Author(s)

Pengju Xu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Longhu Street, Bengbu, China

Corresponding Author

Pengju Xu

ABSTRACT

Law schools around the world are increasingly recognizing the importance of integrating design thinking into their curricula in order to equip graduates with the human-centered skills and ways of thinking needed for the jobs of the future. Research in recent years has investigated design thinking pedagogy in higher education, but further empirical research is needed to understand the perspectives of law school educators and learners. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with design thinking educators in Anhui Law School to investigate their experience and meaning construction of design thinking pedagogy with specific application cases. While the findings of this study cannot be specifically generalized, this research allows us to draw preliminary conclusions about how design thinking can be used to approach legal skills teaching. Participants in this study believe that design thinking pedagogy can develop empathy, creative and innovative thinking skills as an alternative to the traditional institutionalized way of training lawyers. They also believe it enables people-centered problem solving, fosters creative confidence, and enables alternative ways of thinking. Law students must develop different ways of thinking to prepare them for the future of the legal profession. Incorporating design thinking pedagogy into law courses has the potential to help graduate lawyers navigate complex legal issues with fewer constraints, develop emotional intelligence, increase resilience, overcome fear of failure, and work better together in multidisciplinary contexts.

KEYWORDS

Creative confidence; Design thinking pedagogy; The Law; Legal education; Thinking skill

CITE THIS PAPER

Pengju Xu, Lawyers' creative confidence and thinking ability: the significance of design thinking in legal education. Science of Law Journal (2023) Vol. 2: 1-11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/DOI: 10.23977/law.2023.021201.

REFERENCES

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