Get real! A case study of authentic learning activities in legal education

Authentic learning activities offer a significant contribution to legal education. Legal practice simulations provide opportunities for students to experience the application of legal theory in situations designed to replicate legal practice. This article reports on a case study that describes and discusses the use of simulations in authentic legal activities integrated within substantive law courses. Simulations including a mock legal firm and moots were introduced into selected courses in a postgraduate law degree to give students the experience of legal practice. Students were given feedback, and assessed by legal practitioners in the various legal tasks that they accomplished as part of the simulations. Notably, the simulations were assisted by the use of video to scaffold learning. Both students and legal practitioners evaluated the project. As a result of their feedback, several initiatives are described that are in development to improve student learning through the production of teaching videos.