Challenges of German first-year law students – empirical results and implications for legal education

Schröder, Daniela

Abstract

This article addresses the (self-identified) challenges facing first-year law students in Germany. In particular, this article reports findings of research conducted as part of the third-party funded project Selbstorganisation und Lernstrategien [Self-Organisation and Learning Strategies] at the University of Hamburg. In an extracurricular peer-tutoring format, beginners in legal studies were introduced to different learning techniques in conjunction with legal methodology. Based on previous research, students were encouraged to become strategic deep learners by presenting them with a standardised course curriculum consisting of ten thematically defined sessions. All classes were evaluated via a written questionnaire, the results of which are presented here. These empirical findings allow us to determine the difficulties legal beginners are confronted with and to derive sensible didactic improvements for law students, especially those in the early semesters of their studies. In particular, we advance the view that more use should be made of student-led tutorials in legal education and plead for encouraging students to become strategic deep learners. This is especially important in regards to the growing influence of international law in legal curricula. In addition, this article argues that the content of the various law courses should be better interlinked institutionally.