Current Problems and Challenges of Legal Education

Abstract

Preparation of qualified personnel is one of the tasks for jurisprudence that is of paramount importance. The objective is directly linked to the well-being of the Russian society. The system of law education is expected to continuously developing in order to meet the needs of the highly-demanding information society. This fact makes the analysis of the leading educational trends in relation to law studies particularly relevant; the analysis is aimed at determining how applicable and useful these trends are in jurisprudence. The author reveals the key tendencies, characterising the vector of the development of the educational system in general, and discloses their essence in the context of teaching law studies at the modern stage of scientific advance. In the focus of attention are, in particular, such trends as cross-cutting technologies, their usage in Legal Tech, interdisciplinary approach, individualisation and gamification of education, bite-size learning, building of soft skill, and shaping social intelligence. The author posits that the influence of technologies on education is nowadays twofold: on the one hand, they are used to modify and ease the process of education itself; on the other hand, the students are taught to interact with them and to use them in their studies and work. Based on the analysis of educational trends in the framework of jurisprudence, the conclusion about positive impact of the technologies in question on the law education is made. The positive effect lies in the increase of quality and speed of the material absorption, orientation on achieving a practical result, performing a narrow career-guidance function, the increase in motivation and involvement in the educational process, the preparation for a work with a high social engagement. The main conclusion the author reaches is that the paradigmatic focus of the new era science drifts towards anthropocentrism and needs of a person as a human being, and that the system of legal education is ought to be transformed the way which will allow it to help the society fulfill this agenda both in the present and in the future.