Professors Michael Hunter Schwartz, Sophie Sparrow, and Gerry Hess, leaders in legal education, have collaborated to offer a second edition of their book. Applying the research on teaching and learning, this book guides new and experienced law teachers through the process of designing and teaching a course. The book addresses how to plan a course, design a syllabus, plan individual class sessions, engage and motivate students, use a variety of teaching techniques, assess student learning, and how to be a life-long learner as a teacher. New chapters focus on creating lasting learning, experiential learning, and troubleshooting common teaching challenges.
After serving eight years as the 10th Dean of the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law from 2017-2025, Michael Hunter Schwartz resumed his full-time faculty role as Professor of Law. He is a Consultant for the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning and has been teaching law since 1991. He is the author of Contracts: A Context and Practice Casebook (Carolina Academic Press, 2009), Expert Learning for Law Students (2d ed., Carolina Academic Press, 2008), Pass the Bar! (Carolina Academic Press, 2006), Teaching Law by Design: Engaging Students from the Syllabus to the Final Exam (Carolina Academic Press, 2009), and What the Best Law Teachers Do (Harvard University Press, 2011). He also is a named contributing author to Best Practices for Legal Education (CLEA 2007), and he has authored three law review pieces and several shorter works addressing various law teaching and learning topics. Professor Schwartz has delivered more than two dozen conference presentations on a wide variety of teaching and learning topics and has served as a consultant and/or invited speaker at more than two dozen law schools throughout the country.
Sophie Sparrow is a Professor of Law at University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.
Gerald Hess is an Emeritus Professor of Law and Founder of the Institute for Law School Teaching at Gonzaga University School of Law.