Marta Vides de González

Nearly two years ago, Ana Laura Magaloni Kerpel visited Stanford Law School (SLS) as part of her decision-making process about how to establish a legal division at Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), an institution in Mexico City with a well-regarded reputation for research and teaching in the areas of economics, sociology and political science. Her vision was to establish an innovative and cutting edge law school for Mexican students. Graduates would be lawyers who were critical thinkers and problem solvers and would view the relationship between law and justice in a more integrated way. In addition, these lawyers would be able to represent Mexico in establishing the international relationships necessary in the global forum.

During her initial visit to Stanford, Ana Laura had the opportunity to meet with various SLS faculty, including, Maude Pervere, the Director of the Negotiation and Mediation Program at SLS. The Stanford program is based on the underlying belief that effective teaching of negotiation, mediation and other dispute resolution skills needs to be facilitated by experienced practitioners with a framework of theory. These teachers’ roles would be to serve as facilitators with expertise, training students in basic skills and creating in them a desire to continue to build on what they had learned.

From left to right: Layda Negrete, Marta Vides de González, Ana Laura Magaloni, Andrés Cúneo, Lawrence Friedman. John Merryman, Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo

Calling themselves the “Dream Team,” Ana Laura has attracted a core faculty of thirteen to pursue her vision. (Dream Team members include: Erick Aranda García, Antonio Cervantes Guerrero, Diego Galer Koler., Diego García Ricci, Roberto Hernández, Alejandro Madrazo L., Ana Laura Magaloni Kerpel, Layda Negrete, Catalina Pérez-Correa, María Inés Pazos and Reyes Rodríguez M., with Alejandro Posadas and María Lourdes Suayfeta). Ana Laura adapted the collaborative approach to the Mexican context and needs of CIDE. Her core faculty includes skilled inter-disciplinary researchers as well as practitioners. One year ago, the vision and the CIDE collaboration with Stanford was strengthened by a Hewlett Foundation grant to both institutions as part of its “Legal Training and Administration of Justice” component. I was invited to coordinate the SLS collaboration on legal education as part of the “Building Legal Capacity in Latin America” proposal. The grant also includes funding for two Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS) fellows, as well as funding for joint faculty research projects, and networking in Latin American generally. Professors Tom Heller and Lawrence Friedman are the principal investigators on the grant.

To further the legal education part of the project, Ana Laura initially selected faculty she assessed as being capable of flourishing in a creative teaching environment. In order to model a teaching and learning style conducive to critical thinking and creative problem solving, CIDE took on the task of developing curriculum materials. A major publisher of legal treatises in Mexico has already agreed to publish the materials CIDE produces as a series of textbooks.

Each set of course materials is organized to articulate: (1) objectives (2) teaching materials and resources (3) a teaching plan for each class session and (4) a method for evaluating the learning/teaching. The method is called “PRENDE” (Programa Para La Reforma a la Enseñanza del Derecho). In CIDE’s PRENDE approach, the instructor explicitly takes on the role of facilitator, and the students take on responsibility for their learning. This approach is a significant departure from the traditional “magisterial” style of Mexican legal education, that in its most extreme form, is one in which the professor reads the code aloud in class in order to assist students in memorizing the codes verbatim.

The Dream Team members developed working groups, that include practicing lawyers and judges, to develop and continue to refine curriculum for courses in four core areas: civil law, corporate law, civil procedure, and constitutional law. Members of these Working Groups initially participated in a seminar facilitated by Andrés Cunéo Macciavello of Universidad Diego-Portales, Santiago de Chile and myself. Andrés modeled the problem method and Socratic questioning style he has used in Chile for over 20 years. His contribution is irreplaceable in dispelling the notion that innovative pedagogy is not compatible with a Civil Law system such as that of Mexico. I modeled the role-play simulation method that we use at Stanford. Andrés also facilitated a workshop on structuring a course, including objectives and syllabus. I also facilitated a discussion exploring the advantages and disadvantages of a range of teaching methods including: problem method, case study method, discussion classes, lecture classes, role-play simulation, and live clinic approaches.

The first “class” of twenty CIDE students entered their legal studies in August 2002, and the Dream Team has made it a priority to focus on the new students. I have collaborated with them to review materials, provide feedback on classroom teaching and develop a skills manual for teacher-training.

Finally, this past November, the Dream Team, together with Andrés Cúneo Macchiavello and Jorge Contesse Singh of Universidad Diego-Portales, visited SLS. During the visit, CIDE faculty presented their methods and materials, attended classes, and exchanged ideas with the entire SLS faculty about curriculum issues. In addition, CIDE faculty had the opportunity to participate in workshops on facilitation and questioning skills, learning styles, and evaluation and grading issues. Conversations with SLS faculty and the opportunity to see different methods in the classroom setting were particularly helpful in clarifying possible next steps in the development of future curriculum, particularly inter-disciplinary courses, at CIDE.
This sort of collaboration is not new to SLS. In 1967, Professor John Merryman, together with Professor, later Dean, Thomas Ehrlich and Steven Lowenstein of the International Legal Center, coordinated a similar collaboration called the Chile Law Program (CLP) focused on reform of legal teaching, funded by the Ford Foundation, as well as a related research component on legal systems, Studies in Law and Development (SLADE), funded by AID. One important legacy from that earlier collaboration is that Professor Andrés Cúneo Macchiavello of Universidad Diego-Portales has been an essential participant in the current effort between CIDE and SLS.

As part of the on-going collaboration, faculty at both CIDE and SLS were invited to submit their “Santa Claus Wish Lists” for future joint projects. Projects will include joint teaching and research projects as well as deepening training in diverse teaching methods in an authentically Mexican context. The response on the part of faculty at both institutions has been enthusiastic. The effort to date has been a true collaboration in the sense of being a teaching and learning experience for all participants. We look forward to the New Year and the possibilities it offers.
Acknowledgements

For information about the legal education project, contact me at mvides@law.stanford.edu. I extend special thanks, de corazón, to faculty members, Tom Heller, Lawrence Friedman, Buzz Thompson, Paul Brest and Maude Pervere, for their patience and wisdom, and to two lawyers, Carola Vásquez Rico of Chile, and Luis Pérez Hurtado of Mexico, for their generous insights, as well as my “November” Administrative Assistant, Irma Alvarado Martinez, for her tireless efforts. The contributions of each of you made this project possible.