Applied Critical Thinking and Legal Analysis: Performance Optimization for Law Students and Professionals

To view a sample of the Case File, Assessments, and Materials ("CAM") Supplement, click here. The full 302-page supplement, along with a Dropbox folder of working spreadsheets and other classroom materials, is available to professors upon adoption of this book.

ACTLA is a comprehensive research-based curriculum designed to optimize students' legal learning and problem-solving skills for improved educational outcomes. Consisting of a student text, a supplement containing all required case files, assessments, and materials, and a teacher's manual, ACTLA provides a turn-key solution that allows any school, regardless of budget or staffing, to leverage limited resources for greater student success. ACTLA is designed for flexibility, and can be delivered as a full course, a series of workshops, or one-on-one study to best suit the unique needs of any institution or student population. If desired, ACTLA can easily be integrated into any doctrinal course.

The innovative ACTLA curriculum, backed by nearly a decade of intensive educational research, development, delivery, and assessment, directly addresses the most pressing learning needs of today's students. ACTLA helps students strengthen their skills in critical reading, writing, and analytical thinking, while building the habits of mind associated with top success in the study and practice of law. Students in ACTLA internalize a reliable, systematic approach to legal learning and problem-solving while working through three progressively sophisticated levels of legal problems, assessing their progress, and refining their approach each step of the way. The problem-based curriculum includes an arsenal of research-based tools and strategies to strengthen key legal learning skills, including critical reading, rule formation, synthesis, analysis, exam-taking, self-assessment, and self-regulation. ACTLA emphasizes formative assessment and includes specialized tools to measure learning outcomes, which may assist law schools in complying with the ABA pedagogy mandate.

Brett Brosseit is an attorney, educator, advocate, organizational leader, consultant, and author.

Elizabeth Mortenson is a former Assistant Professor of Advanced Critical Thinking at Ave Maria School of Law.

Sarah Murphy is a Professor at Atlanta's John Marshall School of Law. In addition, she is a national tutor for the bar examination.