Perspectives on Legal Education and the Role of Information Literacy in Improving Qualitative Legal Practice

Abstract

This chapter examines the efforts undertaken to restructure the legal education system in South Africa and Nigeria. It investigates the connection between contextual influences and professional development, particularly with respect to the concept of legal information literacy and the value of acquired educational skills in the context of legal practice. The chapter provides insights to the needs and challenges for graduate requirement for legal information literacy skills in the effort to ensure productivity in the legal education system in Africa. Data were obtained using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Outcomes from the study were supportive of the importance of information literacy as central to the development of professional competence. Findings also point to a need for greater collaboration between the legal education system and the legal profession in narrowing the gap between the teaching and practice of law specifically in the design and implementation of an information literacy framework for the legal education system.

Citation

Lawal, V., Stilwell, C., Kuhn, R. and Underwood, P.G. (2013), "Perspectives on Legal Education and the Role of Information Literacy in Improving Qualitative Legal Practice", Developing People’s Information Capabilities: Fostering Information Literacy in Educational, Workplace and Community Contexts (Library and Information Science, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 151-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1876-0562(2013)0000008014