the paper aims to highlight the distinctive benefits of the proposed approach and the role it can play in not only promoting client autonomy but also being mindful of the fact that lawyers are not merely ‘hired guns’ but also have wider societal moral obligations.

Bio: Dr. Danni Bian is an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies in the School of Business at Georgia Gwinnett College. Dr. Bian teaches core business law courses including Legal Environment of Business and Regulation of the Accounting Profession and is admitted to practice law in Georgia and the District of Columbia. Her research examines issues in legal education, public policy, and institutional governance, with a focus on equity and emerging approaches to teaching and professional development. 

Where presenting: Nottingham Trent Centre for Legal Education Conference

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Affiliation: Professor of Legal Education, University of Leeds

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: 'What Do We Want Them to Know and Do?’ Reflecting on the Development of the PRIME (Professions, Reflections, Identities, Motivations and Ethics) Module at the School of Law, University of Leeds

The PRIME module is a compulsory module for LLB Law students at the School of Law, University of Leeds. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only Law module of its kind within England and Wales, encompassing as it does employability-related skills and topics, but with a focus on individual and collective understandings of the self. The module is assessed by way of a reflective assessment, which proved the most difficult part of the module to decide upon during the design process (ahead of the module starting in September 2025). This paper will include the module leader’s reflections on how she worked through those difficulties, her satisfaction with the results, and her reflections on the first round of assessments written by the students. The paper will consider to what extent the module has achieved its aim of providing students with a space in which to consider not only what they want to be, but also who they want to be (during their studies and beyond), as well how well the assessment has captured their personal and learning gains during their first year of study.

Bio: I am a Professor of Legal Education at the School of Law, University of Leeds, where I have worked since 2005. In that time, I have been Director of Community Engagement (Pro Bono), Director of Academic Personal Tutoring, Director of Community and Belonging, Deputy Director of Student Education, Co-Director of the Centre for Innovation and Research in Legal Education, and a Fellow of the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence. I have authored and edited numerous publications focused upon the wellbeing of law students, legal academics and legal professionals, and am currently a Deputy Editor of the Law Teacher: The International Journal of Legal Education. I am also a founding member of Connecting Legal Education, an international community of practice with almost 400 members which to date has held over 70 online events focused upon teaching and learning practices, as well as an in-person conference. I am embedded within, and wholeheartedly committed to, both the student experience and the legal education communities: all of my leadership roles, and most of my scholarship, has been focused upon improving legal education for students, academics and professional services colleagues. 

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Lawyer and Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: Access-to-Justice Education in Canada: Challenges and Potential for Reflective Practice

Access-to-justice education is at a crossroads. In 2013, the Canadian Bar Association urged the profession to invest in law students as future access-to-justice practitioners through enhanced educational initiatives. Despite meaningful advances, the gap between unmet legal needs and lawyer capacity to fulfill them continues to grow. We must reexamine how current law school pedagogy reflects the broader, interdisciplinary system within which the law operates. Legal education must prepare students for real-world and systemic justice challenges. Building on research from the Access to Justice Education Initiative, my presentation with Valerie LeBlanc will identify and analyze key access-to-justice competencies. Our cross-jurisdictional research and consultations with scholars and justice system actors will reveal the core knowledge and skills required for people-centered lawyering. Our presentation will outline current and potential learning pathways that shape practice-ready, self-reflective, and resilient legal professionals. Finally, we will share how these findings will help to develop targeted educational materials for embedding access-to-justice competencies in law schools across Canada.

Bio: Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly is a lawyer and assistant professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, where his research focuses on access to justice in civil matters. He is particularly interested in legal and judicial reforms that promote citizen and community participation. He holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the University of Toronto, where he was a Vanier Scholar and a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada and as a civil litigation associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in Montreal. In addition to his research and teaching, he remains involved in several community initiatives, including pro bono constitutional litigation, various committees of the Canadian Bar Association, the National Self-Represented Litigants Project, and the Action Committee on Access to Justice. He is also a research affiliate at the Quebec Institute for Law and Justice Reform.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Queen's University 

Country: Canada

Abstract: Rubrics for Reflection: Lessons Learned from a Case Study of an Indigenous Land-based Learning Course 

Assessing law students’ reflective work presents persistent challenges, particularly within Canadian law schools where bell-curved grading regimes intersect uneasily with Indigenous legal education pedagogies. This presentation explores competing perspectives on whether, and how, reflection can be assessed productively within a mandatory curve that is already widely recognized as pedagogically fraught. Drawing on lessons I learned from the design and implementation of a criterion-referenced assessment in a land-based Indigenous law course, I examine how assessment can both support students’ development of meaningful reflective practices and promote fairness within constrained institutional grading structures. The discussion situates this work within broader conversations about decolonial assessment, identifying promising practices as well as the limits and unfinished work of aligning reflective assessment with Indigenous pedagogical commitments in legal education. 

Bio: Lindsay Borrows is an Assistant Professor at Queen’s University, Faculty of Law, where she teaches Indigenous law. She was named the inaugural holder of the Queen's Law Professorship in Indigenous Law & Governance in 2025. Prior to joining Queen's, she worked as a lawyer and researcher at the Indigenous Law Research Unit (University of Victoria Faculty of Law), and as a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. In both positions she provided legal support to Indigenous communities and organizations engaged in the revitalization of their own laws for application in contemporary contexts. She has worked on community-engaged projects with different legal traditions including Anishinaabe, Denezhu, Haíɫzaqv, Nlaka’pamux, nuučaan̓uł, St’át’imc, Syilx and Tsilhqot’in. She is particularly passionate about the possibilities within land-based legal education, and since 2014 she has co-facilitated various ‘on-the-land’, community-engaged Anishinaabe Law Camps in partnership with different law schools and communities across Ontario. Her book Otter’s Journey Through Indigenous Language and Law (UBC Press, 2018) explores the connections between language and law. Lindsay is Anishinaabe and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Full Professor, University of Ottawa

Country: Canada

Abstract: What Can we Learn About Reflective Practice From Cinema and Film Studies

Law reproduces, confronts, competes with, and is inextricably interknit with, other ways of organizing and constituting knowledge about human relationships. Visual media, and movies in particular, are one such competing and complementing mode of knowing about societal inequalities and the law’s role in advancing or hindering access to justice. Researchers in legal studies and film studies alike have begun exploring how to invite learners and practitioners to engage in reflective inquiry on their daily practices. This paper examines what guidance legal professionals, legal educators and legal learners can gain from the unique modes of reflective practice that cinema affords.   

Bio: I have been exploring theories and practices of self-reflexivity and other modes of reflective practice through my research with and for people living at the margins of formal institutions for over two decades. While I do primarily turn to the theories and lexicon of cinema studies in my research, I have also published a book which includes a concrete examination of reflective practice in conflict resolution.   

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Adjunct Lecturer, Queen's Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice in the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Refugee Law

This presentation is co-presented with Sharry Aiken and Andrea Speltz. This paper describes a multi-year collaboration to design and deliver rigorous reflective practice instruction across the curriculum in the online Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s Law. Grounded in a program-level learning outcome that requires students to self-assess their developing competencies and develop a concrete plan for ongoing professional growth, we position reflective practice as a skill in itself, one which is central to sustained competency development during and, more importantly, beyond formal study. Our pedagogical approach focuses on the process—not the substance—of reflection: we provide explicit frameworks that model rigorous, evidence-informed inquiry while allowing students to select subject matter from their own learning experiences that they feel warrants examination. The program-wide curriculum begins with a foundational unit on reflective practice theory in the introductory course; incorporates scaffolded formative exercises throughout; and culminates in the creation of a reflective practice portfolio. In this portfolio, students document their own development across courses and articulate a forward-looking plan for continued professional growth after graduation. This paper will share practical educational design strategies and transferable tools to support meaningful integration of reflective practice into course curricula, especially in the context of pre-professional education.

Bio: Christa Bracci teaches legal research and writing and legal practice skills in both the JD and graduate programs in the Faculty of Law at Queen's University. She developed the legal skills curriculum for the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law and has been the lead skills instructor since the program's inception.  As a member in good standing of the Bar of Ontario, and formerly of the Bar of British Columbia, Christa has practiced in both large and small firm settings. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Law Emerita, New York University School of Law

Country: USA

Abstract: Walking in Circles to New Insights: Conducting Reflective Meditations One Step at a Time

In times of chaos, labyrinth walking often sees a resurgence. Today is no different. For some, exerting physical action is the key to quieting the mind for a meaningful reflection and meditation practice. This article describes how labyrinth walking can be used to help law students and other legal practitioners strengthen their professional identities, establish paths to transformational lawyering, set career intentions, improve well-being, address feelings of disorientation and confusion, expand empathy, and lead to leadership insights, to name a few. It will describe the history of labyrinth walking. It will provide prompts and journaling exercises that can be embedded into labyrinth walks for law students and legal professionals. It also will address the practicalities of facilitating labyrinth walks. In doing so, this article draws on Prof. Burand’s training as a labyrinth facilitator and her experience in leading labyrinth walks for law students and legal practitioners -- from a law school in New York City to a convent in Singapore

Bio: Deborah Burand is a professor of law emerita at NYU School of Law.  She also serves as the faculty director for the Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, a pioneering initiative she co-founded at NYU Law with fellow professor of law emerita Helen Scott. After a decade at NYU Law, Deborah now teaches globally as a visiting professor on topics related to social entrepreneurship, impact investing and sustainable development. Deborah also leads a hands-on, negotiation course each spring term in NYU Law’s Paris program that exposes students to common legal and business challenges involved in creating and operating impact investment funds. During her over nearly twenty years in academia, Deborah established the first law school-based international transactions clinics in the United States—at NYU Law in 2015 and at  the University of Michigan Law School in 2008. She was honored as a Higher Education Ambassador Fellow by the Council on Foreign Relations for 2024–2025 and received a Distinguished Teaching Award from NYU Law in 2024. In 2021, she and retired Professor Scott Taitel (Wagner School) were recognized by the Financial Times for their innovative and creative teaching materials in sustainable finance education. Beyond academia, Deborah’s experience spans the private sector (global law firm), public sector (including the general counsel role for the US Government’s development finance institution, senior positions at the Federal Reserve Board and Treasury Department), and nonprofit sector (leadership positions in conservation and microfinance organizations). Earlier in her career, Deborah was awarded an International Affairs Fellowship by the Council on Foreign Relations, during which she served in the legal departments of both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor, University of Victoria

Country: Canada 

Abstract: Embodiment as Critical Reflection: Images and Art in the Law School Classroom

A thick and diverse approach to legal education should enable students to learn to live at ease with multiple truths, irresolvable conflicts, abundant ambiguities, and ironies galore (Arthurs, Connecting the Dots, 94). And at the same time, it needs to include at its heart the means through which to revisit and reconsider prior commitments in light of other commitments, changed circumstances or new information (Gewirtzman, Our Founding Feelings, 668). Drawing upon a 2024 survey that asked graduates of UVic Law to connect the courses and teaching methods that they encountered during their law degrees with the competencies that are most important to their day-to-day practice, this paper reflects on a series of exercises where students put their bodies into the learning of law. It then posits these innovative acts of reflective practice as moments of transformation learning; acts of social justice integral to the work of training students to be both humane professionals and good human beings.

Bio: Gillian Calder is a Professor and former Associate Dean, at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law where she teaches Constitutional Law, Family Law and related seminars from feminist, queer and anti-colonialist perspectives. Gillian’s research has focused on questions of legal imagination, theories of constitutional law, law's impact on our understanding of the family and family formation, performativity and storytelling. Her recent work queries law and emotion, where she is weaving connections between teaching, embodiment and social location. Throughout, she is keenly interested in critical legal pedagogy and is working on a monograph that examines the role creativity, ethical imagination and empathy should play in a legal education.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Director of Experiential Learning, University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law

Country: Hawaii

Abstract: Reflection as Resistance: The Personal-Professional Identity Dialectic and Political Agency  

As the accelerating and interlapping crises around us unfold, we find ourselves simultaneously overwhelmed and compelled to act. Yet as their interconnections clarify—between the climate emergency and fascism, between racism and war, between imperialism and poverty, between freedom and the right to control women’s bodies and choose whom we love—we also find ourselves needing perspective, analysis. In this article, I explore reflection as resistance, or the revolutionary act of contemplation, of the need to transform reflection into strategic action. In particular, in this article, I focus on our identities and multiple consciousness to inform action—in historicizing ourselves and our community’s struggles to examine the contingencies of history and, therefore, political agency. 

Bio: Eduardo R.C. Capulong is a professor of law and director of experiential learning at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law.  He taught previously at CUNY School of Law, University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law, NYU School of Law, and Stanford Law School.  His recent scholarship addresses professional identity formation, legal education, reflection, democracy, and the rule of law.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Practice, University of California, Los Angeles

Country: USA

Abstract: Refined Reflection: A Second Look at Models of Reflection

This paper will review and update a previous work, Reflective Practice: The Stages of Reflection, (Casey, Clin. L. Rev. 2014). The “Stages of Reflection” model envisioned six stages of reflection, each building on the prior stage. The model provides a useful tool for experiential educators who seek structure for reflections. The model also provides guidance – and examples – for students. But the model may need revision. This paper seeks to expand and further develop the cognitive basis underlying the model, and to further explain the process of cognitive development among both undergraduate and graduate students. For example, the Stages of Reflection paper noted development along an axis from “binary thinking” to “contextual thinking.” This paper takes a deeper dive into the application of cognitive science to our experience in teaching in experiential legal education. 

Bio: Prof. Casey's seminal work (2014) on RP in clinical legal education is the most internationally cited RP article in Law. He regularly teaches lecture courses in Legal Ethics and experiential seminars in criminal law to Juris Doctor (JD) level students. He also regularly presents at regional, national and international conferences and other elsewhere on RP. A former Fulbright Scholar and legal aid lawyer, he has taught at five American law schools and two law schools in Argentina. He is a member of influential law teaching networks like the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) and the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE), and is currently on the Editorial Board of the US Clinical Law Review.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor, University of Melbourne

Country: Australia

Abstract: Reflective Practice and Fostering Creativity and Embedding Essential Human Qualities in Legal Education 

Associate Professor Gary Cazalet proposes to contribute an article exploring the role of creativity in fostering reflective practice. Across a range of subjects—including trial advocacy, future lawyering, law and technology, and law and literature—he has embedded reflection as a core element of teaching, learning, and assessment. His presentation will examine how practices such as in class handwritten note-taking and handwritten and illustrated journalling have supported students in developing their professional identity, clarifying their values, and enhancing their wellbeing. He will also reflect on how cultivating reflective practice helps embed essential human qualities in legal education at a time when artificial intelligence is reshaping the legal profession. 

Bio: Associate Professor Gary Cazalet has been a member of Melbourne Law School for over 20 years. He is the Co-Covenor of the Education Focussed Careers Community of Practice at the University of Melbourne and has been the Director of Teaching at the Law School. Prior to joining the Law School, he was a barrister, mediator and solicitor. Gary has been invited to teach and give workshops and papers nationally and internationally on experiential learning, creative thinking and reflective practice. He is currently writing a book on how creativity supports not only better legal thinking and problem-solving but also greater resilience, satisfaction, and purpose in the legal profession. 

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Reader, Warwick Business School (WBS), University of Warwick

Country: England

Abstract: A Collaborative Reflection on Approaches to Reflective Learning for Students of Law

Interdisciplinary collaboration is becoming an increasingly important workplace skill (Rowe & Zegwaard, 2017) but the approaches to cross disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning depends on the teaching context. It is proposed that this context can provide professional learning for the student of law as well as for the legal academic teaching them.

As academics from different institutional backgrounds and different law-based programmes, our research focuses on how reflective learning is both interpreted and experienced by students from diverse backgrounds (Burkett 2012). The design of reflective practice undertaken has been informed by Brookfield’s student-centred “Letters to Successors” reflective approach (2017) and used in an undergraduate interdisciplinary module, and this is compared with co-operative collaboration as a method of introducing opportunities for individual professional reflective learning for LLM students (Race 2006).

This reflective presentation will share the teacher and learner journeys, and the commonalities identified regarding the impact of reflective learning between two groups of students and their teaching focused academics. Selected theoretical frameworks will be discussed pertaining to reflective practice (Brookfield, 2017; Harvey, Coulson & McMaugh 2016). Our thematic analysis methodology (Braun & Clarke, 2006) can be adapted and implemented by delegates from any discipline/institution.

Our presentation will share how in partnership with students we use and adapt reflective learning to improve student confidence, criticality, and meta-cognition within our respective programmes. Professional Learning here is based on the intentional communication with a colleague and the curation of a balanced and supported conversational space, which creates that opportunity for authenticity, recognition of feelings, mentoring, and peer connection, as well as future planning and development (Baker, Jensen & Kolb 2002). This collaborative reflection aims to share with fellow educators how reflection can underpin lifelong learning for both the student and teacher.

Bio: Leela Cejnar is a Reader at the Warwick Business School (WBS), University of Warwick, where she teaches in the undergraduate business law program. Leela has also previously held academic positions in Australia. Her background includes experience in legal practice in Australia. Leela’s current scholarship focuses on the use of reflective practice to understand why and how non-law students study law, with the aim of identifying ways to improve student learning and teaching practices. She is also engaged in scholarship focusing on interdisciplinary effectiveness in enabling the transferability of skills into the workplace and the future of legal education. Leela holds a PhD in Law and has previously researched and published in competition and consumer law. Leela is currently an Editor in the Policy and Educational Developments Team of The Law Teacher and is a Senior Fellow of the UK's Higher Education Academy.

Where presenting: NT CLE

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Affiliation: Professor of Professional Legal Education, Nottingham Trent University Faculty of Law and Director, Centre for Legal Education

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Professional Adolescence: Towards a Terminology for Liminality in Legal Education 

On qualification, the new lawyer looks backwards, drawing on their educational experiences so far, including in particular of work experience/training contract/articles. They also look forward, to their burgeoning career. For English solicitors, this requires a balancing between the regulatory drive for minimum competence marked by the competence statement (SRA, 2022) and the personal drive to extend their “scope and quality” (Eraut, 1994: 167) towards expertise and independence (Ching, 2012; Ching et al., 2015). Especially where professional formation is sequential, developing terminology for this and other liminal stages helps young and aspiring lawyers (and other professionals) succeed in the classroom and especially in the workplace. It provides a benchmark for educators and supervisors to reflect on our own practices and how we seek to equip our students to transcend their professional adolescence and to thrive. 

Bio: Dr. Jane Ching is Professor of Professional Legal Education at Nottingham Law School, UK where she is Director of the Centre for Legal Education and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research on the regulatory and cultural structures and experiences of early career professional legal education has led her to work in over twenty countries, including as a member of the Legal Education & Training Review (LETR) research team in England and Wales. She has a particular interest in the use of reflection techniques with practising professionals. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law

Country: USA

Abstract: Reflective Practices in Restorative Legal Pedagogy

This article explores fostering enhanced capacity for reflective inquiry and practice in legal education through a restorative pedagogical approach. Teaching restoratively employs self-reflection, regulation, and consensus-based decision-making. It engages reflective practices to teach collaboration, tolerance of ambiguity, complex problem-solving, questioning the status quo, prefiguration, and resistance to binary thinking. Restorative pedagogy builds skills vital to a healthy legal profession: emotional intelligence, cultural humility, trauma-informed practice, and dialogic skills. The use of holistic, reflective, and circle-based practices grounded in the pillars of restorative justice (respect, self-reflection, relationship, community, and dialogue) can mitigate the elements of legal education contributing to our current “polycrisis.” Restorative practices develop emotional awareness and self-compassion, build skills for respectful and effective communication, elevate and honor the voices and experiences of historically marginalized people, and protect against the burnout and dehumanization that can amplify the worst aspects of our adversarial legal system.

Bio: As a former public defender, clinical professor, and restorative justice facilitator, reflective practices are at the core of my teaching. My students engage in self-reflection to develop their professional identities, use dialogic reflection in circle and in their collaborative work, and employ collective reflection to provide constructive and supportive feedback to their peers. Clinical teaching—if done well—is always a reflective practice, but I also engage with my students through a restorative pedagogy based on my commitment to fostering a learning environment that invites students to bring their whole selves to their work in the classroom and in their legal practice. In helping students develop their skills for self-compassion, resilience, trauma-informed practice, and critical and imaginative thinking, I hope to equip them with the tools needed not only for sustainability in the legal profession, but also for the courage and ability to confront its ever-growing injustices.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Legal Education, Murdoch University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Reflection Will be the Thing That Saves You: Linking Reflective Practice to Wellbeing and Happiness in Graduating Students

This presentation will outline the links between reflection and wellbeing in practice and explore the approach taken with one cohort of graduating law students. More and more students are understanding the long-standing links between legal practice and negative impacts on wellbeing, including depression, substance abuse and unhappiness. In trying to undermine the tendency of graduates to see unsustainable work practices as simply ‘part of the job’, reflective practice plays a crucial role.  This session will explore that role and suggest some ways to harness this insight to improve both the wellbeing and the practice of graduating lawyers. An added bonus is that students approach reflection with a new enthusiasm when they understand that rather than something else they have to do or learn, it is their lifeline and key to a sustainable and happy legal career. 

Bio: I have been teaching clinic for 2 and a half decades, and a fundamental part of my teaching is ethical and reflective practice.  Since writing the chapter on reflection in Australian Clinical Legal Education 2017, Evans et al.), I have developed clinical curriculum and continued to research and publish in this area.  Most recently publishing  ‘Ethics, Clinics and Unbearable Hierarchy of Law’ in Wellness for Law: Reflecting on the Past Shaping the Future (2024, Marychurch et al.) I am also active in clinical and broader teaching networks particularly around the use of reflection to fundamentally change the institution of law teaching from one that maintains the status quo, to one that embraces change and seeks justice.  Through this process we can change the legal profession and take the long resident ‘thumb’ off the scales of justice.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor Clinical legal Education & Research Impact Lead Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University

Country: England

Abstract: Reflective Practice: Its Value in Creating Improvements in Service Delivery and Advancing People Centred Justice

Reflective practice is used in research and evaluation to respond to systemic challenges. Drawing on integrated practice studies, particularly HJPs, Curran shows its influence on practice change, funding, and service delivery improvements that advance people centred justice. It underpins her evaluation method, with collective reflection strengthening communication and collaborative problem solving. Reflective Practice Conversations and professional development journals, guided by prompting questions, enable staff and managers to pause and consider what they do, why, and what works. Described as transformational, the approach builds capability in integrated service delivery, effectiveness, access to justice, and social determinants of health outcomes. The paper details how this work has shaped practice, organisational culture, workforce issues, structural impediments, and the resilience of staff and communities.

Bio: Dr. Curran is a legal practitioner of 30+ years in private and public law. Her research spans access to justice, integrated practice, health justice partnerships, legal empowerment, legal ethics, and effective practice across Australia, the UK, and Canada. She has worked in NGOs, government, consultancy, senior advisory roles, and directed charities, human rights organisations, legal practices, and clinical legal education programs. She is sole author of Better Law for a Better World (Routledge UK), has written five book chapters, 30 peer reviewed articles, 80 non refereed publications, and at least 25 industry reports. Her work focuses on client centred and trauma informed practice, effective legal practice, ethics, and legal education since 1995. She has influenced policy and funding and contributes to policy, law reform, research, legal empowerment, and UK government advisory bodies.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Part-time Professor of Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediator, Consultant, Humber Polytechnic

Country: Canada

Abstract: Bias, Burnout and Blind Spots: Why Reflection Matters in Trauma-Informed Law & ADR

This paper is co-authored with Rebecca Norris. The myth that members of the legal profession have and need detached objectivity can leave lawyers and mediators blind to the human realities shaping behaviour, conflict patterns, and decision-making, ranging from basic decisions to critical ones. This paper explores self-reflective practice as a tool for recognising and navigating one’s own responses to threat, distress and systemic pressure - which, in turn, allows us to identify and navigate others’ responses more skillfully. Grounded in neuroscience and trauma-informed insights, we set out how reflection supports attunement to clients, ethical advocacy, resilience under pressure and competent decisions-making. In this paper, we explain how, when embedded as a standard professional competency, self-reflection protects clients, witnesses, and practitioners alike, turning emotional awareness into a strategic and ethical asset.

Bio: Raheena Lalani Dahya is a family law and community mediator in Toronto, Canada; a Professor of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at Humber Polytechnic; and a faculty member of family law mediation programs at various institutions in Canada. Her academic focus is split into three streams: (1) the application of neuroscientific principles to the practice mediation, including trauma-informed and attachment-informed mediation; (2) culture and conflict in an algorithmic society; and (3) risk assessment and the mitigation of violence in interpersonal conflict. Raheena’s work has been used in North America, the UK, Europe, Africa, and Oceania. Raheena is a lawyer in Ontario, and an unregistered Barrister in England and Wales. She is accredited as a mediator by multiple institutions internationally. Currently, Raheena is serving her first three-year term as a global mediation trainer for the Aga Khan International Conciliation and Arbitration Board. Raheena is a dedicated member of the mediation field, having spent years advancing the industry, in part through her leadership roles. She served six terms as an Executive Board Director of the Ontario Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section; and four terms as a Board Director for the Family Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario, (which was then) a family mediation accrediting body, where she founded the Family Violence Section and served as the inaugural Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Raheena is committed to life-long learning and the rigorous pursuit of knowledge. At present, she is studying in a part-time MSc in Applied Neuroscience programme at King’s College London, as part of her ongoing research in ADR & neuroscience. She is an avid yoga practitioner and a certified yoga teacher.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Program Manager, U.S. National Nonprofit; Attorney - Former Public Defender, no affiliation

Country: USA

Abstract: In Right Relationship: Practicing and Teaching Trauma-Responsive Restorative Advocacy

Attorneys who recognize and respond to trauma and stress—in both clients and themselves—are better positioned to provide effective advocacy and shape more restorative legal practice. In an era of mounting pressures, legal education must evolve to prepare attorneys for modern practice while nurturing essential relational skills. This Article proposes Trauma-Responsive Restorative Advocacy, a framework that builds on trauma-informed approaches to address attorney wellness, enhance client representation, and transform legal culture. The framework comprises four pillars: expanding trauma education, incorporating somatic practices, cultivating mindfulness, and adopting restorative practice. Attorneys can create environments of coherence in professional interactions by assuming a restorative lens, developing somatic awareness, and practicing critical self-reflection. Drawing on restorative justice principles and interdisciplinary science, it offers practical tools to navigate stressors, prevent burnout, and develop deeper capacities to provide dignified, holistic, and adaptive representation to individuals and communities navigating dynamic challenges.

Bio: Amy Dallas is an attorney, somatic and restorative practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of practice and system change. A former public defender, a decade with the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, NY, she witnessed the toll that high-pressure systems take on clients and lawyers. As Program Manager at the Vera Institute of Justice, she works nationally with elected prosecutors and community organizations to advance restorative and equitable approaches, and leads a national learning community. She also founded the Center for Responsive Practice. Amy’s article introduces Trauma-Responsive Restorative Advocacy, a practice framework that applies a restorative justice lens and expands trauma-informed principles through somatic, mindfulness, and restorative practices for dignified, sustainable legal practice. She serves as Treasurer for the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice and holds a JD from Fordham Law.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne

Country: Australia 

Abstract: Reflective Practice in Action: The Value of Reflective Practice in Integrated Services for Managers and Staff

Multi-disciplinary teams of lawyers, social workers, psychologists and financial counsellors, are increasingly being employed in the legal sector to work holistically with vulnerable clients. This, however, presents both opportunities and challenges for lawyers leading these teams, increasing the importance of effective and authentic reflective practice at both the client/practitioner and manager/practitioner levels. This paper examines the introduction of structured reflective practice at Redfern Legal Centre’s integrated, financial abuse team. It explores the team manager’s external supervision model, provided by a dual trained lawyer/social worker, and the impact of this for reflective practice in team and client engagements. Using social work approaches such as structured supervision, person-in-context theory and unconscious bias, this paper suggests that reflective practice plays a particularly important role in maintaining the effectiveness and sustainability of integrated practice teams. As such these teams have a unique opportunity to contribute to development of reflective legal practice more broadly, as well as ways it can be incorporated into legal education.

Bio: Jennifer Davidson is a lawyer and social worker and is currently a Senior Lecturer and Director of Teaching and Learning for the Department of Social Work. Jennifer's research and teaching is focused on how individuals and families can be supported to navigate and make decisions in complex service systems. Her work has centred around the contexts of social work, health, law and disability. She has a particular interest in socio-legal collaborations in Australia and is a leading researcher examining innovative models of interdisciplinary programs of lawyers, social workers and other social service professionals and how they can be structured and maintained. She currently holds supervision, advisory and governance roles across the legal sector.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor and Director of Clinics, Melbourne Law School 

Country: Australia

Abstract: Teaching and Assessing Reflection in the age of GenAI

This presentation is co-presented with Dr. Jacqueline Weinberg. Reflective practice is central to the methodology of clinical legal education and has been identified as a core competency for justice-oriented legal professionals.  Correspondingly, reflective writing is a common form of assessment in clinical courses. Student reflections have the capacity to provide a rich window into student learning, ethical awareness and emerging professional self-concept.

Yet in an era where the use generative AI is increasingly ubiquitous—regardless of institutional regulation—legal educators must confront a pressing question: how do we design opportunities for reflection, including as assessment, that continues to cultivate authentic self-awareness, critical insight and professional identity formation, while acknowledging and engaging with new technologies?

This interactive panel invites discussion of the pedagogical and ethical challenges GenAI poses for reflective practice and assessment in CLE from the perspective of different law school programs and clinical models. Rather than framing AI solely as a threat to authenticity, the panel seeks to explore how teaching and learning regimes might evolve to preserve and deepen students’ reflective capacities in ways that are pedagogically rigorous, professionally meaningful and technologically informed.

Bio: Kate Fischer Doherty is the Director of Melbourne Law Clinics at the University of Melbourne, where she coordinates the student law clinics and public interest internship program. Kate is experienced in the design and development of experiential learning opportunities and presents regularly at clinical and legal education conferences. In 2024, she was a convenor of the National Wellness for Law Forum and co-edited the collection Wellness for Law: Reflecting on the Past, Shaping the Future (2025). With Dr. Brad Jessup, Kate has also researched and published on models for climate clinical legal education. Prior to joining the University Kate worked in the community legal sector for more than 10 years.

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of the Justice Hub and Director of Social Responsibility, University of Manchester

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Building Critical Interpretation and Reflection through LEGO® 

Critical realism provides an ontological and epistemological conceptual foundation to view the world and how we gain knowledge (Bhaskar,1978). Such an approach provides a potential route to circumnavigate the traditional positivist (objective)/constructivist (subjective) dichotomy (Twining, 2018) by acknowledging that both agency and social structures can be viewed together. Whilst this theoretical base has commonly been used for methodological underpinnings in research, this article will propose that it may equally be used as a method of critical interpretation, reflection and practice. One technique that can be specifically utilised to support and enhance such a process of critical reflection is through the construction of LEGO® models, which represent metaphoric stories of experiences, perceived identities and influences. This is both a cerebral and experiential process where individuals reflect through their fingers by constructing metaphorical models external to themselves (Papert and Harel, 1991). The use of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® has already been identified as a viable pedagogical technique to assist with complex legal problem solving (Ribary & Allen, 2024). This article will build upon such ideas to consider the findings of an empirical study involving law clinic students, using the construction of tangible LEGO® models as a means to both solidify abstract ideas and uncover emergent cognitive, social and emotional reflections.  

Bio: Dr. Philip Drake is a multiple award-winning Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of the Justice Hub, ITL Fellow for Partner Enabled Learning and former Director of Social Responsibility for the School of Social Sciences at The University of Manchester. Before joining Manchester in 2019, he was responsible for establishing the innovative award-winning Legal Advice Clinic, based off campus in shop premises, for the University of Huddersfield in 2013. He has worked as a consultant for the University of Birmingham’s Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues in their Virtuous Professionals Interventions Project (between 2014 and 2017); been a steering group member for a Legal Education Foundation £100,000+ funded project (between 2019 and 2021) – ‘The Law for Dementia Carers’ and jointly led a working party to incorporate social responsibility teaching into the new law degree at Manchester (2021-2022). He has worked internationally with both the University Complutense Madrid (2022-2024) and University of Southern Denmark (2019) to support clinical legal education and setting up a Legal Advice Clinic. 

Where presenting: ALT

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Affiliation: Director, Detection & Intervention, Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner

Country: Australia

Abstract: Cultivating Reflective Practice in the Victorian Legal Profession

The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C) is a modern, evidence-driven legal regulator with a proportionate, risk-based approach to regulation. As the independent regulator of the legal profession in Victoria, the VLSB+C plays a key role in fostering a reflective practice culture within the legal profession.

This session will explore the role reflective practice plays in VLSB+C programs designed to enhance lawyers capability to deliver quality legal services to consumers and improve their own personal resilience and wellbeing. By enhancing professional performance and improving wellbeing before serious harm occurs, programs built around reflective practice for lawyers also, critically, contribute to protecting and empowering consumers of legal services and increasing access to justice.

Presenters from the VLSB+C will showcase several programs incorporating reflective practice, along the regulatory continuum (which extends from education through to regulatory intervention), including:

• The Early Career Lawyer Capability Framework and Reflective Practice Template, which aim to embed the core skill of reflective practice at the point of embarking on a legal career; 
• Our ethical checklists, which are also designed to encourage lawyers to reflect on their skills and capabilities across their career;
• The Costs Support program, which invites voluntary participation by practitioners with a record of low-risk but repeated costs complaints enabling reflection and the development of new capabilities to improve practice;
• The Early Intervention Strategy, in which VLSB+C proactively identifies and engages with law practices to address emerging issues and mitigate risks, including a key emphasis on the role of reflection and adjusting continuing professional development (CPD) to address capability gaps; and 
• The Lawyer Wellbeing Program, whose body of work includes research, a Systems Theory of Change and practical tools and resources that drive sector-wide positive change in lawyer wellbeing.

Bio: Alice Duggan, Director, Detection & Intervention, Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner. Bio: Alice is an experienced legal and regulatory professional who began her career as a litigation lawyer working across a diverse range of legal practices. After several years in private practice, she transitioned into legal profession regulation in 2017, bringing with her a strong understanding of the operational and professional challenges faced by legal practitioners. Since 2024, Alice has served as Director of Intervention and Enforcement at the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C). In this role, she leads teams responsible for applying regulatory tools designed to prevent risks to the integrity of the legal profession and exercising statutory powers to intervene when necessary to protect consumers of legal services. Alice’s experience on both sides of the profession has shaped her commitment to proactive, evidence-based regulation. She focuses on understanding the underlying causes of professional conduct issues and working collaboratively with the profession to enable earlier intervention and more effective, sustainable outcomes for both practitioners and the community.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor Emeritus of Legal Education, City Law School, City St George’s, University of London

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Reimagining Legal Education for the Future of Law: Advancing Reflective Practice as a Core Professional Competency in the UK

Professor Emeritus Nigel Duncan will be moderating this panel at ALT. Our presenters will explore different aspects and perspectives of how reflective practice has been evolving for law students and legal professionals in the UK. This session is the first event offered as part of the 2026 International Symposium Series: Reflective Practice for Legal Professionals. Following the presentations, participants are invited to share their working knowledge and observations of how well reflective practice has been accepted and implemented in the UK. Does the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning literature adequately capture promising developments? How else is reflective practice being more visibly and viably advanced? How can current and evolving developments in the UK, and the Symposium Series and its legacy website contribute to advancing reflective practice as a professional metacompetency? What else might help?

Bio: Although retired, Nigel continues to teach Advocacy on the Bar course. He researches and writes in areas of professional ethics and student and practitioner wellbeing. He serves on the editorial boards of The Law Teacher and The European Journal of Legal Education. He is currently editing the ninth edition of Opinion Writing and Case Preparation for Oxford University Press and is co-editing a special issue of The Law Teacher. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Law Teachers.

Where moderating: UK Association of Law Teachers (ALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Lecturer, Curtin University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Self-reflection and Self-Care for Emerging Legal Professionals: A Practical Legal Training Perspective

The focus of this presentation/paper would be to cover the range of reflective and self-care advice/practices that I teach students who are undertaking the Practical Legal Training program at Curtin University. My work in this space is informed by my mental health training and the insights that I gleaned from my research work that explored in part how clarity of vocational purpose and virtues such as resilience, responsibility, a growth orientation and wisdom can be cultivated through self-reflective spiritual work that includes practices such as solitude, meditation, journaling and detoxing from the digital world/social media. A key aspect of my message that will be empowering and agency enhancing to those in attendance will be that these virtues can be cultivated through these processes and are not something that some people innately have but others don't, or that they need to receive from outside of themselves before they can improve their lives. Another wrinkle to the presentation I will touch upon will be the virtue of justice and how this can be fortified in those entering the profession who feel a vocation to the law.

Bio: Dr. Christian Duperouzel is a Lecturer at the Curtin Law School and a Conscious Leadership consultant. As a lecturer at Curtin, he has led large cohorts of first-year commerce students across Curtin’s Bentley and international campuses through the core Business Law unit, and the recently formed Markets and Legal Frameworks unit, which integrates the disciplines of law, economics and marketing. As an accredited mental health trainer, he is also active in teaching emerging legal professionals about self-care and well-being with an emphasis on integrative personal development work. In 2016, he completed his PhD which explored the topic of the Role of a Lived Calling in Driving Virtuous Leadership Behaviour, and since that time he has published in national and international academic journals. His first book, Calling New Leaders: How Living your Calling will make you an Inspired Leader of the Modern World, was published in 2023 by Central West Publishing.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Vice President for Teaching and Research and Head of the Crisis and Emergency Management Program, Ramat-Gan Academic College

Country: Israel

Abstract: Bridging Disciplines: Reflective Practice in Interdisciplinary Dispute Resolution Education

The fragmentation of dispute resolution professions (mediation, arbitration, and legal advocacy) presents significant challenges for emerging legal professionals navigating increasingly complex, transnational conflicts. This presentation examines how reflective practice can serve as a bridge across disciplinary silos, drawing from the JUSTCOMP project, an international research collaboration investigating competency-based dispute resolution across five countries and three legal systems. Our research addresses a critical gap in legal education: while professionals encounter interdisciplinary challenges involving law, economics, organizational studies, behavioral sciences, psychology, and information technology, their training typically remains confined to single-discipline frameworks. This misalignment diminishes career mobility across sectors and legal systems while limiting the profession's capacity to deliver holistic, client-centered services.

Through international collaborative research across common law, continental law, and mixed legal systems, we propose exploring how systematic reflection can enable legal professionals to integrate diverse disciplinary perspectives without requiring expertise in each field. Our proposed methodology emphasizes building reflective capacity for cross-disciplinary dialogue, mutual understanding, and collaborative problem-solving, competencies essential for responding to evolving challenges in justice delivery. This work directly engages three symposium concerns: strengthening emerging professionals' reflective inquiry skills and building the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Law by documenting effective practices for interdisciplinary competency development. Our preliminary analysis suggests that structured reflective practice, supported by intentional interdisciplinary exchanges, can enable legal professionals to recognize when diverse expertise is needed, communicate effectively across disciplinary boundaries, and synthesize multiple perspectives in dispute resolution contexts. This approach aims to prepare graduates for emerging international Dispute Resolution Hubs that demand versatile, adaptive professionals capable of serving clients with complex, multifaceted conflicts.

This presentation invites colleagues to collaborate in developing methodologies for integrating interdisciplinary reflective practice into legal education. Together, we can explore implications for curriculum design, professional development, and the future of competency-based legal training in an interconnected world. A key purpose is to engage colleagues interested in joining this collaborative research process from its inception, contributing their disciplinary perspectives, institutional contexts, and pedagogical expertise to co-create effective approaches for reflective, interdisciplinary competency development in dispute resolution education.

Bio: Dr. Efron previously served as Dean at Zefat Academic College School of Law in Israel and as Head of its Clinical Education Program. She was a visiting professor at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law in Minnesota; University of Missouri LL.M. program in dispute resolution; Osgoode Professional Development program at York University, Canada; and Tunghai University International College, Taiwan. She was a visiting scholar at Masaryk University Law Faculty in Czechia under the auspices of the Theodore Herzl Distinguished Chair. Dr. Efron teaches Negotiation, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Legal Foundations, Civil Procedure and Family law, and published widely on legal education, pedagogy and curriculum design, negotiation, dispute resolution and other subjects

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Head of Learning Transformation, Law Institute of Victoria

Country: Australia

Abstract: The Mindful Lawyer of the Future

As the legal landscape evolves, the imperative to nurture not only technical proficiency but essential skills such as reflective practice, adaptability, and ethical grounding in future legal professionals is paramount. This session is designed to showcase mindfulness as a key component in legal education and beyond. We will explore the key principles of mindfulness, its transformative potential within legal training and how heightened awareness can enhance pedagogical strategies, decision-making, and student engagement. By introducing practical techniques for embedding mindfulness into curricula, students can begin to cultivate mindfulness in practice, ultimately enhancing wellbeing, cultivating mindful listening, emotional intelligence and paving the way for a client centric approach to practice. Attendees will examine the significance of self-care in legal education, equipping future lawyers with pragmatic tools and strategies to navigate complex environments. The session aims to inspire educators to create supportive, values-driven learning cultures that prioritise mindfulness and ethical practice so that graduates can practice law with confidence, integrity and compassion.

Bio: Artemis Evangelidi is Head of Learning Transformation at the Law Institute of Victoria, and the founder of Aipeia Consulting and the Centre for Conscious Leadership. With degrees in Science, Law, and Psychology, she brings 20+ years’ legal experience and over a decade as a conscious leadership consultant and coach. She’s trained in presence and mindfulness with Eckhart Tolle and others, completed her Inner MBA in 2024, and is passionate about integrating wisdom traditions with psychology and neuroscience. Her book Life. Thoughts That Make The World Go Around informs global leadership programs. Artemis is a board member of the US based Mindfulness in Law Society and co-chair of its Australian Chapter and sits on the boards of other charities and NGOs, advising on mindful and conscious leadership.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Bond University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Reflective Practice as a Critical Element of a Proposed New Legal Wellbeing Pedagogy

This paper is co-presented with Emma Jones. It discusses reflective practice as a critical component of a proposed new Legal Wellbeing Pedagogy (LWP) (Jones, Strevens & Field, 2025). The LWP draws upon the theoretical basis of positive psychology, particularly Self-Determination Theory and its Basic Psychological Needs sub-theory, to create a learning and teaching framework specifically focussed on promoting positive wellbeing for both academic law staff and law students, thus reimagining the legal curriculum as a vehicle to facilitate thriving and flourishing in an evidence-based and sustainable manner. The LWP addresses cognitive, experiential and affective engagement with legal education. It provides a clear framework for the integration into the law degree of challenge and growth, independence and meaning, collaboration and connection. The LWP promotes an holistic approach to wellbeing by highlighting the role of empathy, reflection, values and ethics as key inter-connecting concepts. This paper explains how the LWP conceptualises the teaching of reflective practice as a metacognitive skill supporting students to make sense of the challenging, complicated content of the law curriculum, and promoting their personal and professional awareness, as well as their engagement. The paper offers practical ways for legal academics to incorporate and promote reflection throughout the legal curriculum. 

Bio: Rachael is a Professor of Law in the Bond University Faculty of Law, and Co-Director of the Bond Centre for Dispute Resolution and Bond’s Centre for Professional Legal Education. Her areas of teaching and research expertise include dispute resolution, family law and domestic violence, lawyer and law student well-being and legal education (particularly foundations of law and transition in, through and out of law school). Rachael is an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow (2010), the winner of a National Teaching Citation (2008) and an Australian Teaching Excellence Award (2014), and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She founded the Australian Wellness Network for Law and co-founded the ADR Research Network. Rachael has been involved with Women’s Legal Service, Brisbane since 1993 and is now an Ambassador for the Service. In 2013 Rachael was named Queensland Woman Lawyer of the Year and in 2020 she was elected as a life-long Academic Bencher of the Inner Temple in London. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor, Université de Sherbrooke

Country: Canada

Abstract: Integrating Reflective Practice and Professional Identity Formation in Week 3 of L1: Too Soon?

In Sept. 2024, Université de Sherbrooke introduced a new course entitled “Becoming a Legal Professional”. This 45-hour course was developed in response to the study by Nathalie Cadieux et al. (2022) on the mental health of legal professionals in Canada, which revealed that more than half of the respondents reported experiencing psychological distress, with even higher rates for professionals with less than 10 years of practice. Through various experiential activities, the course aims to foster the development of transversal competencies, and to develop students' reflective practice, with particular attention to professional identity formation and reflections on the role of lawyers in society. Our contribution will outline the structure and objectives of the course, highlighting both its early successes and the challenges encountered in the first years of its implementation. In the Quebec context, where most law students enter law schools at 19 years old without prior undergraduate degree, we will discuss the issue of timing. Is it too soon to introduce professional identity formation as early as the third week of the first year of Law school? Spoiler alert: we think it is not.

Bio: Véronique Fortin is a member of the Québec Bar and a professor at the Faculty of Law of Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Qc, Canada).  Her research focuses on making visible the various legal techniques used to control and oppress marginalized populations. She favors an empirical approach, most often ethnographic, for her research. From January 2024 until December 2025, she was Associate Dean of Experiential Learning, and contributed to implement a new course on professional  development entitled « Becoming a Jurist », course that she also taught. As an educator, she is committed to clinical legal education, experiential learning, and critical and active pedagogy. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Leader, Lawyer Wellbeing Program at the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner

Country: Australia

Abstract: Cultivating Reflective Practice in the Victorian Legal Profession

The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (VLSB+C) is a modern, evidence-driven legal regulator with a proportionate, risk-based approach to regulation. As the independent regulator of the legal profession in Victoria, the VLSB+C plays a key role in fostering a reflective practice culture within the legal profession.

This session will explore the role reflective practice plays in VLSB+C programs designed to enhance lawyers capability to deliver quality legal services to consumers and improve their own personal resilience and wellbeing. By enhancing professional performance and improving wellbeing before serious harm occurs, programs built around reflective practice for lawyers also, critically, contribute to protecting and empowering consumers of legal services and increasing access to justice.

Presenters from the VLSB+C will showcase several programs incorporating reflective practice, along the regulatory continuum (which extends from education through to regulatory intervention), including:

• The Early Career Lawyer Capability Framework and Reflective Practice Template, which aim to embed the core skill of reflective practice at the point of embarking on a legal career; 
• Our ethical checklists, which are also designed to encourage lawyers to reflect on their skills and capabilities across their career;
• The Costs Support program, which invites voluntary participation by practitioners with a record of low-risk but repeated costs complaints enabling reflection and the development of new capabilities to improve practice;
• The Early Intervention Strategy, in which VLSB+C proactively identifies and engages with law practices to address emerging issues and mitigate risks, including a key emphasis on the role of reflection and adjusting continuing professional development (CPD) to address capability gaps; and 
• The Lawyer Wellbeing Program, whose body of work includes research, a Systems Theory of Change and practical tools and resources that drive sector-wide positive change in lawyer wellbeing.

Bio: Lucy Fraser leads the Lawyer Wellbeing Program at the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner – an initiative to positively influence system-level change in lawyer wellbeing in the Victorian legal profession. Lucy has significant experience leading People & Culture teams and a passion for enabling innovative cultures that optimize wellbeing and performance. Lucy values collaboration, creativity, and fairness and wants to contribute to reducing mental health stigma and increasing connection in workplaces. She holds Master’s degrees in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Conflict Resolution and Mediation.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria

Country: Nigeria

Abstract: Advancing a Reflective Approach to the Practice of Law

Reflective approaches to legal practice have increasingly gained prominence as a means of enhancing professional competence and continuous learning. As the legal profession evolves, reflective practice provides a useful link between legal knowledge and human-centered lawyering. Recognising the benefits of reflective approaches, it is imperative for legal educators to impart it to students to equip them not only with the skills demanded by the modern legal profession but also with a profound capacity for self-awareness. The paper analyzes the application of reflective approaches in areas such as client representation, legal reasoning and advocacy. By emphasizing the values of reflective approaches, the paper argues that reflective approaches to legal practice contributes to improved legal outcomes, professional accountability and effective legal practice. Using qualitative research methods, the paper addresses core dimensions of reflective practices and recommends practical measures to advance reflective practice.  

Bio: Olaide Gbadamosi is a Professor, Faculty of Law and former Provost/Dean, Chairman, Committee of Provosts, Deans And Directors Osun State University, Nigeria. He holds a Doctorate Degree in Law (Igbinedion University), Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Law (University of Benin), Barrister at Law. He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the Editor in Chief, Osun State University Law Journal. Professor Gbadamosi has over ninety national and international publications on Reproductive Rights and Migration Law including three Books - HIV, Human Rights and Law, International Perspectives and Nigerian Laws on Human Trafficking and Reproductive Health and Rights (African Perspectives and Legal Issues in Nigeria). He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, International Bar Association, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, United Kingdom, Chartered Institute of Marketing, United Kingdom and Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, United Kingdom. He is an External Examiner to many Universities in Nigeria and overseas and has presented several papers in conferences in Nigeria and overseas.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Clinical Legal Education Supervisor, University of Manchester

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Reflective Practice Assessment as an Example of Realignment and Refraction

Reflective practice is of fundamental importance in the clinical legal education context and it is becoming increasingly common for this to be captured as part of assessment. Recording this personal perspective in an authentic way faces challenges when it is evaluated against University standard learning outcomes and marking criteria. I conducted a study of the staff perspective of this in 2017 which led to an article in the Teaching in Higher Education journal setting out evidence of behaviours I categorized as both realignment and refraction. I am now in the process of capturing the student perspective, most notably in relation to the impact of GenAI on assessment in recent years.

Bio: I qualified as a solicitor in the UK in 2003. Since 2004 I have been working in legal education with extensive experience at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional levels. I have an LLM in Human Rights and a PhD in Educational Research, and the focus of this was a comparative study of legal education in England and Canada. I worked at Kaplan in 2024 so am familiar with the challenges associated with entry level qualifications into the legal sector. I now work with students in Manchester to provide free legal advice to members of the public as part of a pioneering service learning project.  

Where presenting: ALT

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham School of Law

Country: England

Abstract: A Collaborative Reflection on Approaches to Reflective Learning for Students of Law

Interdisciplinary collaboration is becoming an increasingly important workplace skill (Rowe & Zegwaard, 2017) but the approaches to cross disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning depends on the teaching context. It is proposed that this context can provide professional learning for the student of law as well as for the legal academic teaching them.

As academics from different institutional backgrounds and different law-based programmes, our research focuses on how reflective learning is both interpreted and experienced by students from diverse backgrounds (Burkett 2012). The design of reflective practice undertaken has been informed by Brookfield’s student-centred “Letters to Successors” reflective approach (2017) and used in an undergraduate interdisciplinary module, and this is compared with co-operative collaboration as a method of introducing opportunities for individual professional reflective learning for LLM students (Race 2006).

This reflective presentation will share the teacher and learner journeys, and the commonalities identified regarding the impact of reflective learning between two groups of students and their teaching focused academics. Selected theoretical frameworks will be discussed pertaining to reflective practice (Brookfield, 2017; Harvey, Coulson & McMaugh 2016). Our thematic analysis methodology (Braun & Clarke, 2006) can be adapted and implemented by delegates from any discipline/institution.

Our presentation will share how in partnership with students we use and adapt reflective learning to improve student confidence, criticality, and meta-cognition within our respective programmes. Professional Learning here is based on the intentional communication with a colleague and the curation of a balanced and supported conversational space, which creates that opportunity for authenticity, recognition of feelings, mentoring, and peer connection, as well as future planning and development (Baker, Jensen & Kolb 2002). This collaborative reflection aims to share with fellow educators how reflection can underpin lifelong learning for both the student and teacher.

Bio: Hannah Gibbons-Jones is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham School of Law. Hannah has a teaching background in Child and Family Law and has taught Legal Skills for scholarship at undergrad and postgraduate level in several universities. Hannah is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her current research interests focus on trust and student transition into and through the law degree, and cross discipline reflective learning for academics and disciplinary skill acquisition by UG & PG students. She is currently working on the Understanding Legal Literacy and Disciplinary Skills (U.L.L.a.D.S) reading research project using eye tracking data to assess student engagement in reading and navigation of primary sources of law.

Where presenting: NT CLE

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Affiliation: Associate Dean (Experiential Education) and Professor of Law, Monash University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Empowering Collective Reflection in Experiential Learning and Enhancing Reflective Supervision 

Collective reflection (or ‘reflective rounds’) creates spaces that encourage clinic students to first reflect themselves and then share those reflections with peers and their supervisor (for in-house clinics and Street Law programs) or the coordinator (for externships). Beyond clinics, collective reflection resonates with students in simulation-based negotiation and ADR courses. In clinical legal education, case rounds are often focused on problem solving and hypothesis building. There is scope for also including rounds that operate as a ‘debriefing session’ with opportunities for students to reflect on their experiences and share insights with colleagues. Preparing supervisors for enabling and facilitating these sorts of reflective rounds presents a challenge: insights on how to support reflective supervision will be shared based on research and professional experience.

Bio: Jeff Giddings is Associate Dean (Experiential Education) and Professor of Law at Monash University. Jeff has written extensively on clinical legal education and is the editor of Global Clinical Legal Education, published by Routledge in 2025. This book analyses the distinctive nature of clinical legal education across countries and regions. It brings together accounts from 65 contributors from 44 countries. In 2010, Jeff completed his PhD on the sustainability of clinical legal education programs. His thesis was subsequently published as a book, Promoting Justice Through Clinical Legal Education, by Justice Press. A Mandarin version of this book was published in 2017 by China-Renmin University Press. Jeff is a co-author of Australian Clinical Legal Education, published in 2017 by ANU Press. Jeff received an Australian National Teaching Fellowship in 2013 for the Effective Law Student Supervision Project.  

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, National Forensic Sciences University

Country: India

Abstract: Pro bono and Legal Aid Clinic as Stimulants: Cultivate Professional Identity and Ethical Resilience through Reflective Legal Aid Practice

Law schools play an imperative role in shaping the future of the rule of law and the justice system. Law school legal aid clinics can act as vital bridges between law and society by shifting from passive service delivery to an interactive pedagogy of reflection. In the face of a growing polycrisis and persistent justice gaps, it is imperative to move beyond traditional clinical methods toward disciplined and systematic reflection that empowers students to become agents of change. Clinical courses provide a platform for students to explore and apply various legal solutions to mitigate societal challenges. Through interactive methods including reflective case studies, circumstantial discussions explore how students can navigate disorienting moments and could able to understand gaps in justice system. Hands- on training through on field activities designed to build core competencies such as emotional intelligence and cultural humility. By integrating these techniques into clinical courses, law schools can foster a deeper connection with marginalized communities, ensuring that reflective insights result in ethical conduct and meaningful systemic change.

Bio: Dr. Ripal Gupta is an Assistant Professor at the School of Forensic Justice and Policy Studies, National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar. With a decade of experience in legal education, her expertise spans human rights, constitutional law, and corporate law, including her recent book, Business and Human Rights (Thomson Reuters). As the Faculty Convenor of the Pro Bono and Legal Assistance Cell, Dr. Gupta focuses on integrative reflection as praxis, leading students in ground-level engagements within villages and juvenile institutions. Her work emphasizes the pedagogies of reflection required to bridge the gap between formal legal systems and marginalized communities, fostering ethical education in emerging legal professionals.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Lecturer, Université de Sherbrooke

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice, Moral Imagination, and the Rule of Law

Threats to the rule of law increasingly arise from law’s strategic use. Lawyers use formal legal mechanisms to weaken the system. This phenomenon challenges traditional approaches, which assume that loyalty to the rule of law can be secured through appeals to the intrinsic value of legality. Yet recent experience suggests that justification no longer carries the sway it once did. Drawing on Richard Rorty’s moral imagination, this paper offers an alternative. For Rorty, rational argument alone cannot motivate ethical commitment. Rather, imaginative redescriptions highlighting the human and institutional consequences of action are required. Hence, this paper argues that attempts to secure commitment to the rule of law through reason are inadequate to address lawyers’ efforts to subvert democracy. What is lacking is not an ability to understand the relevant norms, but a capacity to imagine the consequences of professional complicity in institutional erosion. Accordingly, this paper supports the use of reflective learning to cultivate a moral imagination that makes the consequences of destabilizing forms of legal practice harder to ignore.

Bio: Dr. Dustin Gumpinger is an educator, lawyer, and entrepreneur whose expertise bridges law, business, education, and philosophy. He holds a SJD and LLM from the University of Toronto, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School, and a BA (Honors) from the University of Alberta. He co-founded Juniper Learning Design Co., which creates immersive professional learning experiences. He is also a Lecturer in the Common Law and Transnational Law program at the Université de Sherbrooke. His teaching spans legal ethics, business law, employment law, strategic management, and government policy. His research, teaching, and business experiences are unified by a focus on how discretionary judgments give rise to complex ethical questions. Drawing on his interdisciplinary background in legal philosophy, professional education, and learning design, Dr. Gumpinger brings a theoretically informed perspective to reflective practice in professional contexts, complementing the symposium’s focus.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Queen's University, Faculty of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: The Critical Case Comment: Integrating Reflective Practice in a Substantive Upper-Year Course

Law students learn to read and brief appeal court decisions. They seldom see the whole decision or engage with the decision of the court of first instance, where procedural and evidentiary features of the case set the foundation for the appeal court’s work. The story of the case and the people impacted by it recede into the distance. This presentation describes a case comment assignment used in an upper year seminar course that allows students to engage critically with a first instance decision from a range of perspectives. The assignment itself includes critical and self-reflection. Through peer-review of class presentation of the assignment, students engage in critical reflection to provide constructive feedback. Through receipt of anonymized feedback from peers, students engage in self- and integrative reflection as they finalize the written assignment. This presentation engages with two of the foundational concerns shaping the Symposium’s scope and purpose: developing critically reflective praxis and advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Bio: Debra M Haak is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University, Canada, where she teaches courses on Criminal Law, Constitutional Law and Feminist Legal Studies. Debra’s research focusses on how the state contends with interests, rights and values in tension. She is particularly interested in how courts contend with women’s rights in tension and in the intersection of law and evidence about the social world. Debra is co-director of Feminist Legal Studies Queen’s, an interdisciplinary research group that critically examines how legal systems and practices have excluded, devalued, or harmed women and other marginalized groups. Her current SSHRC funded research project - Sex in the Age of Gender - looks at how the integration of gender into the human rights landscape may impact how we understand and protect women’s rights. Dr Haak’s research and teaching draw on 20 years' practice experience as a commercial litigator.

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: PhD Student, Charles Darwin University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Epistemic Urbanism and Law’s Reflective Governance

Epistemic injustice involves control of knowledge systems, standpoints, and critique. Practices of epistemic injustice, and their power formations, carry out adverse discrimination and subordination world-wide and locally. This paper applies ‘lawyering in three dimensions’, encapsulated by Lucie White, to suggest reflective and reflexive tools to help counter epistemic urbanism in law school and in legal practices. Epistemic urbanism applies majoritarianism and utilitarianism to de-value human rights inclusion of peoples, people and groups in remote and rural areas. However, lawyering in three dimensions can be a powerful counter-pedagogy which uses the law when it is propitious (first dimension), tries to reform law when it isn’t (second dimension), and tries to build the power of subordinated groups to withstand and ultimately permanently overcome (third dimension).

Bio: PhD research is exploring whether human rights are optimised for rights and inclusion of peoples, people and groups in 4Rs areas. Admitted to legal practice in 1981, decades of experience as a senior lawyer in non-profit legal assistance sectors (including multiple Australian jurisdictions), national NGO leadership, praxis focused legal academic, law reform, legal policy and consulting - especially justice and access to justice. Cross-cutting themes include women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, regional, rural, remote and very remote areas. Currently co-convenor of the National Network of Regional, Rural, Remote and Very Remote Community Legal Services (‘4Rs Network) - about 85 organisations . Celebrating the UN Commission on the Status of Women 70th session (March 2026) priority theme on access to justice for women and girls and the 2026 International Women’s Day theme ‘Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls' (especially the word ‘ALL’!).

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: LLM Student, University of Windsor Faculty of Law 

Country: Canada

Abstract: Integrating Traditional Indigenous Learning Styles in Legal Education: Creating Reflective Learning in Law

Although clinical and experiential education is not mandatory in most law schools in Canada, clinics are an important site of learning essential intellectual and emotional skills. Many clinics in Canada include a (usually mandatory) seminar. These seminars take many forms, from “case rounds” to critical reflection on the law. Based on a review of publicly available syllabi from these seminars, this presentation analyses, first, the content of these seminars. The paper will explore integrating traditional Indigenous learning styles, such as oral traditions as a way to encourage reflective legal practice. The paper will focus on how reflective practice is understood in seminars, and the pedagogies and assessments used to encourage reflective practice. Examining the current standard of self-reflection, proposing that introducing Indigenous styles of learning can open students up in a safe space to express personal reflections and share what they have learned about the practice of law and themselves with their classmates. The ability to share the struggles as well as shared experiences will create more reflective lawyering in the future.  

Bio: As a Haudenosaunee woman in the LLM program at Windsor Law my research focuses on experiential learning opportunities and clinic opportunities in partnership with First Nation communities to work towards meaningful reconciliation. Approaching my research from traditional Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe teachings, I aim to create positive change in the realm of legal education, providing opportunities for open dialogue in the classroom where students can express their feelings of imposter syndrome, the learning curve and mental/emotional difficulties that come with starting work in the legal field.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: No current affiliation, graduated from the McGill University Faculty of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: Situating Law within Systems of Power: Promoting Critical Reflexivity Through Curricular Reform

As Foluke Adebisi observes, “law is very strategically placed as a discipline and profession to contemplate the transformation of the world.” Indeed, Canada’s existence is built on legal tools that facilitated colonialism, including the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius. Law and legal education are thus critical sites of power, yet students are rarely prompted to grapple with critical legal history, interrogate whose interests law serves, or reflect on their roles as future practitioners within these systems. Confronting today’s legal and social challenges, which are connected to the law’s ongoing institutional violence, requires students to situate law within systems of power and to reflect critically on their responsibilities in this field. To address this, law schools should require an introductory course on critical legal history and integrate relevant histories into all substantive courses, ensuring that law is taught in the context of its broader societal and structural impacts. Curricular reform should be paired with engagement with legal pluralism and the adoption of critical pedagogies and reflexivity, fostering the recognition that law is socially produced.

Bio: Ashna Hudani (HBSc, BCL/JD) completed her legal education at McGill University, where she learned both common and civil law systems. Her interests in research and law include critical legal history, systemic advocacy, and anti-oppression.

Where presenting: NTCLE

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Affiliation: Director of Admissions and Education, Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice Across the Lawyer Lifecycle: From Bar Admission to CPD

This session will explore how reflective practice is being embedded across the continuum of legal professional development. Drawing on examples from the Law Society of Alberta and the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, the presenters will examine how structured reflective exercises are being used to support both entry-to-practice learning and post-call continuing professional development (CPD). The session will also highlight Alberta’s competency-based CPD model, including its Professional Development Profile and CPD Tool, which guide lawyers through self-assessment, goal setting, and year-end reflection. It will also profile a reflective practice assignment used in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Bar Admission Course, now in its fourth year, which asks students to reflect on personal values, professional identity, and challenging experiences during articles. Together, these perspectives will show how reflective practice can be meaningfully integrated into legal education and regulation to enhance competence, self-awareness, and professional growth 

Bio: I am the Director of Admissions and Education with the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and a member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Admissions and Education Working Group. I have also served as President of the Association of Canadian Legal Education Directors. In my current role, I oversee bar admission and continuing professional development programming in Newfoundland and Labrador. I recently completed a Master’s Degree in Education (Post-Secondary Education), during which I focused on legal education and competency-based approaches to professional development. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: PhD Student, Educational Studies, University of British Columbia

Country: Canada

Abstract: Situating Law within Systems of Power: Promoting Critical Reflexivity Through Curricular Reform

As Foluke Adebisi observes, “law is very strategically placed as a discipline and profession to contemplate the transformation of the world.” Indeed, Canada’s existence is built on legal tools that facilitated colonialism, including the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius. Law and legal education are thus critical sites of power, yet students are rarely prompted to grapple with critical legal history, interrogate whose interests law serves, or reflect on their roles as future practitioners within these systems. Confronting today’s legal and social challenges, which are connected to the law’s ongoing institutional violence, requires students to situate law within systems of power and to reflect critically on their responsibilities in this field. To address this, law schools should require an introductory course on critical legal history and integrate relevant histories into all substantive courses, ensuring that law is taught in the context of its broader societal and structural impacts. Curricular reform should be paired with engagement with legal pluralism and the adoption of critical pedagogies and reflexivity, fostering the recognition that law is socially produced.

Bio: Safeera Jaffer is a PhD student in Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. She completed her Master of Arts in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. Her research interests focus on engaged, critical pedagogy in higher education and anti-oppressive teaching and learning practices.

Where presenting: NTCLE

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Affiliation: Wellbeing Coordinator, College of Law and Faculty, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan

Country: Canada

Abstract: Spheres of Influence on Culture Shift and Transformation in the Legal Profession 

This paper is co-authored with Brenda Yuen, Jaime Lavallee, and Brea Lowenberger. Recent Canadian research, including the Sherbrooke Report (Cadieux et al., 2024), underscores the pervasive mental health and well-being challenges within the legal profession. These findings point to the urgent need for a systemic shift toward trauma-responsive and dignity-centered legal practice (Hicks, 2021; Maki, Florestal, & McCallum, 2023). We seek to advance the study’s findings through our own proposed study, which will use a collaborative autoethnography methodology, a qualitative research approach in which researcher-participants reflect on their lived experiences and critically analyze these experiences in a shared, structured process. Through this collaborative reflective process, we aim to unpack our personal and professional experiences to better understand the nuanced impact of trauma, healing, and dignity within the legal profession and legal education. This work seeks to contribute to a growing body of scholarship that emphasizes the importance of relational pedagogies, trauma-informed teaching, and dignity-based (Hicks, 2021) frameworks in professional fields, including law (Harris & Fallot, 2001; Krieger, 2011; Leape et al., 2012). By exploring the liminal spaces between person and practitioner, we hope to inform and inspire legal educators and practitioners seeking more humanizing, inclusive, and healing-centered approaches to justice work (James, 2020). 

Bio: Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, RTC, MTC, is the Wellbeing Coordinator in the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, and a Faculty member and Researcher in the College of Education. Judy brings over two decades of educational expertise and clinical practice to her endeavours, and has a keen interest in the intersections of mental health, leadership, and education. Therapeutic and healing-centred practices are her current focus. Judy believes self-care and personal well-being are essential for strong leadership, especially for those in caregiving professions, i.e., anyone in a position that holds humans at the heart of their work. 

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Law, Director of Student Wellbeing, University of Sheffield

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Reflective Practice as a Critical Element of a Proposed New Legal Wellbeing Pedagogy

Co-presenting with Rachael Field. This paper discusses reflective practice as a critical component of a proposed new Legal Wellbeing Pedagogy (LWP) (Jones, Strevens & Field, 2025). The LWP draws upon the theoretical basis of positive psychology, particularly Self-Determination Theory and its Basic Psychological Needs sub-theory, to create a learning and teaching framework specifically focused on promoting positive wellbeing for both academic law staff and law students, thus reimagining the legal curriculum as a vehicle to facilitate thriving and flourishing in an evidence-based and sustainable manner. The LWP addresses cognitive, experiential and affective engagement with legal education. It provides a clear framework for the integration into the law degree of challenge and growth, independence and meaning, collaboration and connection. The LWP promotes an holistic approach to wellbeing by highlighting the role of empathy, reflection, values and ethics as key inter-connecting concepts. This paper explains how the LWP conceptualises the teaching of reflective practice as a metacognitive skill supporting students to make sense of the challenging, complicated content of the law curriculum, and promoting their personal and professional awareness, as well as their engagement. The paper offers practical ways for legal academics to incorporate and promote reflection throughout the legal curriculum. 

Bio: My research focus is on emotions and wellbeing in legal education and the legal profession. I also write training materials for law students and legal professionals on these topics (for example, the Law Society of England and Wales). An essential part of promoting emotional literacy and wellbeing within law is integrating different forms of reflection. I am lead author on a recently published article in the European Journal of the Legal Profession on an innovative new model named Legal Wellbeing Pedagogy which explicitly integrates wellbeing as a core component. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor (Teaching) & Deputy Director (Teaching & Learning), UCL's Centre for Access to Justice, University College London

Country: England

Abstract: Reflecting on Reflection: Supervision, Assessment and Beyond

At UCL’s Centre for Access to Justice, we have integrated reflection on pro bono work at both a curricular and extra-curricular level. Our main CLE module was initially assessed by way of written reflective submissions on connections between theory and practice as well as skills development. We have now moved to include reflective oral assessments to offer diversity in assessment, enhance employability, and respond to challenges presented by AI. We also offer a written reflective skills development framework scheme for extra-curricular pro bono. Within the context of increased attention from professional regulators on supporting legal practitioners reflect on the development of their legal skills as well as the psychological impact of their work, we intend to explore some possible approaches on how best to measure the effectiveness of our supervision and assessment methods for reflective practice and the challenges associated with each. We would welcome dialogue on how this could be shaped as well as on the integration of reflective practice more broadly across the curriculum to help create a more robust and coherent connection between legal education and the legal profession.

Bio: Drawing on several years of practice as a criminal law barrister and extensive experience teaching across academic and vocational programmes in the UK, I bring a practitioner-informed, pedagogically grounded perspective on reflective practices for law students. Since joining UCL in 2018, I have served as Deputy Director (Teaching & Learning) at the Centre for Access to Justice (CAJ), where my work sits at the intersection of legal pedagogy, pro bono practice and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of law. I convene undergraduate clinical legal education (CLE) modules and lead CAJ’s extra curricular Pro Bono Skills Development Framework, supporting students to develop practical lawyering skills and critical reflective habits that promote ethical, human centred practice. My contribution to the symposium will include sharing insights from CAJ’s models of reflective practice and assessment and thoughts on methods of evaluation and to learn from others engaged in similar work.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Adjunct faculty, Ateneo Law School

Country: Philippines

Abstract: Transforming Law Students Into Becoming Happier, Healthier, and More Ethical Versions of Themselves: A Philippine Response to Patrick Schiltz 25 years hence

In 1999, US attorney (now federal court judge) Patrick Schiltz wrote a very thought-provoking article on what makes the legal profession unhappy, unhealthy, and unethical. In the course of teaching legal ethics and mulling over his article for the past decade, I have come to realize that mindfulness and reflective practice are the key to addressing these 3 key ailments of the profession. In this presentation, I will share my journey on how I discovered mindfulness and made it into a foundational feature of all my courses. I will discuss my students’ experiences on how mindfulness has developed not just their emotional intelligence and empathy but also their mental health, resilience, and moral courage. This in turn has enhanced the collective classroom experience, making students more engaged, collaborative, and inspired. I will discuss the theoretical frameworks and pedagogical methods that I use to develop students’ self-awareness and capacity for reflection, and offer recommendations on how traditional legal ethics courses can be innovated to inspire and transform students into becoming happier, healthier, and more ethical versions of themselves.

Bio: Atty. Tanya Lat is a Philippine-trained lawyer and adjunct faculty at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School and University of the Philippines College of Law. A law teacher for more than 15 years, she has focused her teaching, research, and practice on legal ethics and leadership in the legal profession, with the aim of contributing to the ethical formation of lawyers. She incorporates mindfulness meditation, reflective practices, positive psychology, and Theory U into all of her courses. She has done extensive work on legal education reform in the Philippines, serving as consultant to the Philippine Legal Education Board, Executive Director of the Philippine Association of Law Schools, and Executive Director of the Legal Education Advancement Program (LEAP), a groundbreaking reform initiative introduced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a member of the Global Integrative Law movement and the TEDLaw International Advisory Council.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor, University of Saskatchewan  

Country: Canada

Abstract: Using Reflective Practice to Support the Growth of Interpersonal Communication and Negotiation Competencies

Teaching negotiation skills can feel resource intensive. Interpersonal communication, listening and negotiation skills are best acquired through a cycle of learning – a cycle that involves applying theory, receiving feedback, reflecting, setting goals and trying again. This cycle can be employed inside the ordinary classroom (as opposed to a practicum or internship/externship course), but without a whole team of instructors, how can simulation-based learning activities and assignments actually deliver on skill development? I will explain how we have structured our Negotiation courses as a portfolio of experiences and structured reflective exercises, using reflective practice as the vehicle to support skills growth in those other competencies as well. Our framework integrates reflection on self, the capacity to provide and receive feedback from others, the ability to gather information from others and to fit that information back into a critical and analytical framework, to reflect on one’s written work and video-recorded negotiations against a self-identified backdrop of criteria for success.    

Bio: Michaela Keet is a full professor, and has researched, taught and practiced in the area of dispute resolution for thirty years. She is a nationally recognized educator in Negotiation and has published a book and dozens of articles which ultimately explore the lawyer’s role in settlement processes, as well as the skills and structures that best meet client needs. She has conducted several funded studies on the experiences of students in the acquisition of skills in law school, on the experience of clients as they encounter lawyers and neutrals in justice processes, and on the perspectives of mediators and judges. She is currently co-leading a large review of the University of Saskatchewan’s Law curriculum, viewed through a competency-based lens. Thinking critically about the roles of lawyers and the skills that support responsiveness and growth in those roles, is at the heart of her career.   

Where presenting: Queens' Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Director & Professor, Institute of Health Sciences Education, McGill University 

Country: Canada

Abstract: Professional Knowledge and the Epistemology of Reflective Practice: Engaging a Continuum of Reflection

This presentation is co-presented with Niki Soilis. In this session, I reflect on my journey with reflective practice in the health professions to engage a dialogue about how reflective approaches may offer generative possibilities across professions. I have inquired into reflective practice as a generative force in health professions education and practice for over two decades. My scholarship engages a continuum of reflection from cognitive reflection, to embodied reflection, to critical reflection, to critical reflexivity, to contemplative reflection. Reflective practice can be employed as a practical approach to professional development, as an epistemological stance that values knowledge generated through practice, as a critical stance that interrogates systems and challenges inequities, and as a foundation for meaningful engagement with the moral complexities of professional life. I’vebeen interested in its potential as a transformative approach to teaching and learning in the professions, its epistemological affordances in reconceptualizing our view of professional knowledge, and its potential for raising learners’ and practitioners’ awareness of justice issues.  

Bio: Elizabeth Anne Kinsella, PhD is Director and Full Professor in the Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE) within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at McGill University. Dr. Kinsella’s scholarship centers on reflective practice and philosophies of knowledge in health professions education, practice, and research. Her work explores epistemologies of practice, epistemic justice, practical ethics, phronesis, and embodiment in health and social care contexts. She is also engaged in the arts and humanities as a means of fostering diverse forms of reflection within health and social care. Dr. Kinsella has published over 150 papers and a workbook, and edited three books: Professional Development and Reflective Practice: Strategies for Learning Through Professional Experience; Phronesis as Professional Knowledge: Practical Wisdom in the Professions; Embodiment and Professional Education: Body, Practice, Pedagogy; and Mobilizing Knowledge: Critical Reflections on Foundations and Practices.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Director and Associate Professor, UCL Centre for Access to Justice, University College London

Country: England

Abstract: Reflecting on Reflection: Supervision, Assessment and Beyond

At UCL’s Centre for Access to Justice, we have integrated reflection on pro bono work at both a curricular and extra-curricular level. Our main CLE module was initially assessed by way of written reflective submissions on connections between theory and practice as well as skills development. We have now moved to include reflective oral assessments to offer diversity in assessment, enhance employability, and respond to challenges presented by AI. We also offer a written reflective skills development framework scheme for extra-curricular pro bono. Within the context of increased attention from professional regulators on supporting legal practitioners reflect on the development of their legal skills as well as the psychological impact of their work, we intend to explore some possible approaches on how best to measure the effectiveness of our supervision and assessment methods for reflective practice and the challenges associated with each. We would welcome dialogue on how this could be shaped as well as on the integration of reflective practice more broadly across the curriculum to help create a more robust and coherent connection between legal education and the legal profession.

Bio: Rachel is the Director of the UCL Centre for Access to Justice and an Associate Professor (Teaching). As part of this role, she also runs the UCL integrated advice clinic (UCL iLAC) where she practices as a solicitor specialising in community care and education law. Rachel specialises in representing children & young people directly and through this developed an interest in trauma-aware legal practice. Through working in clinical legal education, she has developed an interest in how we train the next generation of lawyers to be trauma-informed and resilient during a time where students are increasingly struggling with their mental health.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Executive Director, Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULAI) Nigeria & Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE)

Country: Nigeria

Abstract: From Implicit to Impactful: Advancing Reflective Practice in Law Clinics

Between 2020 and 2023, I conducted extensive research into adult education with an emphasis on critical reflection and transformative learning theory. I applied these educational frameworks to clinical legal education (CLE), and my thesis examined how reflective practice impacts law clinic programmes. Interviews with law professors revealed that although essential, reflective practice is often only implicitly applied. The study recommends formalizing and documenting reflective practice to improve knowledge transfer and professional development. Transitioning reflective practice from an implicit to a clearly defined approach will facilitate stronger connections between theory and practice, foster a collaborative community among CLE professionals, enhance global networks, and build capacity for law teachers, clinics, and students. Such efforts are essential for building a community of practice, advancing experiential learning, guiding law faculty engagement towards improved educational practices, and promoting best practices that contribute meaningful value to the CLE movement.

Bio: Odinakaonye (Odi) Lagi is a development professional and human rights advocate promoting human rights-based programming in Nigeria and the globe. Currently, the Executive Director, NULAI Nigeria, an organization dedicated to promoting legal clinics and improving access to justice that has helped establish more than 50 university-based legal aid clinics throughout Nigeria. She is the Co-President of the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE). Her research areas include reflective practices within clinical programs, citizen-security relations in West Africa, gender and social inclusion, and criminal justice administration. She has two Masters in Human Rights and Adult Education from Central European University, and St. Francis Xavier University Canada respectively, and was an Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) Human Rights Fellow.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Gonzaga University

Country: USA

Abstract: Reflective Practices in Restorative Legal Pedagogy

This article explores fostering enhanced capacity for reflective inquiry and practice in legal education through a restorative pedagogical approach. Teaching restoratively employs self-reflection, regulation, and consensus-based decision-making. It engages reflective practices to teach collaboration, tolerance of ambiguity, complex problem-solving, questioning the status quo, prefiguration, and resistance to binary thinking. Restorative pedagogy builds skills vital to a healthy legal profession: emotional intelligence, cultural humility, trauma-informed practice, and dialogic skills. The use of holistic, reflective, and circle-based practices grounded in the pillars of restorative justice (respect, self-reflection, relationship, community, and dialogue) can mitigate the elements of legal education contributing to our current “polycrisis.” Restorative practices develop emotional awareness and self-compassion, build skills for respectful and effective communication, elevate and honor the voices and experiences of historically marginalized people, and protect against the burnout and dehumanization that can amplify the worst aspects of our adversarial legal system.

Bio: Professor Inga N. Laurent is a Fulbright Scholar and legal educator, who teaches in the areas of criminal law and procedure, evidence, and dispute resolution. Inga’s research is centered on restorative, transitional, and transformative justice and praxis. Inga believes deeply in our human capacity for goodness while recognizing the world is fraught with challenges, which cause us suffering, distracting us from developing into our better selves. Inga also believes in the power of truth even (or especially) when difficult to hear, accept, or acknowledge.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Law Professor, University of British Columbia, Peter A. Allard School of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: Teaching for integration: Aesthetics, Resilience and Reflection 

Professor Michelle LeBaron proposes to contribute an article on aesthetic methods that support student reflection and assist in synthesizing learning. These multi-modal methods have been applied and evaluated in several courses at University of British Columbia (UBC) and internationally. Michelle will draw on curricula and pedagogy from her UBC courses on Resilience and Legal Futures and her LLM Legal Theory Seminar, illustrating how experiential, aesthetic methods assist students with visualizing and achieving their goals while maintaining habits that support resilience. She will also address methods of effectively evaluating student achievement when aesthetic, experiential approaches are used. 

Bio: Professor Michelle LeBaron has been a professor at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law since 2003. From 1993-2003, she served as faculty at the Carter Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason in Arlington, Virginia, and core faculty at the European Graduate School Expressive Arts programme in Switzerland. Drawing on this interdisciplinary background, Michelle developed innovative, expressive arts-informed pedagogies and curricula in conflict resolution, negotiation and legal futures. She has published widely including in Negotiation Journal, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Organizational Aesthetics and the Journal of Law and Society. Michelle also co-edited Changing Our Worlds: Art as Transformative Practice (with Dr. Janis Sarra, 2018) and The Choreography of Resolution: Conflict, Movement and Neuroscience (with Carrie MacLeod and Andrew Floyer Acland, 2013). She was awarded a Wallenberg fellowship at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies from 2015-2018, where she made seminal contributions connecting arts, social change and legal pedagogy.   

Where presenting: Nottingham Trent Centre for Legal Education Conference

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Affiliation: Legal Educator, University of Victoria, Faculty of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract: Access-to-Justice Education in Canada: Challenges and Potential for Reflective Practice

Access-to-justice education is at a crossroads. In 2013, the Canadian Bar Association urged the profession to invest in law students as future access-to-justice practitioners through enhanced educational initiatives. Despite meaningful advances, the gap between unmet legal needs and lawyer capacity to fulfill them continues to grow.  We must reexamine how current law school pedagogy reflects the broader, interdisciplinary system within which the law operates. Legal education must prepare students for real-world and systemic justice challenges. Building on research from the Access to Justice Education Initiative, my presentation with J. Boulanger- Bonnelly will identify and analyze key access-to-justice competencies. Our cross-jurisdictional research and consultations with scholars and justice system actors will reveal the core knowledge and skills required for people-centered lawyering. Our presentation will outline current and potential learning pathways that shape practice-ready, self-reflective, and resilient legal professionals. Finally, we will share how these findings will help to develop targeted educational materials for embedding access-to-justice competencies in law schools across Canada.

Bio: Valerie is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, and a Legal Educator with the BC Access to Justice Centre for Excellence. Her experience spans the private, government, and non-profit sectors in administrative, employment, human rights, and residential tenancy law. A published author on access to justice, capacity and decision-making, child protection, elder and family law, Valerie understands how legal and policy frameworks shape lived experiences. Her cross-sector research examined how legal, health, and financial professionals can design service models that put access into action. She uses a problem-based learning approach to design and deliver academic and professional training content. Valerie leverages legal education and mentorship to help students and professionals become reflective justice actors. Her interdisciplinary lens aligns with the symposium’s goal to use thoughtful, people-centered dialogue to cultivate responsive legal professionals. (Note there are several co-authors from UVIC's ACE including Michelle Lawrence and Robert Lapper).

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Visiting Scholar, Queen's University Faculty of Law

Country: Canada

Abstract 1: Setting the Stage & Seeding the Ground: Reflective Practice in Law in All Its Complexity & as a Catalyst for Change

Abstract TBA. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Abstract 2: Exploring Reflective Practice in the Law Schools in England & Wales: Does the Literature Adequately Capture Promising Developments?

Michele will present a preliminary thematic analysis of scholarly journal and grey literature about reflective practice in law and how it has evolved as a legal professional competency in England & Wales. This presentation will also explore a sampling of literature that advances critique and critical theory for the contributions these articles make to building student capacity for critical reflection, one of the five articulated domains of integrative reflective practice for legal professionals. Time permitting, comparative insights from country-specific Australian, Canadian, and US literature reviews will also be shared.

Where presenting: ALT

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Abstract 3: Micro, Meso, and Micro Factors Influencing the Acceptance of Reflective Practice as a Core Professional Competency: Findings from Healthcare Disciplines and Australian Legal Education

Canadian legal educators have faced barriers and challenges in incorporating reflective practices into their courses. Opportunities to build reflective practice as a meta-competency have not been fully realized in law schools or anywhere along the Canadian professional learning continuum. What would it take for this to change, and for current challenges to be overcome? The micro, meso, and micro factors that could support more systematically developing reflective practice will be posited based on the findings of a comparative case study of reflective practice in legal education in four common law countries, particularly Australia. Our understanding of these factors will be enriched by the insights gained from a cross-disciplinary literature review of why and how reflective practice as an essential professional learning capacity has been cultivated in medicine, allied healthcare, and other professional disciplines.

Where presenting: CALT

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Abstract 4: Transformative: Seeding the Ground for Enhanced Professional Competence, Reflective Professionalism, Lifelong Learning, and a Cultural Shift in the Legal Profession

Abstract TBA.

Where presenting: NT CLE

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Bio: Michele is currently a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Faculty of Law in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Her 2023 doctoral dissertation explored how and why reflective practice has been implemented in Canadian and Australian law schools. Prior to April 2024 she was a lawyer and the long-time ED of a non-profit community-based legal clinic serving people living in poverty. Her passion for encouraging reflective practice arose from her struggles as a young lawyer, as a supervisor of lawyers and law students, and efforts to build Ontario’s system of 70+ clinics as learning organizations – hubs of holistic and innovative legal services. Fostering a professional culture of reflective inquiry and generative dialogue and developing an access to justice consciousness and conscience have been primary motivators for her research. She advocates for more robust legal professional competency frameworks to align better with the OECD and other international bodies’ visions for people-centred justice (PCJ). PCJ responds to the UN 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.3 on ensuring equal access to justice and the rule of law. She presents internationally on her work. She has published on how and why to introduce it, how it better supports access to justice initiatives, and perils and pitfalls to avoid when introducing it.

Affiliation: Professor and Dean of Law, Flinders University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Reflections of the Future: Legal Education in an AI World

Integrative reflective practice is essential for developing ethical, adaptable, and self-aware legal professionals. This presentation argues that reflective practice must be embedded from the first day of legal education, not only as a developmental tool but as a core academic skill. Early and consistent engagement fosters critical self-evaluation, professional identity formation, and resilience. In the context of the rising use of generative AI, reflective practice also offers a rigorous, authentic form of assessment that resists outsourcing and affirms individual engagement with learning. When scaffolded and assessed meaningfully, it becomes a reliable indicator of student growth. However, for this approach to succeed, legal academics must actively model reflective behaviours and commit to developing the pedagogical expertise needed to assess reflection with validity and consistency. This paper explores strategies for building academic capability and institutional frameworks that support reflective assessment, ensuring legal education remains both contemporary and intellectually robust. 

Bio: Prof. Leiman is a teaching specialist clinical practitioner, with particular focus on clinical legal education. As Associate Dean Teaching & Learning (2015-2017) and then Dean of Law (2017 to present) I led the development of our innovative under and post graduate law curriculum. I am the Vice Chair Legal Education of the Council of Law Deans Australia. I have published and presented nationally and internationally on legal education, including on reflective practice. I embed reflective practice explicitly in my teaching across numerous topics. I participated as an interviewee in the research for Michele Leering’s PhD.   

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Visiting Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Country: USA

Abstract: Insights from Divinity School that May Offer Tools for Teaching Law Students Self-Reflective Practices to Engage in Ethical and Moral Inquiry

I would like to present on a course I taught at Loyola University, drawing on my Divinity School training at the University of Chicago. Grounded in self-reflection and ethical inquiry, this training is especially useful for law students. We studied religious leaders involved in the civil rights movement and the peace movement during the Vietnam war. We explored the context in which they lived, their religious commitments and life experiences that called them to this work, and the role that self-reflection played. Next, we read works by contemporary secular thinkers to aid in exploring our own context and how this context informs our lives both professionally and personally. I incorporated different tools for self-reflection that students could practice, including verbatim drafting, meditative practices, and reflections on the meaning of attentiveness and presence. Some questions explored included: How do we construct systems or improve systems? How do we understand what is just? How do we pivot when our work is causing harm? To whom and for whom are we accountable? What is the role of self-awareness, reflection, and collaboration?

Bio: Anita Maddali is a Visiting Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Interim Director for the Center for Externships at the Bluhm Legal Clinic. Her teaching and research interests include Clinical Teaching and Immigration. Prior to joining Northwestern, Anita served in various capacities within law schools, including as an Associate Professor of Law with tenure, Dean of Students, and Director of Clinics. Anita began her career as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Children and Family Justice Center and later worked as a Staff Attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Anita’s research on Immigration Law has been published in the Indiana Law Journal, Michigan Journal of Law Reform and the American University Law Review among others. With her additional Divinity School education and training, Anita currently serves on the ethics committee for Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Manager, Practice Ready Ontario, Touchstone Institute

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice and Public Protection: Professional Identity Formation in Immigration Practice

This presentation with Beata Pawlowska and Cassandra Barber situates reflective practice at the intersection of professional identity formation, professional competence, and public protection. Taking immigration practice as its site of inquiry, it examines how reflective practice enables practitioners to interrogate their own assumptions, exercise judgment under conditions of uncertainty, and remain attentive to the technical, relational, and moral dimensions of practice. In this account, professional competence is not exhausted by technical proficiency; it includes disciplined reflection and the capacity to recognize how professional decisions are shaped by the lived realities of practitioners and those subject to immigration processes. The development of this dimension of competence becomes especially acute in the early years of practice, when the transition from learning environment to professional practice is often marked by uncertainty, readiness gaps, and heightened risk of attrition. From the perspective of a public-interest regulator, the cultivation of reflective competence is therefore integral to supporting professional identity formation, strengthening practice, and advancing public protection.

Bio: Dr. Cassandra Barber, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Education Scientist in the Department of Surgery at McMaster University and a Scientist at the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Research Institute. She is also an Adjunct Scientist with the McMaster Education Research, Innovation and Theory (MERIT) Centre and an ICES Scientist (Fellow). Dr. Barber is a demographer and health professions education researcher whose work focuses on surgical education, workforce distribution, and the relationship between training systems and patient outcomes. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Western University and a PhD from the School of Health Professions Education at Maastricht University. Drawing on expertise in psychometrics, competency-based medical education, and population health methods, her research uses large-scale administrative data to examine how education systems influence healthcare quality, physician workforce distribution, and equitable access to care.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Coach and Trainer, Practitioner and Educator

Country: England

Abstract: Borrowed Models, Blunt Tools: Rethinking Reflective Practice in Legal Education

In the context of increasing calls for people-centred and more-than-human justice, legal education faces a pressing imperative to cultivate reflective inquiry as a core competency rather than a peripheral pedagogical technique. While reflective practice is frequently referenced in legal education, its teaching remains fragmented, inconsistently theorised, and largely dependent on models imported from other disciplines. This paper argues that such multi-disciplinary borrowing, when undertaken without attention to the distinctive epistemic, regulatory, and cultural features of legal practice, results in reflective pedagogy that is conceptually incoherent and pedagogically haphazard. Drawing on empirical research, the paper advances the case for a model of reflective practice designed specifically for lawyers and legal educators. It introduces the ViewFinder Model of Legal Reflection as a domain-grounded framework that aligns reflective inquiry with learning, legal competencies, lived practice, and regulatory expectations and suggests The paper that a coherent, discipline-specific model is essential for legal educators seeking to foster sustained, meaningful reflective capacity.

Bio: Dr. Bernadette McDonald is a practicing lawyer, educator and coach. For over 20 years she trained lawyers using a form of collective reflective practice. The introduction of UK regulatory changes requiring solicitors to 'reflect on their practice' led to an MBA and PhD focusing on the skills needed to reflect and the design of reflective practice teaching.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Central Queensland University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Navigating the Complexity of Polycrisis as Legal Educators: Reflective Practice as a Transformative Process

Educational initiatives designed to develop law students’ reflective capacity offer opportunities for reflective practice in teaching and research. To illustrate this potential, we present a reflective enquiry of an international study tour in which students developed their understanding of wildlife law and protection via cultural immersion and applied legal research. We conducted research to understand student experience using transformative learning theory, and over three years, completed a cycle of data analysis and publication. Our understanding and relationship to this project evolved through challenge and conversation. Now, we turn the analytical lens upon ourselves to ask: ‘Was the experience transformative for us?’. In answering this question, we elucidate how our research facilitated our reflective practice and our understanding of polycrisis as an embodied reckoning of multiple power flows and pressures on our practice. We consider how reflective competence can support educators to navigate dimensions of polycrisis, including the implications of educational travel in the context of climate change and postcolonialism, and the impacts on regional student cohorts.

Bio: I am a Senior Lecturer in Law, at the College of Law and Justice (CoLJ), Central Queensland University. I have expertise in online legal education, curriculum development, legal education research, and the needs of students living in regional and remote Australia. My approach to research is multidisciplinary, drawing on my background in law, anthropology, health, and community development. In 2022 I received a Vice Chancellor’s commendation for incorporating transformative learning principles into my teaching strategies. I was Learning and Teaching Coordinator for the CoLJ for two years (2023-2024). I look forward to contributing to this symposium by offering my reflections on and experience applying transformative learning theory in legal education, and a perspective informed by my experience as an academic working at a regional university.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Business Law, Adelaide University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Structured Case/Advisory Opinion Learning Method with Integrated Student Reflection on the ICJ Advisory Opinion

This case study suggests a learning method called the structured case/advisory opinion process which incorporates student reflection. The first part provides an example of the structured method as applied to 147 law students for learning legal issues from the International Court of Justice advisory opinion. This structured method poses 3 questions to students and directs and focusses on their evaluation of the case. The teacher needs to use their intuition to select the issues of future legal moment.
This reflection part was worth 10% of the final grade and parallels McKay et al (2022)'s approach, where a machine learning model was trained on linguistic features to categorize student reflections into Kember et al (2008)’s four levels of reflection. Even though conceptually similar, this study adopts a simpler method that does not require machine learning. It uses linguistic indicators produced from the sentiment-cognitive (SEANCE), which is an open-source text analysis tool. The reflection literature will be reviewed and the results will be presented.

Bio: Professor Jennifer McKay is a distinguished environmental law scholar, educator and author in water law, environmental governance, and sustainability law. She is based at Adelaide University and is adjunct Professor at ANU College of Law and UniFiji .She is a fellow of international water Association and senior Fellow of Higher education academy where she is recognized for excellence in teaching and academic leadership. She was made an AM for services to law and legal profession in 2023. Her current research includes legal education and the pedagogy of critical reflection by law students on the state of Australian law. This is in addition to the governance of natural resources and the adoption of measures to achieve net zero emissions. She has a profound interest in environmental defenders, free speech, and the human right to a clean healthy environment and climate litigation.

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Dean of Law, Adelaide University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Design Thinking Pedagogy as Reflective Practice: Developing Human-Centred Legal Professionals for Complex 21st Century Challenges 

Co-authored with Rachel Hews. Contemporary legal practice requires graduates to develop human-centred competencies and reflective habits alongside analytical skills, with lawyers now needing design thinking capabilities and emotional intelligence to navigate complex challenges effectively. Interviews with legal design educators reveal how approaches embracing critical reflection develop crucial professional competencies frequently overlooked in more traditional legal education. Our analysis shows that these participants' teaching practices inherently embed structured reflection throughout the design thinking process, enabling students to develop empathy, creative problem-solving, and human-centred approaches to legal challenges. This cycle creates continuous opportunities for both individual and collective reflection, enabling students to integrate theory with practice whilst developing holistic perspectives on complex legal problems. We conclude with practical recommendations for law schools seeking to integrate reflective design thinking into their curricula, including dedicated legal design units, embedding design elements within traditional subjects, creating appropriate physical learning environments, and developing authentic assessment approaches that value process alongside outcomes. 

Bio: As Dean of Adelaide Law School at the University of Adelaide, I bring extensive experience leading innovative legal education. My research explores legal design thinking as a framework for developing human-centred professional competencies, with recent publications examining how design methodologies foster creative confidence and reflective practice in legal education. This builds on my earlier scholarship focused specifically on reflective practice, including my 2007 publication "Designing for reflective practice in legal education" and subsequent work developing reflective assessment approaches in law. Previously, as Head of QUT Law School, I led major curriculum transformation achieving top national rankings for educational experience. My leadership roles on several legal professional bodies provide valuable insights into profession-wide approaches to reflective practice. This practical experience, combined with my scholarly focus on integrating design thinking with legal education, directly addresses this symposium's exploration of strengthening reflective capacity in emerging legal professionals.  

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: SJD Student, University of Toronto

Country: Canada

Abstract: Team-Based Learning Activities as Encouragement of Reflective Practice

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a collaborative pedagogical approach. Students answer a series of multiple-choice questions: first on their own before class, then again as teams in the classroom. Teams come to a collective answer for each question, then use scratchcards to reveal whether they are correct. This gives students immediate feedback. Teams whose answers are incorrect are then encouraged to seek partial credit by choosing a second answer. Our presentation will discuss TBL as a strategy for encouraging reflective practice in law students. First, we will discuss the benefits of students coming prepared with answers before reflecting on their answers as teams. (We have found that teams consistently score higher than any single student.) We will then examine the immediate feedback mechanic and the ability to obtain partial credit – these teach students to re-evaluate their thinking. Finally, we will discuss the value of giving teams an opportunity to argue on behalf of an (ostensibly incorrect) answer at the end of the class session – this encourages students to think critically about their work even after completing the activity, and to advocate on behalf of a position.

Bio: Rowan Meredith is an SJD student at the University of Toronto, where she studies how copyright law creates barriers to accessibility for disabled persons. She teaches Advanced Legal Research and Copyright Law & Social Media as an Adjunct Professor at Allard School of Law, and IP Law as a Sessional Instructor at Thompson Rivers Faculty of Law. In her teaching, she has frequently used team-based learning activities to encourage students to think critically and reflectively about their work.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice When Students/Lawyers are Survivors Too

This paper builds on my experience in co-directing a clinical legal education program in which students are placed with an organization providing legal services to female-identifying survivors of gender-based violence. The individual and collective reflective exercises that we have developed are designed to evoke connections between critical theory and practice, as well as between the personal and the professional. The exercises have been informed by, and have informed, our thinking on trauma-informed legal practice, a crucial domain of professional competence. While there is an emerging literature on trauma-informed lawyering, virtually absent in this literature is the reality that is so evident in our program: students and lawyers drawn to this work are often survivors themselves. In the paper, I explore reflective practice and related pedagogies that centre this awareness and the implications for the well-being of lawyers and the outcomes for clients. 

Bio: Janet Mosher is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. She is the co-founder and served for many years as the co-director of Osgoode’s “Feminist Advocacy: Ending Violence Against Women Clinical Program.” She has also served as the Academic Director of Osgoode’s “Intensive Program in Poverty Law” and as the director of Osgoode’s clinical legal education programs. Her research focuses on law and gender-based violence, access to justice for marginalized populations, welfare policy (the intersections of poverty and gender-based violence in particular), legal ethics, and clinical legal education. 

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore University of Management Sciences

Country: Pakistan

Abstract: Building a Framework to Develop Reflective Praxis Amongst Law Students

As instructors, it has long been our goal to facilitate students in developing their innate capacity for critical thinking, so they graduate with the ability to analyze and discern the valuable from that which is not. In recent years, perhaps in part due to the easy presence of artificial intelligence, and a trend towards a polarized world, the ability to ask questions seems to have overtaken critical thinking as the primary goal of classroom and law school learning. This paper proposes that in order to resume the goal of graduating critical thinkers, learning must incorporate reflective practice at all levels. This practice is readily found amongst clinical learning spaces. Building on the tools developed for guiding reflections in clinics, particularly live client clinics, and learning from other professions, this paper will propose a framework for reflection that can be incorporated across law school classes. Reflective practice should be incorporated into classroom learning as well as into student’s daily lives to develop a critically reflective praxis. In doing so, students will become habitually reflective, an approach that they will take into their professional lives.

Bio: I am an Assistant Professor at the Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL), LUMS. I hold a B.A., LL.B from LUMS (2008), and an LL.M from the University of Michigan Law School (2010), and I am currently an external PhD candidate at Monash Law. Having received an education with a strong bent towards community and social justice lawyering, my work has always been situated in human rights and public law, particularly community legal education. My primary area of interest lies in clinical legal education, specifically street law and access to justice work. I am also interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and work with the LUMS Learning Institute to keep innovating with my teaching methods. I am always thinking about how to better guide student reflections in my street law clinics. This symposium allows me to engage more deeply with other researchers thinking about how to support students (and ourselves) in developing a reflective praxis.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Law, University School of Law, Gujarat University

Country: India

Abstract: Reflecting on Biopiracy: Legal Education and the Protection of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge

The commercialization of biological resources and traditional knowledge has raised serious concerns regarding biopiracy, unequal benefit-sharing, and the marginalization of indigenous and local communities. Although international instruments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol address these issues, their implementation remains limited in many developing jurisdictions. Legal education therefore plays a crucial role in developing ethically responsible environmental lawyers. This paper examines how reflective practice can strengthen biodiversity and traditional knowledge governance in legal education. It argues that integrating reflective pedagogy within intellectual property and environmental law curricula enables students to critically engage with biopiracy, community rights, and access and benefit-sharing mechanisms. Drawing on experiential learning, clinical education, and community engagement, the study shows how structured reflection connects legal theory with social realities. The paper proposes a framework for embedding reflective methods to promote justice-oriented and culturally responsive lawyering.

Bio: Dr. Prachi Motiyani is Assistant Professor of Law, at University School of Law, Gujarat University and Member Secretary of WDC-ICC ,Gujarat university, Ahmedabad. she has also conducted several workshops. Her numerous works have also been published at various journals and books. She is a Faculty Advisor of knowledgesteez. She is a part of the Editorial Boards of different journals of Legal Research and Study like GLS Law Journal, Gujarat Law Journal, etc.. Dr. Motiyani’s academic journey has been marked by prestigious scholarships, including those from the Thailand UNCC, International youth forum by YHRI, GAJE program in Poland , Srilanka Train the Trainer Program , and Sunremo, Italy. She is a member of Scientific Committee of IKSD, Anakara, Turkey. She is a legal expert of ethics committee of Gujarat Biotechnology University & Gujarat University of Transportation Sciences. She has also invited as a resource person at various International and National Conference and Seminars.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Senior Scientist & Associate Director, The Wilson Centre; Professor, Department of Paediatrics; Director, Research and Innovation, Office of the Vice Dean Medical Education; Temerty Faculty of Medicine; Program Director, Health Professions Education Research, Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation; Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

Country: Canada

Abstract: Advancing Critically Reflective Practice & Adaptive Expertise in Health

This presentation is co-presented with Stella Ng. Reflective practice (RP) has long been advocated in professional education, yet its uptake in technical-rational fields like law can be met with skepticism. Drawing on insights from health professions education, this paper proposes adaptive expertise (AE) as a pathway into critically reflective development that may be more recognizable and relatable to legal professionals and scholars. Critically reflective practice has been shown to enable social competencies like advocacy and collaboration. While critically RP often emerges from critical or constructivist explorations, AE is grounded in cognitivist-constructivist theory and empirical research. By thoughtfully integrating AE and critically RP—both rooted in Deweyan thought—we can better support the teaching and learning of reflective practice in legal education and bridge persistent theory-practice gaps. 

Bio: Dr. Maria Mylopoulos holds her PhD in human development and education.  Over the last 18 years (or so) she has successfully led a program of research aimed at understanding the development and performance of adaptive expertise in health care, with a particular focus on identifying the ways in which experts move beyond application of their past knowledge when appropriate to address the needs of patients as well as the limits and opportunities of their own contexts. In her work, Maria uses a range of methodologies and theoretical frameworks from cognitive psychology, clinical reasoning, and the learning sciences to evolve understanding of the knowledge, capabilities and learning experiences that underpin adaptive expertise.  The ultimate goal of her research is to translate this understanding to educational design that cultivates the development of experts who are able to handle the complexities and challenges of the healthcare workplace.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Director & Scientist and Associate Professor, University of Toronto 

Country: Canada

Abstract: Advancing Critically Reflective Practice & Adaptive Expertise in Health

This presentation is co-presented with Maria Mylopoulos. Reflective practice (RP) has long been advocated in professional education, yet its uptake in technical-rational fields like law can be met with skepticism. Drawing on insights from health professions education, this paper proposes adaptive expertise (AE) as a pathway into critically reflective development that may be more recognizable and relatable to legal professionals and scholars. Critically reflective practice has been shown to enable social competencies like advocacy and collaboration. While critically RP often emerges from critical or constructivist explorations, AE is grounded in cognitivist-constructivist theory and empirical research. By thoughtfully integrating AE and critically RP—both rooted in Deweyan thought—we can better support the teaching and learning of reflective practice in legal education and bridge persistent theory-practice gaps. 

Bio: Dr. Stella Ng is Director at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), Scientist at The Wilson Centre, and Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. A leading scholar in health professions education, her research explores critically reflective practice and has built an evidence base for teaching it through critical pedagogy. With a background in audiology and a PhD in Health Professional Education, Dr. Ng brings insights from health professions education to inform how reflection can be meaningfully taught and practiced in technical-rational fields. Her work bridges theory and practice, offering pathways to cultivate ethical, compassionate, and adaptive professionals.   

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of New Brunswick

Country: Canada

Abstract: Legal Education as Responsibility-Building: Integrating Critical Perspectives and Reflective Practice in Criminal Law

This paper will engage with the first of the ten themes (connecting critical approaches with reflective practice) by developing an idea of legal education as responsibility-building. I will examine how pedagogies related to both critical perspectives and reflective practice can work together to cultivate several forms of responsibility among instructors and students. One form of responsibility is a responsibility for ourselves—for example, to be open, critical, reflective, and creative. Another responsibility is for others, particularly for those whose experiences and voices are traditionally marginalized through legal principles, structures, and texts. A responsibility for others can involve the idea that, by witnessing another, we are requested, incentivized, or possibly even commanded to respond in some way. Finally, we can also regard critical theories and reflective practice as nurturing a responsibility to do certain things—for example, to consider another person’s perspective and to change our own viewpoints or actions. The paper will explore these themes in the context of criminal law education.  

Bio: Sarah-jane Nussbaum is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of New Brunswick. She teaches Criminal Law, the Advanced Criminal Law Seminar, and Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility. Her research focuses on sentencing law and on criminal law education and has been funded by grants from the Canadian Bar Association Law for the Future Fund and the Canadian Foundation for Legal Research. She is a recipient of the UNB Law Teaching Excellence Award, and she collaborates with Elizabeth Fry New Brunswick to support public legal education and research projects.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University

Country: Australia

Abstract: ADR in Legal Education: A Values-Based Vehicle for the Promotion of Reflective Practice in Law Students

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is now an established part of legal practice in the Australian legal profession. It is also a compulsory knowledge area for admission into legal practice. ADR subjects are typically experiential and include content relating to managing and resolving conflicts, including processes such as negotiation and mediation. These processes are values-based approaches to resolving disputes and require practitioners to use specialized skills usually taught through role plays. The experiential pedagogy of ADR and the focus on conflict management and communication skills make ADR a natural partner with reflective practice in law. This paper outlines the current content and pedagogy of ADR subjects in Law Schools in Australia and argues for the inclusion of reflective practice in learning and teaching to promote ethical legal practice in the age of technology. It argues that ADR is a valuable vehicle to develop reflective practice in law students. 

Bio: Lola is an academic, Australian Lawyer and Mediator. She is currently a Professor at the School of Law, RMIT University. Lola’s research focuses on access to justice and conflict resolution: appropriate dispute resolution (ADR) including in relation to ethics, mediator responsibilities, teaching ADR in the law curriculum, cultural appropriateness, ADR and access to justice and ADR and social justice. Lola is interested in the role of international law in promoting global peace and justice particularly, how finding shared values may assist in the resolution or management of seemingly intractable conflicts. Lola is a leader in higher education, developing and ensuring the quality of legal education programs and preparing law students for future legal practice. 

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, College of Law 

Country: Canada

Abstract: Decolonization Through Reflection in Two-Eyed Seeing Research Models

In 2023, the University of Saskatchewan College of Law and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) entered a 3-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a broad goal of improving child protection and the lives of Indigenous children, youth, and families across Saskatchewan. Through this partnership the Indigenous Child Protection Practicum course was developed, wherein upper year JD students were placed in projects identified by the FSIN as pressing and requiring legal reform. In the first two iterations of the course, we have been able to support 11 students in practicum placements. Through these placements and projects students have engaged in the art of reflection, where they have challenged their ideas around colonization and the normative frameworks that have driven child welfare systems nationally. In this way, the course has caused the instructors, supervisors, and students to adapt and engage with questions around how reflection can support decolonization in child protection law which continues to disproportionally impact Indigenous families. This piece proposes to engage with reflective practice in legal education in the context of Two-Eyed Seeing to promote and support decolonization.  

Bio: Jamesy is an assistant professor at the College of Law with a research focus in child protection law. Jamesy received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Cum Laude in Dance (2006) from York University and both her Juris Doctor (2012) and Master of Laws (2017) from the University of Saskatchewan. Jamesy’s research during her LLM focused on child welfare in Saskatchewan. Prior to joining the College of Law, Jamesy practised law in Saskatoon with a focus on child protection matters and Indigenous governance in relation to child protection. Jamesy is passionate about policy development and governance surrounding child protection for Indigenous communities and organizations, and she is devoted to advocating for children and families facing systemic barriers in our community. Jamesy is honoured to be engaged in community lead research with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) and to have supported the development and implementation of an MOU as between the FSIN and College of Law. Jamesy's teaching areas include property law, entertainment law, child protection law, and the development of experiential learning opportunities for law students.    

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Director, Professional Standards, Research, Education and Policy. College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice and Public Protection: Professional Identity Formation in Immigration Practice

This presentation with Cassandra Barber and Megan Marshall situates reflective practice at the intersection of professional identity formation, professional competence, and public protection. Taking immigration practice as its site of inquiry, it examines how reflective practice enables practitioners to interrogate their own assumptions, exercise judgment under conditions of uncertainty, and remain attentive to the technical, relational, and moral dimensions of practice. In this account, professional competence is not exhausted by technical proficiency; it includes disciplined reflection and the capacity to recognize how professional decisions are shaped by the lived realities of practitioners and those subject to immigration processes. The development of this dimension of competence becomes especially acute in the early years of practice, when the transition from learning environment to professional practice is often marked by uncertainty, readiness gaps, and heightened risk of attrition. From the perspective of a public-interest regulator, the cultivation of reflective competence is therefore integral to supporting professional identity formation, strengthening practice, and advancing public protection.

Bio: Dr. Beata Pawlowska, Ph.D. is a strategic research, policy, and innovation executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience advancing system change across complex academic, government, healthcare, and non-profit environments. Beata holds a Doctorate in Organizational Psychology and a Master of Arts in Business and Education. Her current research focuses on regulatory governance, evidence-informed regulation, competency development, and public protection, with particular attention to early risk mitigation and systemic change in professional regulation. At the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, Beata provides strategic and operational leadership for the Professional Standards, Research, Education and Policy Department, supporting the College in fulfilling its statutory mandate to regulate the profession in the public interest. Prior to joining the College, she served as Director of Projects, Programs and Partnerships at Unity Health Toronto and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Associate Lecturer, Catholic University of Central Africa

Country: Cameroon

Abstract: Reflective Practice Amid Institutional Disorientation: Ethical Capacity Building For Legal Professionals In The Cameroon Judicial System

Legal professionals working in contexts of institutional disorientation face ethical challenges that extend beyond formal rules and statutory recognition. The Cameroon judicial system illustrates this through the experience of court registrars, who occupy a central yet often marginalized role in the administration of justice. Despite significant legal, administrative, and ethical responsibilities, registrars operate within environments marked by inconsistent compliance, unclear hierarchies, and fragmented professional recognition, exposing them to heightened ethical risk. This paper examines how institutional disorientation shapes ethical judgement, professional identity, and wellbeing among court registrars. It advances reflective practice as a practical approach to ethical capacity building and proposes its integration into judicial training and institutional culture to strengthen professional integrity and resilience.

Bio: I am a socio-legal scholar, legal administrator, and courtroom practitioner with over a decade of experience at the intersection of judicial practice, governance reform, and access to justice in Africa. I have lectured at the Catholic University of Central Africa and conducted research on judicial ethics, digital justice and institutional accountability, integrating doctrinal and socio-legal approaches with professional practice. A 2024 Mandela Washington Fellow, I bring practitioner-informed insight into the ethical pressures facing legal professionals in institutionally fragile contexts. I founded the Get Away Corruption Initiative and The Shining Pathways to promote integrity, empowerment, and reintegration. My work advances reflective practice, professional integrity and institutional resilience.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Family Justice Clinic Director, University of Idaho College of Law

Country: USA

Abstract: Beyond a Case Plan: Applying the Structure of Reflective Supervision for Mental Health Providers to Clinical Legal Education

Over the last 100, and especially the last 20, years advocates within and outside of social work, medicine, and psychology/mental health have worked to decolonize hierarchical supervision and decision-making structures to center human needs. This reform has produced the practice of “reflective supervision.” While some clinical educators, especially those serving clients in crisis, utilize elements of reflective practice or the term “reflective supervision,” most would benefit from an updated understanding of the approach. In clinical psychology, reflective supervision differs from clinical supervision, which is goal, outcome, policy and timeline oriented. Reflective supervision regularly explores emotional, relational, and personal issues. This enhances self-awareness, fosters empathy, and helps manage the impact of trauma, and benefits clients as providers improve their self-awareness, understanding of personal biases, empathy and relationship-building skills. This presentation examines reflective practice in clinical psychology and offers an updated version of the framework for attorney-supervisors who are not mental health providers.

Bio: Anya Perret, J.D., MSEd, is the Director of the University of Idaho’s Family Justice Clinic. After college, Professor Perret worked for five years in the child welfare system. Disturbed by the biases and harms inherent in that system, she attended law school, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania she worked for nearly five years representing children and parents separated in the foster care system. She recently completed her first year as the Director of the Family Justice Clinic, where she and her students work to provide holistic, trauma informed civil legal assistance to victims of family and sexual violence.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Founder of Just Brilliant LLC, Adjunct professor at Quinnipiac and Seton Hall Law Schools

Country: USA

Abstract: Reflective Practice Playbook: Multi-Modal Experiential Activities to Guide Integrative Reflective Development in Legal Education and Law Practice

Co-presenting with Susanne van der Meer and J. Kim Wright. This paper guides legal educators in designing a reflective curriculum that moves from abstract technical mastery toward law as a living ecosystem rooted in human values. We will provide instructions for a series of reflective exercises and tools, supported by stories and photos from practitioners, thematic evidence and references for further exploration. Using the metaphor of the Integrative Law Garden, the overarching perspective is how law students need fertile soil, deep roots, and nourishment to serve with purpose and resilience in their future law practice. Integrative law sustains the soil through emerging competencies such as emotional intelligence, cultural humility, reconciliation, trauma-informed lawyering, and foresight. These competencies can be developed through experiential reflection. Reflective self-awareness helps (future) lawyers to identify what strengthens or weakens their roots, and how values like curiosity, compassion, and creativity can support sustainability and growth. The multi-modal approach of this playbook - verbal, visual, and somatic – brings nourishment to grow adaptive expertise in real world situations. Educators will find evidence-informed, practical, and inspiring reflective strategies to grow a more human-centered, regenerative legal profession.  

Bio: Kara McCarthy Perry, J.D., is an integrative lawyer, educator, and scholar working at the intersection of law and well-being. Drawing on two decades of corporate law experience alongside training in yoga, meditation, Yoga Nidra, and laughter yoga, she brings embodiment directly into legal education. Kara teaches at Quinnipiac University School of Law and Seton Hall University School of Law, where she integrates contemplative and experiential methods into courses on negotiation, professional identity, and lawyer well-being. Her scholarship explores embodied negotiation, relational contracting, spiritual intelligence, and reflective practice as foundations for sustainable practice and meaningful professional lives. Beyond the classroom and conference room, Kara leads embodied workshops focused on lawyer well-being and teaches yoga in studio and community settings, helping translate reflection from idea to lived experience. She serves in leadership roles with the Institute for Well-Being in Law and Mindfulness in Law Society. Through her work, Kara supports law students and legal professionals in cultivating clarity, connection, and purpose. She is also the founder of Just Brilliant LLC. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Radboud University 

Country: Netherlands

Abstract: The Ethical Lawyer of the Future: Challenges and Opportunities for Fostering Reflection on Broader Societal Context in a Law School

Reflection on the broader social context of legal problems is increasingly recognised as essential in legal education, particularly during rule-of-law crises. However, traditional legal education models are ill fit to integrate such reflection. This presentation is a case study of obstacles and opportunities for embedding reflection on societal context at the law school of Radboud University (Netherlands), based on interviews with staff and students and our experience at the Radboud Law Clinic. Although the law school adheres to the traditional positive law-oriented teaching model, both staff and students acknowledge the importance of reflecting on broader societal issues. Challenges for integrating such reflection include not only curricular inflexibility and traditional assessment methods, but also failure to demonstrate relevance and connect reflection to students' personal experiences. Radboud Law Clinic seeks to address these challenges by offering experiential learning opportunities that foster critical global citizenship. Understanding these challenges and opportunities can help traditionally oriented law schools embed meaningful reflection on societal context into their curricula. 

Bio: I have been working on clinical legal education and professional (criminal defence) lawyering, including reflective practice, both as a practitioner and academic, since more than two decades. I have published nationally and internationally on these topics. I am currently involved/play a leading role in several initiatives, which aim to promote innovation in legal education, including experiential learning, interdisciplinary learning, and study of law in context. These include the Dutch-Flemish Association for Law & Society (VSR) (of which I am Board Member), the Maastricht-Radboud initiative on global citizenship education (which I co-established), and the OA journal Law & Method, the European Network for Clinical Legal Education. In the past I have overseen the development of a highly successful professional training program for criminal defence lawyers, based on reflective practice, which was replicated in several counties. More recently, I have helped establish and run the Radboud Law Clinic. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Adjunct Professor and Instructor, Georgia State University College of Law

Country: USA

Abstract: Purple Reign: How the Artistry of Prince Helps Law Teachers Help Law Students Explore and Reflect Professional Identity

What will you bring to the profession? Who will you be in the profession? What good will come from you being in the profession? Many law students suspect there is something akin to a hidden wholeness in the vocation of law, an essence that can be coaxed out of its secret cave and made a part of an identity worth pursuing. Recent American Bar Association standards requiring teaching professional identity promises law students that part of their legal education will reward their yearning for professional meaning. Alongside is the sense that a pall hangs over the legal profession questioning its responsive capacity to governing schisms. Law professors need an inspired and creative means of engaging these twin pedagogical concerns. Adapted from The Reflective Lawyer course at Georgia State University College of Law, this article describes four dynamic areas that shape the contours of divining meaningful professional presence, tapping the lyrical artistry of Prince as tour guide for the journey. It also urges law teachers to embrace the attending moral-centric plea of reflective identity to strengthen the capacities of lawyers at a time when purpose and moral meaning is sorely needed.

Bio: Derrick Alexander Pope is a self-described composer and conductor of ideas. He teaches Legislative Drafting, Legislative Advocacy, and The Reflective Lawyer at Georgia State University College of Law, having also previously taught Race, Ethnicity, and the Law, and Probate Practice and Procedure. Pope is the founder and managing director of The Arc of Justice Foundation, Inc. and host of its critically acclaimed podcast, Hidden Legal Figures. From a career that spans private legal practice, providing counsel to officials in the legislative and executive branches of government, and teaching, Pope brings to this symposium a singular perspective on how reflective practice invites lawyers to locate “missing moral meaning” in their work, to explore the greater dimension that supplies the vocation of law its justice-aimed purpose, and to promote well-being by reframing the differences believed to exist between personal and professional values from a conflict of laws to a compliment of laws.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Central Queensland University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Navigating the Complexity of Polycrisis as Legal Educators: Reflective Practice as a Transformative Process

Educational initiatives designed to develop law students’ reflective capacity offer opportunities for reflective practice in teaching and research. To illustrate this potential, we present a reflective enquiry of an international study tour in which students developed their understanding of wildlife law and protection via cultural immersion and applied legal research. We conducted research to understand student experience using transformative learning theory, and over three years, completed a cycle of data analysis and publication. Our understanding and relationship to this project evolved through challenge and conversation. Now, we turn the analytical lens upon ourselves to ask: ‘Was the experience transformative for us?’. In answering this question, we elucidate how our research facilitated our reflective practice and our understanding of polycrisis as an embodied reckoning of multiple power flows and pressures on our practice. We consider how reflective competence can support educators to navigate dimensions of polycrisis, including the implications of educational travel in the context of climate change and postcolonialism, and the impacts on regional student cohorts.

Bio: Luke is the Head of Clinical Legal Education at CQUniversity. His research considers the potential of, and risks arising from, new technologies such as self-help tools, social media, and videoconferencing, and how these impact community legal services and legal education. He has experience of clinical legal education and pro bono legal practice in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Senior Teaching Fellow, University of Strathclyde

Country: Scotland

Abstract: Implementing Reflective Practice in Legal Education at Strathclyde Law School: A Compulsory Third Year Reflective Report Module

In September 2023, Strathclyde Law School introduced a new undergraduate LLB curriculum, including a Third Year Reflective Report. This compulsory project, designed to enhance students’ analytical, reflective, and research skills, takes place during the second semester of the third year. Graduate entry students, however, encounter the module earlier, allowing the school to pilot the new approach with this cohort during the 2024-25 academic year. Initially involving 24 students, the module will expand to over 200 in subsequent years. The module combines lectures and workshops, with a distinctive assessment structure: a group research poster, graded on a pass/fail basis, alongside an individually assessed reflective report. This format fosters both collaboration and individual critical reflection. The paper discusses the rationale for embedding the Reflective Report as a core component, as well as adjustments made for the 2025-26 academic year based on reflections from the first cohort and class coordinator. 

Bio: I am a Senior Teaching Fellow and am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am currently the Director of Undergraduate Programmes at the University of Strathclyde School of Law. I previously held administrative roles as Director of Student Welfare, and Final Year Honours Coordinator. I am a member of The Association of Law Teachers and was the co-organiser of the Annual Conference at the University of Strathclyde in 2025.   

Where presenting: Nottingham Trent Centre for Legal Education Conference

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Affiliation: Part-Time Professor (Long-Term Nomination), University of Ottawa

Country: Canada

Abstract: Wapanakew as Pedagogy: Lessons for Reflective Practice and Legal Education

In Nehiromowin, Wapanakew means “to bring to light” and “to emerge,” referring to the first ceremony after the creation of the world. According to atisokana (stories), it brings an awakening that carries one further, guiding humans toward living their traditions and maintaining harmony with the world around them. In contemporary legal education, Wapanakew can be understood as a way of bringing the learner’s inner knowledge to light, offering valuable insights into what legal education might aspire to be. This vision guides the Certificate in Indigenous Law at uOttawa, which introduces Indigenous learners to Indigenous and state legal orders through pedagogies that centre learners’ prior knowledge, lived experiences, and gifts. It incorporates Indigenous modes of learning, including learning by doing, observation, oral tradition, and land based learning. Teaching within this program has required me to reconceptualize legal learning as a reflective and relational process of becoming rather than the transmission of abstract knowledge. Drawing on my teaching experience, I examine how Indigenous pedagogies can deepen reflective practice and open new possibilities for legal education.

Bio: Florence Robert is a doctoral candidate in law at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on Indigenous legal orders, pedagogies, and methods. Her LL.M., completed under the supervision of Professor John Borrows, examined Indigenous legal pedagogy and the decolonization of Canadian legal education. Her SJD research, supported by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, documents the values and processes guiding group regulation and conflict resolution within the Ilnu legal order in collaboration with the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation. Since 2022, she has been a Part Time Professor (LTA) at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, teaching several transsystemic courses in constitutional law, property law, family law, and Indigenous legal orders. She has served as Director of the Certificate in Indigenous Law since 2026. Her academic and teaching experience in Indigenous legal pedagogies directly informs her contribution to this symposium’s focus on reflective practice.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor, University of Ottawa

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practice as a Meta-Competency

In this paper I would like to present reflective practice as a meta-competency, that is, an overarching competency that is necessary for professional competence and for acquiring and integrating numerous competencies, including intercultural competency, critical thinking, professional identity formation, and learning. I will explain the concept of a meta-competency and argue that reflective practice needs to be introduced, practiced with feedback and assessed throughout the whole law school curriculum, and reinforced during a legal professional’s career. I will finally suggest some tools and methods for teaching and assessing reflection in law school and for legal professionals to reinforce it in practice.    

Bio: I am a professor and consultant, and I research and write in the areas of legal education, pedagogy, professional competence and competency-based education. I have been writing and thinking about reflective practice in the law school curriculum and have taught and assessed reflection in most of my courses. In 2022, as visiting chair at the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, I taught a course on professional identity formation entirely based on reflection. In that course, I taught students about reflection, reflective practice and I assessed them based on a reflective portfolio assignment, reflecting on the course but mostly on their professional identity. Recently, I designed a course on reflective practice for the Alberta Law Society and revised Ontario’s Integrated Practice Curriculum to introduce reflective practice as a meta-competency. I also facilitated a workshop to adjudicators at the Immigration Appeal Board on reflective practice.  

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Rutgers University

Country: USA

Abstract: Reflecting on Process Recordings as a Reflection Tool for Law Students 

Communication skills are essential to nearly every aspect of lawyering. Whether interviewing or counseling clients, negotiating with opposing counsel, drafting legal correspondence and documents, or presenting a case, a lawyer’s ability to communicate well is paramount. While law students receive some direct instruction in written and oral communication, e.g. legal writing, trial advocacy, negotiations, and law school clinical courses, they seldom are required to systematically and routinely document, analyze, and reflect upon their communication(s), resulting in missed opportunities for both guided and self-directed learning. Process recordings, an invaluable instrument in the social work toolkit, commonly are used to record exchanges and assess the effects of communication on the message (both verbal and nonverbal), its meaning, interactions with others, and relationship development. Incorporating a modified version of process recordings into law student learning will enable students to hone theircommunication abilities, improve their self-awareness, and foster their growth as reflective practitioners.  

Bio: Jennifer Rosen Valverde, Esq., M.S.W., is a Professor of Law at Rutgers U. School of Law in the Education and Health Law Clinic (EHLC) and holds a secondary appointment as Professor in the Rutgers School of Public Health.  She co-teaches two seminars—Special Education Law and Race, Bias and Professional Identity—and educates students in the practice of law (and, at times, graduate students in other disciplines, e.g. medicine, social work, public health) while advocating on behalf of children with disabilities and their families in special education and public benefits matters. Professor Valverde has published numerous articles on clinical law teaching, interprofessional education and collaboration, special education law, cross-systems educational advocacy, and social determinants of health, and frequentlypresents in New Jersey and nationally on these and related topics. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Loyola University-Chicago Schools of Law and Social Work. 

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Professional Law Institute, King’s College London

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: The Ever-Growing Importance of Reflective Practice for Lawyers and How This Can Be Taught at Law School 

 Having published on our efforts to incorporate reflective practice into the MSc in Law and Professional Practice at KCL (Unveiling the benefits of reflective learning in professional legal practice), this presentation will show how the implementation of reflective practice into the assessment of the dissertation on the MSc has developed and will also assess the efficacy of other incorporations of reflection (such as within a Careers Skills portfolio that we have developed). Additional suggestions will also be presented to further incorporate reflection within our course (which is taught using a bespoke-problem based learning pedagogy), including assessment by way of a reflective portfolio for a 45-credit module, as will developments in the UK with regard to CPD that have elicited a clear responsibility for UK lawyers to reflect on their practice and, therefore, I would argue, a responsibility on law schools to teach this essential skill. 

Bio: Reflective practice is a topic that I am passionate about. I have published on the benefits of reflective practice (see above) and am in charge of incorporating reflective practice into the MSc course detailed above. In addition to this, I am a qualified solicitor of England and Wales and so have a clear intersection between the teaching and practice of law and can therefore champion the benefits from both practitioner and academic angles. Topically, earlier this year, I wrote and taught a module on reflective practice for the International Bar Association’s International Legal Practice executive education course, which received the highest feedback score of all KCL modules and showed a real demand from lawyers globally for this type of training.  

Where presenting: Association of Law Teachers (ALT -UK) Conference

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Affiliation: Senior Counsel (Institutional Affairs Division), The World Bank Legal Vice-Presidency

Country: USA

Abstract: From Attention to Action in an AI Era: MEVA seva as Reflective Praxis for Justice-Facing Lawyering

Legal education often trains sharp analysis yet leaves a praxis gap: students can name injustice without reliably acting with integrity under pressure. In an AI era, as technical tasks are automated, the lawyer’s distinctive value becomes human—judgment, ethical discernment, accountability. Drawing on Gandhian ethics (satyagraha; ahimsa), my 30-year career at the World Bank and in U.S. community development, and contemplative teacher training, I present MEVA seva (Meditate–Elevate–Vibrate–Activate–seva) as a reflective pedagogy that turns attention into principled action. Meditate is a brief, secular grounding (2–4 minutes) to reduce reactivity. With an anonymized live legal issue, Elevate clarifies values, duties, and identity. Vibrate strengthens deep listening and stakeholder perspective-taking. Activate sets a bounded next step—who I will speak with, what I will say, and what I will do by when—with follow-up. Seva names the justice outcome: equity, responsibility, and accountability for clients, communities, and institutions. Participants leave with prompts, a rubric, and an evaluation plan.

Bio: Alpita Shah is Senior Counsel at the World Bank with 30 years of legal experience spanning international development and U.S. inner-city community development. A certified mindfulness and yoga teacher, she draws on contemplative approaches to ethics, service, and social justice, including Gandhian teachings. Throughout her career she has been active in mentoring junior lawyers and leading internship programs—experience that informs her interest in legal education and professional formation. Her contribution to this symposium is MEVA seva (Meditate–Elevate–Vibrate–Activate–seva), a practical, transferable framework for reflective praxis designed to help train the next generation of lawyers in an AI era by strengthening the human capacities AI cannot replace: ethical discernment, relational accountability, and principled action under pressure. Her perspective is grounded in complex, multi-stakeholder institutional practice and a commitment to justice-facing lawyering.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice, University of Maryland Baltimore

Country: USA

Abstract: Modeling Reflective Practice: Pedagogical Opportunities in Natural Spaces of Encounter 

The concept of “natural spaces of encounter” (Friedman et al, 2020) describes professional education as an organic enclave for transformational change through shared endeavors. Such change can benefit students and the communities they will serve as professionals, often as members of interdisciplinary teams. During a time of local and global polarization and crisis, the academy far too often exacerbates fractured dialogue rather than modelling collaboration to advance positive change. The combination of failed professional vision and a context shaped by performance pressures and precarity can make it hard to live and work according to our professional and academic ideals. This presentation will draw from empirical examples and conceptual frameworks for collaborating across disciplinary, social, and ideological divides to enhance ourcapacity for reflective practice within didactic and practicum professional education to better align our professional values with actual practice.   

Bio: With a background in law and social work, Corey Shdaimah has explored how professionals reconcile day-to-day practice with challenges to their ethical commitments and their professional codes of ethics for over two decades. She conducts empirical research with students and professionals from diverse fields (e.g. social workers, lawyers, and nurses) on how they identify, navigate, and understand ethical challenges in practice, as well as how they work as members of interdisciplinary teams (e.g. Shdaimah, 2012; Postan-Aizik, Shdaimah, & Strier, 2020; Franke & Shdaimah, 2022) or in hybrid practice (settings where their professional norms are not the guiding mission) (Shdaimah, McCarthy, Imboden, & Forrester, 2025). Dr. Shdaimah has also taught law and social work students, provided continuing professional education, and lectured widely on these topics.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Instructor and Lawyer-in-Residence, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University

Country: Canada

Abstract: I Will Survive: Building a Sustainable Access to Justice Practice

This presentation will focus on how a reflective practice can sustain the ability to run a law firm with an access to justice focus. Developing, implementing, and teaching strategies to sustain an access to justice practice requires careful and consistent reflection. I intend to draw on my experience as a long-time practitioner in the immigration and refugee field to offer practical strategies on sustaining an access to justice practice. I will also draw on my mentorship of students in my practice and my work designing and teaching both law and non-law students. I will first explain the importance of a reflective practice in access to justice law. I will then address the aspects of a law practice that should be considered from a reflective practice standpoint. These include both client and practice management issues. Next, I will turn to practical tools for success, such as prevention and problem solving techniques. Finally, I will conclude with thoughts about how educators can best prepare students for the realities of the workplace.

Bio: Maureen Silcoff has practised immigration and refugee law since 1988, serving for five years as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Maureen is at the forefront of high-impact litigation addressing systemic issues in Canada’s immigration and refugee regime. Maureen serves on the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyer’s Litigation Committee. She also offers commentary to the media and speaks at conferences. Maureen designed five courses at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law and currently teaches Public Interest Litigation and The Business of Lawyering. She was appointed Lawyer-in-Residence at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law for the 2025–2027 academic years. In December 2025, she received the Dean’s Teaching Award for outstanding commitment to student mentorship.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, Touro University Law Center

Country: USA

Abstract: Cultivating Professional Identity for a Sustainable Life in Law

A relatively recent ABA standard requires helping students develop their Professional Identity. However, few curricula focus on helping students develop a life in the law that will sustain them in the long run, providing the tools for a happy, healthy, rewarding existence, both personally and professionally. That is the focus of my Civil Practice Externship seminar. My students work in a variety of placements, including private firms, corporations, government, and public interest offices. The curriculum is designed to enhance not only their experience while in law school, but to arm them with the tools they will need to sustain a balanced and meaningful life and career. It includes goal setting, professionalism, professional identity development, reflection, ethics, mindfulness, positive psychology, effective communication, relationship-building, emotional competence, and navigating cultural differences. This presentation will offer some of the tools and exercises geared to accomplish these goals, most, if not all, of which one might adapt for any simulation, clinical, or externship course.   

Bio: I have been teaching law since 1983, and as a full tenured professor since about 1993, and although I spent the first part of my career teaching only doctrinal courses, over time I discovered that what I cared about most was the wellbeing of my students, the lawyers they would become, and the clients they would serve. For the past several years I have taught only the Civil Practice Externship seminar. In addition, I have published two books and numerous law review articles regarding the importance of psychological-mindedness, emotional competence and relational approaches to practicing law and ordering legal processes.  

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Lecturer, Monash Law Faculty and Principal Lawyer, Monash Law Clinics, Monash University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Today's Question is... Embedding Daily Reflective Practice Rituals and Exercises

This paper explores the use of daily, scheduled, reflective practice sessions during client facing clinical legal education placements at Monash Law Clinics, Monash University. It analyses the reflective practice strategies, techniques, activities and their impact/success, using qualitative data from the author's experiences teaching in a variety of client facing clinics over a four-year period (both online and in person). The paper will discuss the 'best practice' approaches from respected clinical legal education and reflective practice literature as used by the author in her teaching, and reflect on the effectiveness of a variety of processes trialled within an otherwise relatively controlled environment. The clinical context is a community legal centre providing legal assistance services to vulnerable, marginalised and disadvantaged members of the community.

Bio: Emily Singh is a Lecturer at Monash Law and is currently a Principal Lawyer and Practice Manager (acting) at Monash Law Clinics. With extensive practice experience in administrative (social security, refugee, immigration and counter human-trafficking) and general social justice practice, in the community legal sector, Emily is dedicated to advancing access to justice through both direct legal service, education and systemic reform. She brings a wealth of social justice practice experience, legal sector leadership, and legal services delivery design, to her role at Monash. Emily teaches in a range of clinical units, integrating hands-on legal practice with student learning. Her work focuses on community empowerment, innovative approaches and access to justice create the ideal backdrop for teaching students through an immersive reflective practice model, reflecting a career as a reflective practitioner and seeking to embed reflective practice in her students.

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Associate Professor; Externship Program Director; Academic Clinic Director, Class Action Clinic, University of Windsor

Country: Canada

Abstract: Reflective Practices: Pathways Through Uncertainty  

Uncertainty is an embedded, inevitable part of professional practice. Clinical and experiential learning as a site of learning requires students to grapple with substantive, ethical, and emotional uncertainty. Aspects of law practice - including ethical complexity, poor empiricism, and disconnect between doctrine and practice - make uncertainty a particular challenge for new law students and lawyers. Reflective practices provide pedagogical approaches that support students' facility with uncertainty; however, reflective practice relies on pedagogies that exist largely at the margins of Western approaches to legal education. Clinical and experiential learning invites reflective approaches and epistemologies into learning, providing a container within which uncertainty can be reframed and, perhaps, celebrated.  

Bio: Professor Smyth is Associate Professor, Externship Program Director, and Academic Clinic Director for the Class Action Clinic at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, on the territories of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations. Professor Smyth has spent twenty years at the faculty teaching and researching in clinical andexperiential learning. Professor Smyth researches and writes in the areas of clinic law, dispute resolution, lawyering skills, and legal education. Among her publications is an open source, online text, "Learning in Place: A Living Landscape of Practice", now it its third edition. She is also a co-author of the first text on clinical legal education in Canada, with Professors Sarah Buhler and Sarah Marsden. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium 

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Affiliation: Doctoral Student, Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Professional Knowledge and the Epistemology of Reflective Practice: Engaging a Continuum of Reflection

This presentation is co-presented with Elizabeth Anne Kinsella. This session explores how critical reflection can reveal the unintended effects of institutional policies, service misalignment, and systemic fragmentation on both the delivery of health care and service users experience. Drawing on research examining health profession students’  reflections during fieldwork placement in a homeless shelter, the session highlights how critically reflective learning can deepens learners’ understanding of vulnerability while opening space to questioning institutional structures, surface social and structural inequities, and consider pathways toward more just and accountable systems.

Bio: Niki Soilis, PhD(c) is currently a doctoral student in Health Sciences Education at the Institute of Health Sciences Education at McGill University. She brings two decades of experience designing large-scale educational programs across public and private health sectors. Her expertise across diverse educational modalities has guided the development of socially responsive curricula that address critical gaps in health professions education while advancing professional competency and social accountability. Niki’s work emphasizes experiential approaches that immerse learners in the lived realities of diverse communities, fostering critical reflection in the interests of advancing equitable, community-centered care. Her PhD research examines health professions students’ experiences of critically reflective learning about homelessness through virtual reality simulation and fieldwork in a homeless shelter.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Founder, Gaa-minwaajindizowaaj (GAAM)

Country: Canada

Abstract: Naanaagadawenindizowin: Reflecting on Legal Education and Gidinaadiziwininaanan

Larissa nindizhinikaaz. Animikii-wajiw nindoonjii. Animikii-wiikwedong nindaa. Gaawiin mashi ingikenimaasii nindoodem. Cass nindizhi-gikenimigoo. Mashkiigogamaag nindoonjii. Name nindoodem. Mii onowen wenji-ozhibii’amaangin ezhi-inendamaang nindoonaakonigewininaan anishinaabewiyaang. We are two of the many voices that come from Gidakiiminaan (“Anishinaabe land”). Larissa Speak and I are both lawyers. However, we are situated differently within the legal profession, come from different communities, have different lived experiences and backgrounds, and offer different perspectives. Bringing our voices together through conversations and visiting, we offer this paper as one way to engage Inawendiwin (“Anishinaabe relationality”) and Naanaagadawenindizowin (“Anishinaabe reflectivity”). Our conversations and visits will explore (1) the realities, challenges, and possibilities of engaging Gidinaadiziwininaanan (“Anishinaabe ways of learning and being”) in Canadian law schools; (2) our responsibilities to our communities and what those responsibilities mean for us within the law school environment and legal profession; and (3) how to resist the erasure of Gidinaadiziwininaanan.

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Cassandra Spade (she/her) is an Anishinaabe human rights activist from the Mishkeegogamang First Nation, located in Northwestern Ontario. She is the founder of Gaa-Minwaajindizowaaj, a grassroots organization that provides Anishinaabe language and cultural programming. She holds a B.A. from the University of Manitoba, and a J.D. from the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University.

Cass indizhi-gikenimigoo. Ninndanishinaabekwew, Mishkeegogamang geniin nindoonjii, nisawayi'ii ningaabii'anong giiwedinon inake. Gojijiing ishkoniganing nigii-izhi-ombig gaye. Name nindoodem. Mii iwe Gaa-minwaajindizowaaj (“GAAM”) nindoozhitoon ji-aanikenamawidwaa abinoojiinyag anishinaabemowin. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor & Co-Director Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan Indigenous Law and Justice Institute, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Naanaagadawenindizowin: Reflecting on Legal Education and Gidinaadiziwininaanan

Larissa nindizhinikaaz. Animikii-wajiw nindoonjii. Animikii-wiikwedong nindaa. Gaawiin mashi ingikenimaasii nindoodem. Cass nindizhi-gikenimigoo. Mashkiigogamaag nindoonjii. Name nindoodem. Mii onowen wenji-ozhibii’amaangin ezhi-inendamaang nindoonaakonigewininaan anishinaabewiyaang. We are two of the many voices that come from Gidakiiminaan (“Anishinaabe land”). Cassandra Spade and I are both lawyers. However, we are situated differently within the legal profession, come from different communities, have different lived experiences and backgrounds, and offer different perspectives. Bringing our voices together through conversations and visiting, we offer this paper as one way to engage Inawendiwin (“Anishinaabe relationality”) and Naanaagadawenindizowin (“Anishinaabe reflectivity”). Our conversations and visits will explore (1) the realities, challenges, and possibilities of engaging Gidinaadiziwininaanan (“Anishinaabe ways of learning and being”) in Canadian law schools; (2) our responsibilities to our communities and what those responsibilities mean for us within the law school environment and legal profession; and (3) how to resist the erasure of Gidinaadiziwininaanan.

Bio: Larissa Speak is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan Indigenous Law and Justice Institute at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. She has both Anishinaabe and settler roots and is a member of Anemki Wajiw (or Fort William) First Nation. Her work at Bora Laskin focuses on decolonization and Anishinaabe law practice through community engagement and land-based practices. She is part of a team of staff, faculty, and community members who design and deliver the Gaa-maadaa’ooniding Law Camp which is currently the only mandatory land-based course component at a Canadian law school. Larissa is an active member of Thunder Bay’s grassroots urban hide-tanning community. Larissa is committed to supporting and centering Anishinaabe ways of being and governance practices in community contexts and within post-secondary learning and research environments.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation:  Educational Developer and Instructional Designer, Queen's University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Beyond Bans: AI Literacy, Reflective Practice, and Assessment Integrity in Legal Education

This co-authored paper with Sharry Aiken examines how the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping legal education, disrupting traditional assessment practices and opening new opportunities for innovation in teaching and learning. Drawing on a multi‑year collaboration developing an online graduate diploma in immigration and citizenship law at Queen’s University, including instructor reflections, anonymized student work samples, and course‑level assessment data,  the paper advances an argument for integrating reflective practice (RP) pedagogies (Leering 2019, 2023) to prepare students to engage with GenAI ethically and effectively in both law school and practice.

The analysis synthesizes recent scholarship and institutional policy guidance to propose a structured model of AI literacy for law students, distinguishing between domains in which GenAI tools can support learning—such as editing, feedback, and study planning—and domains in which they remain unreliable, including critical analysis, legal research, and accuracy in the face of bias (Bliss 2024). Empirical and practice‑based observations from the diploma program indicate that, when carefully scaffolded, GenAI‑supported activities can enhance formative assessment, deepen student engagement, and promote writing development. At the same time, the paper situates this work within emerging critical literature that cautions that uncritical or unregulated reliance on GenAI may undermine critical thinking, compromise assessment integrity, and reproduce or amplify systemic bias (Veale et al, 2025). 

Rejecting blanket prohibitions on GenAI as both unenforceable and pedagogically unsustainable, the paper argues for embedding GenAI within student workflows through rigorously designed RP tasks that require documentation, analysis, and critical evaluation of AI‑generated outputs. This RP‑centred design, the presentation contends, can foster critical thinking and metacognition while supporting the development of ethical, innovative, and accountable legal professionals, and the session will conclude by outlining practical parameters for implementing such activities and assessments in law curricula.

Abstract: Reflective Practice in the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Refugee Law

This presentation is co-presented with Sharry Aiken and Christa Bracci. This paper describes a multi-year collaboration to design and deliver rigorous reflective practice instruction across the curriculum in the online Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law at Queen’s Law. Grounded in a program-level learning outcome that requires students to self-assess their developing competencies and develop a concrete plan for ongoing professional growth, we position reflective practice as a skill in itself, one which is central to sustained competency development during and, more importantly, beyond formal study. Our pedagogical approach focuses on the process—not the substance—of reflection: we provide explicit frameworks that model rigorous, evidence-informed inquiry while allowing students to select subject matter from their own learning experiences that they feel warrants examination. The program-wide curriculum begins with a foundational unit on reflective practice theory in the introductory course; incorporates scaffolded formative exercises throughout; and culminates in the creation of a reflective practice portfolio. In this portfolio, students document their own development across courses and articulate a forward-looking plan for continued professional growth after graduation. This paper will share practical educational design strategies and transferable tools to support meaningful integration of reflective practice into course curricula, especially in the context of pre-professional education.

Bio: Andrea Speltz is an Educational Developer and Instructional Designer at Queen’s University Faculty of Law, where she leads innovations in legal education with an emphasis on active and collaborative learning, reflective practice, and competency-based assessment. In addition to her role at Queen’s, Andrea teaches German literature and language at universities across Ontario.

Where presenting: Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Conference

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Affiliation: Queen's University

Country: Canada

Abstract: Strengthening the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Law Through Reflective Practice

This keynote presentation explores how the reflective practice of legal educators can deepen and strengthen the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) within legal education and the broader educational community. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights, the session offers practical frameworks and evidence-based strategies to demonstrate how intentional reflection fosters innovation in pedagogy and enriches student learning. At the core of this exploration is the recognition that reflective practice actively advances justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion by cultivating critical awareness of teaching methods, curriculum design, and disciplinary and institutional priorities. By illuminating the intersection of reflective inquiry and professional integrity, attendees will be invited to reflect on their own practices and encouraged to engage with SoTL as a means to further advance legal education.

Bio: Dr. Denise Stockley has a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and is a Professor and Scholar in Higher Education at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on ethical inquiry, reflective practice, and integrity in higher education. A past president of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), she has played a key role in shaping national and international conversations about how educators create and sustain scholarly approaches to teaching. Her research explores how cultures develop within and across institutions, with a focus on faculty engagement, leadership, curriculum renewal, and research ethics education. She examines how ethical inquiry and scholarly practice intersect to support integrity and reflection in teaching and learning. At Queen’s University, Dr. Stockley leads initiatives that connect principles of ethical and reflective teaching within program design, faculty development, and policy innovation. Her scholarship also includes health professions education, where she integrates competency-based education, interprofessional learning, and universal design for learning. These approaches offer valuable insights for advancing professional education across diverse disciplines, including law. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Executive Director, Mediate BC Society

Country: Canada

Abstract: Team-Based Learning Activities as Encouragement of Reflective Practice

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a collaborative pedagogical approach. Students answer a series of multiple-choice questions: first on their own before class, then again as teams in the classroom. Teams come to a collective answer for each question, then use scratchcards to reveal whether they are correct. This gives students immediate feedback. Teams whose answers are incorrect are then encouraged to seek partial credit by choosing a second answer. Our presentation will discuss TBL as a strategy for encouraging reflective practice in law students. First, we will discuss the benefits of students coming prepared with answers before reflecting on their answers as teams. (We have found that teams consistently score higher than any single student.) We will then examine the immediate feedback mechanic and the ability to obtain partial credit – these teach students to re-evaluate their thinking. Finally, we will discuss the value of giving teams an opportunity to argue on behalf of an (ostensibly incorrect) answer at the end of the class session – this encourages students to think critically about their work even after completing the activity, and to advocate on behalf of a position.

Bio: Sharon Sutherland is Executive Director at Mediate BC Society. She is a former Allard School of Law faculty member and currently teaches mediation and conflict resolution in a variety of contexts including both continuing legal education for lawyers and training for child protection mediators across BC. Sharon has utilized team-based learning activities in mediation courses and Torts and is exploring online TBL approaches for a developing course in agreement writing.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Country: USA

Abstract: Reflective Practice Playbook: Multi-Modal Experiential Activities to Guide Integrative Reflective Development in Legal Education and Law Practice

Co-presenting with Kara Perry and J. Kim Wright. This paper guides legal educators in designing a reflective curriculum that moves from abstract technical mastery toward law as a living ecosystem rooted in human values. We will provide instructions for a series of reflective exercises and tools, supported by stories and photos from practitioners, thematic evidence and references for further exploration. Using the metaphor of the Integrative Law Garden, the overarching perspective is how law students need fertile soil, deep roots, and nourishment to serve with purpose and resilience in their future law practice. Integrative law sustains the soil through emerging competencies such as emotional intelligence, cultural humility, reconciliation, trauma-informed lawyering, and foresight. These competencies can be developed through experiential reflection. Reflective self-awareness helps (future) lawyers to identify what strengthens or weakens their roots, and how values like curiosity, compassion, and creativity can support sustainability and growth. The multi-modal approach of this playbook - verbal, visual, and somatic – brings nourishment to grow adaptive expertise in real world situations. Educators will find evidence-informed, practical, and inspiring reflective strategies to grow a more human-centered, regenerative legal profession.  

Bio: Broad international experience in the Netherlands and the USA in a variety of legal roles (attorney, in-house counsel, legal team lead, project manager, self-help coordinator for the Colorado Courts, mediation program manager, trainer, facilitator.) Since 2005 I have been training lawyers in visual communication to make legal information more accessible. Author of ‘Visual Language for Lawyers’ (in Dutch), and various book contributions and articles on legal skills innovation andcreative leadership in law. My newest project The Insight Effect is an interdisciplinary method, rooted in my academic and experiential interest in reflective practices: I hold an MA in Continental Philosophy, certifications as a philosophical counselor, personal fitness trainer, and somatic movement teacher. I presented on these topics at international conferences for legal professionals and I regularly give trainings, presentations, and workshops. SiftVisuals.com 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Law, Open Universiteit

Country: Netherlands

Abstract: Repairing the Legal Dialogue by Reflective Practice: A Constructive Response to the Dutch Child Care Benefits Scandal

The Dutch Child Care Benefits Scandal in the Netherlands has exposed an important weakness in the system of protection of rights of citizens: a bias of the highest administrative court in favor of executive authorities. After the role of the court in the scandal became apparent, the court started a ‘reflection program’ and subsequently published ‘reflection reports’. Those reports show a very limited sense of self-reflection and hold little promise of improvement. We will explain the role of reflection in the functioning of the modern (legal) professional, and address the dialogic nature of law. Building on our earlier research, we aim to show how law as dialogue and legal professionals as reflective practitioners presuppose and potentially reenforce each other. Training in reflective praxis develops an independent judicial attitude, an openness to all relevant factors, and an eye for reasonableness. It should be part of the initial training and the permanent education of judges. We will use the Child care benefits scandal as a worst case scenario of how the legal-societal dialogue can be damaged when judges fall short of a reflective attitude.

Bio: I am an academic lawyer and philosopher, wrote my PhD thesis (2007) on the challenges of the Dutch judiciary in WWII. I have been teaching professional ethics in the Dutch judicial training programme since 2011, and written extensively on judicial ethics and the judicial causes of the Dutch Child Care Benefits Scandal, which revealed quite a systemic challenge. As an expert on judges, judging, and judicial ethics - also in historical perspective - I hope to contribute some of my insights to the symposium, and learn from others'. My co-author is an expert in educational science, which is essential to our contribution, and will provide a multi-disciplinary input to the symposium.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Head of L&D (Education), The Law Society of England and Wales

Country: United Kingdom

Abstract: Helping Our Members Get 'Shopfloor' Ready: How Embedding Reflective Practice Aims to Improve Professional Competencies 

This presentation will discuss how The Law Society of England and Wales has attempted to embed reflective practice (via its digital CPD diary, which is available to all members) as a key component of its education offer. As routes to qualification become more convoluted and contested, and the pressure to conform to the demands of the billable hour continue to increase, it has arguably never been more important to embed reflective practice as a key pillar of emergent professional competences. 

Bio: I've been Head of L&D at The Law Society for 6.5 years, a period which has revolutionised the Society's education offer. Digital education and reflective practice has been a pillar of this transformation, so I'm well positioned to contribute to the discussion. Prior to this I was Head of Elearning at The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, where I also led on leveraging emerging digital technologies to improve education and reflective practice. Prior to that I held academic positions in the United States and England. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Lawyer, Mediator, Author

Country: USA

Abstract: In Right Relationship: Practicing and Teaching Trauma-Responsive Restorative Advocacy

I wrote Becoming a Restorative Lawyer: How to Transform Your Legal Practice for Self, Client, and Community Growth after a lengthy career in law. Early in my career, I developed a critical view of the law, influenced by the Critical Legal Studies Movement. Later, as a practicing lawyer, I realized that the adversarial system caused suffering for everyone involved—parties, lawyers, families, and court personnel. As a result, I returned to graduate school. With exposure to reflective practices at CJP and my critical lens, I explored the potential to reframe the ordinary practice of law through the principles and values of restorative justice. Restorative lawyering transforms legal practice by prioritizing process, relationships, and healing, offering tangible benefits for clients and lawyers alike. Reflective practices are integral to restorative lawyering, as I encourage lawyers to “Look Inside Your Baggage and Make Your Legal Practice a Reflective Practice. In this session, I will collaborate with participants to create tools to integrate reflection and relational awareness into daily legal work, increasing the potential for healing for lawyers, clients, and our communities.

Bio: Brenda Waugh is a lawyer, mediator, and restorative justice practitioner with nearly three decades of legal experience. She began her career in legal services and later worked as an assistant prosecutor. She observed how the adversarial system could inadvertently harm clients, lawyers, and communities. This inspired her to pursue graduate studies at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where she learned reflective practices and restorative principles that shaped her approach to law. Her book, Becoming a Restorative Lawyer, explores how lawyers can integrate reflection, relational awareness, and healing into daily practice, with photographs and a foreword by Howard Zehr. She has led over 100 workshops and webinars across the U.S. and Canada on restorative justice, transformative mediation, and related practices. She has taught courses at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and the WVU College of Law.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium  

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Affiliation: Professor of Law, University of Melbourne

Country: Australia

Abstract: Building Ethics and Wellbeing Through (Moral) Organisational Resilience: An Extended Role for Reflective Practice in the Legal Ecosystem

Legal practice today is a highly complex and often morally challenging setting in which to survive, let alone thrive. One response has been to argue that individuals need to build ‘resilience’, a response that has been criticised for letting organisations off the hook of the moral, physical and psychological harms they cause. In contrast, this paper builds on more recent work on resilience which treats it as both a process and an emergent quality of complex systems, operating across technical, human, social and ecological domains, and significantly shaped by the learning environment. 

Drawing on the foundational work of Argyris and Schön (1978), the paper makes a case for recentring reflective practice around resilience, and the need to (re)build legal practices as learning organisations committed to ‘triple loop’ learning. Whereas single loop and double loop learning lead to new knowledge on technical problems, and the ability to ‘learn forwards’ to novel solutions, a third loop requires people and organisations to engage in more profound reflection on why they do what they do, andhow this connects to the fundamental values of the legal system. The implications of this model for the legal education system are, in concluding, briefly addressed. 

Bio: Julian Webb is a professor at Melbourne Law School where he teaches civil procedure and legal ethics. He was formerly Professor of Legal Education at the University of Warwick and Director of the UK Centre for Legal Education. His educational scholarship has a leaning towards theory-informed practice and has influenced thinking on the teaching of ethics and values, and reflective practice in law, informing both the (UK) Law Society’s innovative projects on work-based learning in the mid-2000s, andinnovations in ethics CPD introduced by the Victorian Legal Services Board. From 2011 – 2013, he led the national Legal Education and Training Review in England andWales (Webb et al., 2013) and was a co-author of Hong Kong’s ‘Comprehensive Review’ in 2018. Julian’s current research focusses primarily on technological change in legal education and practice, as well as empirical work on lawyer wellbeing. 

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Director of Clinical Units and Academic Director in the Monash Clinical Program, Monash University

Country: Australia

Abstract: Teaching and Assessing Reflection in the age of GenAI

This topic is being is co-presented and co-presented with Kate Fischer Doherty. Reflective practice is central to the methodology of clinical legal education and has been identified as a core competency for justice-oriented legal professionals.  Correspondingly, reflective writing is a common form of assessment in clinical courses. Student reflections have the capacity to provide a rich window into student learning, ethical awareness and emerging professional self-concept.

Yet in an era where the use generative AI is increasingly ubiquitous—regardless of institutional regulation—legal educators must confront a pressing question: how do we design opportunities for reflection, including as assessment, that continues to cultivate authentic self-awareness, critical insight and professional identity formation, while acknowledging and engaging with new technologies?

This interactive panel invites discussion of the pedagogical and ethical challenges GenAI poses for reflective practice and assessment in CLE from the perspective of different law school programs and clinical models. Rather than framing AI solely as a threat to authenticity, the panel seeks to explore how teaching and learning regimes might evolve to preserve and deepen students’ reflective capacities in ways that are pedagogically rigorous, professionally meaningful and technologically informed.

Bio: Dr. Jacqueline Weinberg is the Director of Clinical Units and Academic Director in the Monash Clinical Program within the Faculty of Law at Monash University. Dr. Weinberg is deeply committed to advancing legal education and clinical legal practice, holding both graduate and postgraduate qualifications in law and legal education, with a particular focus on clinical legal education. Dr. Weinberg’s research interests are diverse and impactful, encompassing dispute resolution, the wellbeing of students and legal professionals, and the intersection of technology and law to enhance access to justice. Her work focuses on how innovative approaches can transform legal education and practice, ensuring they are responsive to contemporary challenges and opportunities.

Where presenting: TBA

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Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Open Universiteit

Country: Netherlands

Abstract: Repairing the Legal Dialogue by Reflective Practice: A Constructive Response to the Dutch Child Care Benefits Scandal

The Dutch Child Care Benefits Scandal in the Netherlands has exposed an important weakness in the system of protection of rights of citizens: a bias of the highest administrative court in favor of executive authorities. After the role of the court in the scandal became apparent, the court started a ‘reflection program’ and subsequently published ‘reflection reports’. Those reports show a very limited sense of self-reflection and hold little promise of improvement. We will explain the role of reflection in the functioning of the modern (legal) professional, and address the dialogic nature of law. Building on our earlier research, we aim to show how law as dialogue and legal professionals as reflective practitioners presuppose and potentially reenforce each other. Training in reflective praxis develops an independent judicial attitude, an openness to all relevant factors, and an eye for reasonableness. It should be part of the initial training and the permanent education of judges. We will use the Child care benefits scandal as a worst case scenario of how the legal-societal dialogue can be damaged when judges fall short of a reflective attitude.

Bio: Iwan Wopereis is a senior lecturer in the academic teacher training programme for primary education at the Open Universiteit in the Netherlands. He is also an educational technologist and researcher affiliated with the AI and Data Literacy project within Npuls, a Dutch National Growth Fund programme for innovation in tertiary education. He graduated as an instructional technologist from the University of Twente. His research interests include instructional design, technology-enhanced learning, and reflective practice.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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Affiliation: Fellow/Faculty, Quinnipiac University Center on Dispute Resolution, Project for Integrative Law in Legal Education 

Country: USA

Abstract: Reflective Practice Playbook: Multi-Modal Experiential Activities to Guide Integrative Reflective Development in Legal Education and Law Practice

Co-presenting with Kara Perry and Susanne van der Meer. This paper guides legal educators in designing a reflective curriculum that moves from abstract technical mastery toward law as a living ecosystem rooted in human values. We will provide instructions for a series of reflective exercises and tools, supported by stories and photos from practitioners, thematic evidence and references for further exploration. Using the metaphor of the Integrative Law Garden, the overarching perspective is how law students need fertile soil, deep roots, and nourishment to serve with purpose and resilience in their future law practice. Integrative law sustains the soil through emerging competencies such as emotional intelligence, cultural humility, reconciliation, trauma-informed lawyering, and foresight. These competencies can be developed through experiential reflection. Reflective self-awareness helps (future) lawyers to identify what strengthens or weakens their roots, and how values like curiosity, compassion, and creativity can support sustainability and growth. The multi-modal approach of this playbook - verbal, visual, and somatic – brings nourishment to grow adaptive expertise in real world situations. Educators will find evidence-informed, practical, and inspiring reflective strategies to grow a more human-centered, regenerative legal profession.  

Bio: J. Kim Wright is a lawyer, author, and legal educator who has explored reflective practice in law long before it became widely discussed. In her 2010 ABA book, Lawyers as Peacemakers, she identified reflection as essential to ethical judgment, strong client relationships, and sustainable practice. She continued this work in Lawyers as Changemakers (ABA, 2016) and as co-editor of Trauma-Informed Law: A Primer for Lawyer Resilience and Healing (ABA, 2023). A central figure in the Integrative Law Movement and co-creator of the Conscious Contracts® process, Kim integrates reflection with conscious approaches to change, conflict, and agreement design. Her teaching emphasizes that technical skill and reflective capacity strengthen one another. She works with law students, lawyers, and faculty worldwide to cultivate clarity of purpose, emotional intelligence, resilience, and values-aligned practice. In this session, Kim joins Kara and Suzanne to bring both seriousness and playfulness to reflective practice, inviting participants to experience it not just as a teaching tool, but as a sustaining professional habit.

Where presenting: Queen's Law virtual Symposium

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