So, yes, I’ve not done so much writing recently. A lot more ‘wrangling’ and thinking about writing.
So, following the previous post I’ve been wrangling the structure / flow. The imagined audience for the book is legal academics, mainly but not only in the UK. These academics are also interested in public engagement- they may even be doing it. They will appreciate a model, but are not necessarily looking for a lot of in your face theory.
The structure then:
Intro- what is coming up? what are you going to get out of this? Broad international background leading to an English focus, moving from university and engagement generally to the specifics of the law school, before moving back out to a model. The model can be used to plan and analyse engagement.
History and nature- bit of background on the university and law school. This has been done elsewhere in much more detail; this chapter is a summary of this and sets the scene for my approach to the university and law school. Introduce the ‘missions’ of the university- teaching, research, engagement- as aspects of knowledge.
Engagement- pick up the broad discussion in History / nature chapter and develop it. What is engagement? What does it look like? And what does it look like in law? What challenges arise? Distinguishes various forms of clinical education and engagement- separating service from education-information– as well as looking at policy work, design, and provision of space / resources. Leading in to 3 chapters which look at aspects of public understanding of law as the educational / informational engagement contribution of the law school.
Public- who are the publics of public engagement? How do they come into being? How do they relate to the law school?
Law- what do the publics think the law is, and how do they engage with it? And how does the law school?
Understanding- what does it mean to understand the law? How does this relate to engagement?
Examples- bringing together the public / law / understanding chapters by seeing how these elements are reflected in examples of public engagement with law work. In these examples, the works will be set in broader institutional contexts. They will also be linked to how the law school teaches and researches.
Modelling- drawing on the examples to model the university-law school elements of systems, ideas, and opportunities (institution) and the engagement elements of people, aims, ways of delivery, and relationships (works.) These are then presented via the imaginaries of Rutland (drawing on Twining) and Riverside, discussing how law schools deal with their context and how this leads to particular engagement works.
Summary- what have you read? What does it mean? What next?
The underlying theory aspects… critical realism (system / ideas / opportunities being structure, culture, agency) and activity theory (modified for engagement,) Plus elements of boundary work, knowledge mobilisation, and decentering approaches to law.
As ever comments welcome. I will do some writing soon 😉
Public understanding of law 