Addressing Bias in Legal Education to Promote Justice

1. Addressing Bias in Legal Education to Promote Justice Ved Kumari – India Amari Omaka - Nigeria

2. Session Plan • Presentation (10 mts) • Addressing Bias in Law School • Exercise on bias identification (30 mts) • Reflection on exercise (5 mts) • Group Work (20 mts) • Reporting back (20 mts) • Conclusion

3. Addressing Bias in Law School • Law teaching • Law teachers • Lawyers • Judges • Straight from law school • After experience at the bar

4. Discrimination Issues • Sex • Gender • Race • Poverty

5. Reinforcing Stereotypes • Standard Hypothetical / examples • Grave and Sudden Provocation • Murder • Do age, sex, ethnicity, religion, extent of harm, etc., matter in determining legal claims? • Ramdeo Chauhan story

6. Minimising Bias • Identification of personal biases • Touching base with • own feelings and • thought association

7. Feelings Sense of touch Physical sensation Emotion Sympathy Tenderness Conviction or opinion not solely based on reason Thought Association Product of thinking Have one’s mind at work Reflect Reason Deliberate Imagine Hold opinion Indentifying Bias

8. Exercise • Write down and share: • What YOU feel on seeing the word or picture • What thought/s occurred in your mind seeing it

9. Example White • Feeling • Peace • Happy • Fear • Thought • Dove • Rainbow • Sexual abuse

11. Black

13. Terrorist

15. Prostitute

17. Woman Boss

19. Homosexual

21. Rape

23. America

24. Group Work • Is the bias question at all relevant in law school teaching - for the teachers, students, lawyers and judges? • How biases of law teacher play out in classes, question papers and evaluation? • What needs to be done / is done / can be done to identify and minimise it? • How to ensure equal space to students with differing positions