Chapter 1 Questions for reflection and discussion

  1. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the images and pre-conceptions set out in the introduction to the book that I have written for my blog?
  2. What other images of law do you have?
  3. How have you acquired your knowledge about law? [I assume that all law students have their own ways of keeping up to date with developments in the news. While reading daily newspapers may have declined, I hope that you have a regular and reliable source of information about current affairs. A useful exercise, to see the extent to which law affects our lives, is to read any daily news source carefully. Ask yourself: which items deal with some aspect of the practice of law, the making of law, the resolution of disputes? Consider not just home news or specialist law items, but the whole resource, including the international stories, the business stories, and the sports stories. You will be surprised how many stories have a legal dimension to them.]
  4. Have you, or any member of your family, had any personal experience of going to law, for example as a witness or a juror? If so, what did you learn about the legal system as a result?
  5. How would you seek to engage the interest of the mass media in law and the legal system? (There is more on this in Chapter 11)
  6. What effect do you think televising court proceedings would have on your understanding of how law works and more generally on public perceptions of the legal system?
  7. Has anyone you know undertaken jury service? What did they think of the experience?
  8. Do you agree that public legal education is important? If so, why? If not, why not? How do you think public legal education can best be promoted? (There is also mention of this in Chapter 11.)
  9. What can or should be the contribution modern information channels could make in the delivery of public legal education? How can the vast amount of information that is available free online be shaped into knowledge that is actually useful to people who might benefit from more awareness of the legal system and legal rights?
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