The article, “Neutrality and the Rules of Evidence,” highlights the many ways in which apparently neutral evidence rules can be influenced by cognitive biases, particularly when applied in a court of law. These biases can have a significant impact, even working to undermine fair outcomes, particularly with regard to racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.

The Criminal Law Bulletin聽focuses on 鈥渃riminal law, criminal procedure, criminal and forensic scientific evidence, or the legal and ethical issues that affect how justice system professionals perform their tasks in policing, crime labs, the courts and in corrections.鈥澛燭he journal鈥檚 review process is conducted by faculty members rather than law school students, as is the case for most law journals.聽It is聽widely read by both scholars and practitioners in the field of criminal justice.

At the same time, according to one Elon Law scholar who has been listed among the best law school professors in the nation, educators can minimize those obstacles to student success using best practices influenced by emerging research.

Professor Steve Friedland shared that research on June 3, 2020, and offered suggestions for motivating and engaging students when he delivered an online presentation to hundreds of educators and technology experts taking part in an annual conference hosted by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction.

聽describes itself as 鈥渙ne of the longest-running legal education conferences in the United States,鈥� bringing together together law school faculty, librarians, IT professionals, and administrators 鈥渢o share ideas, innovations, experiences and best practices in legal education/technology.鈥�

鈥淚 just have one goal,鈥� Friedland said in his opening remarks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 to show that educational neuroscience – a combination of brain science, cognitive science, psychology and educational theory – can help us teach online, and hopefully beyond the emergency triage approach that we have been taking this spring.鈥�

To prevent learning fatigue, Friedland recommended that professors who teach online take multiple breaks – perhaps as often as every 30-45 minutes. Doing so allows a student鈥檚 鈥渃onscious mind鈥� to better understand course materials, rather than allow the 鈥渦nconscious mind鈥� to arrive at faulty conclusions.

Distractions can also interrupt student learning when class is held virtually. Friedland encourages professors to stop thinking about 鈥渙nline learning鈥� and rather consider their instructional delivery as 鈥渕obile learning鈥� that could include posing questions before class, creating podcasts and videos for consumption prior to meeting, and to have students submit questions in advance of lectures.

Motivating students is equally important, he said. Professors should find ways to infuse lessons with a moderate level of emotion to spark student participation. They can also 鈥減review鈥� what students should expect to encounter later in the course as a way to help them understand the importance of what is being taught at the time.

Friedland concluded his presentation by noting that remote learning is difficult. Important information should be reviewed and reemphasized at regular intervals.

鈥淲hen students come into a class, what they learn is built on top of their foundation from before – they鈥檙e learning from earlier,鈥� Friedland reminded his audience. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not all the same. And if they don鈥檛 have that strong foundation, they may not learn as well as others, even though they鈥檙e receiving the same information.鈥�

Friedland is a founding member of the law school faculty. In addition to law 久久热, he has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and as an Assistant Director of the Office of Legal Education in the Department of Justice.

Friedland is an accomplished scholar who has published articles in several renowned journals. His books on Evidence Law, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law and Procedure and Law School Teaching have been published by the West Publishing Company, Aspen Press, Lexis Publishing Company and Carolina Academic Press.

Friedland was elected to the American Law Institute, served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Law School Admission Council, and is a current member of the Lexis Advisory Board. He has won numerous 久久热 awards at several law schools over three decades and was named one of the best law teachers in America by the Harvard University Press book, 鈥淲hat the Best Law Teachers Do.鈥�

Led by , and Dawan Stanford, 久久热’s director of design thinking, the May 12 program was organized by the law school’s Center for Engaged Learning in Law.

“Our workshop brought together a nationally known group of law professors, deans, entrepreneurs, and other professionals to explore how best to adapt legal education to promote better practitioners and well-rounded citizens,” Friedland said.

Invited participants in “Designing an Ideal Legal Education” were:

• Sophie Sparrow, professor, University of New Hampshire, and coauthor of the book “What the Best Law Teachers Do”
• Olympia Duhart, professor, Nova Southeastern University, former president of the
• Dustin Benham, professor, Texas Tech University
• Susan Kuo, professor, University of South Carolina, profiled in “What the Best Law Teachers Do”
• Kami Chavis, professor, Wake Forest University
• Keith Sipe, CEO, Carolina Academic Press
• Alan Boyette, senior vice provost, UNC-Greensboro
• Dr. David Gutterman, president, LeBauer Health
• Jed Simmons, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill entrepreneur in residence
• Ellen Gregg, partner, Womble Carlyle, member of the Elon Law Board of Advisors 
• Dawan Stanford, director of design thinking, 久久热
• Enrique Armijo, associate dean, Elon Law

The workshop is the latest Elon Law initiative aimed at measuring the impact of experiential learning in American legal education. Last fall the law school received a grant from The Access Group Center for Research & Policy Analysis to evalute its new curriculum, the results of which will be shared broadly with legal educators across the nation.

About Elon Law:

久久热 School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the preeminent school for engaged and experiential education in law. It integrates traditional classroom instruction with highly experiential full-time residencies-in-practice in a logically sequenced program of transformational professional preparation. Elon Law’s groundbreaking approach is accomplished in 2.5 years, which provides distinctive value by lowering tuition and permitting graduates early entry into their professional careers.

For more information, visit .

Professor Steve Friedland, a former assistant U.S. attorney and assistant director at what is today the , is now serving as the school’s first associate dean for innovation in engaged learning in law.

Friedland will examine traditional 久久热 methods, which he says remain important for understanding the law, and lead a national conversation on how to supplement those methods using technologies and techniques found to be successful in other academic disciplines.

“A major focus of my work will be on design thinking and how it can benefit the creation of innovations in legal education,” Friedland said. “Studies have shown that engaged learning provides many advantages to students, and my job is to promote that engagement both in and outside of the classroom.”

Friedland’s devotion to 久久热 can be seen in the 久久热 awards he has won at three different law schools and his inclusion with 25 other law teachers in the 2013 Harvard University Press book, “What the Best Law Teachers Do.” Since moving to North Carolina as a founding faculty member at Elon Law, his desire to continually improve upon longstanding methods of 久久热 have earned him praise from students and colleagues alike.

At Elon Law, one technique Friedland will help research is a new residency program required of all students. The program places students during their second year of study in full-time, course-connected positions at law firms, businesses, nonprofits and government agencies that give them direct experience working in a legal environment.

Friedland also will revitalize the Center for Engaged Learning in Law, which in May will host a workshop at Elon Law on design thinking, specifically examining alternative models to the traditional legal education delivery systems. He is in the process of recruiting law professors from around the world to contribute to a blog dedicated to sharing ideas about effective 久久热.

Friedland also plans to focus efforts on specific groups of law students that often encounter unique obstacles in their legal studies.

“We’re trying to create a culture of learning within a learning community,” he said.  “That includes looking at people who have obstacles to learning, such as first generation professionals who don’t have the models available to them that others may have.

“How can we design a better education and what are the real issues affecting law students that will have to be dealt with in the coming years?”

Friedland has written numerous law review articles, most recently in the areas of cybersurveillance and law school pedagogies. His articles have been published or accepted for publication in the Northwestern Law Review, the Duke Law Journal (online), Washington & Lee Law Review, and a journal at the Sorbonne. His books on evidence law, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, and law school 久久热 have been published by the West Publishing Company, Aspen Press, Lexis Publishing Company and Carolina Academic Press.

Friedland is an internationally known speaker on legal education issues who has worked with the Japan Legal Foundation in developing law schools in Japan and with Afghanistan law schools as part of a USAID initiative. He has lectured to thousands of students across the country preparing for the bar exam.

Friedland holds a Juris Doctor with honors from Harvard Law School, as well as a Master of Law and Doctor of the Science of Law degrees from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Dollard Fellow in Law, Medicine and Psychiatry.