SEPT 2012 – JOHN BENNETT

LLM – INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE AND COMMERCIAL LAW (2012-13)

STUDENT GUIDE TO PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING (PBL)

The Purpose of this Guide
This guide provides a summary of the key stages of the Problem Based Learning process (PBL) as it is used at York Law School (YLS). PBL is used extensively on both the undergraduate programme and on the LLM; although at post-graduate level there are certain key differences. There is a more detailed guide for undergraduates including the theoretical underpinning of this learning/teaching method available at:
On the LLM, PBL is part of the YLS approach to “learning by doing” and it aims to provide you with important skills and to assist you in your personal development. It should help you to improve your research skills, to gain confidence in independent learning and to improve your communication skills.
If you do not understand anything in this guide, then please do speak to the PBL Tutor who will explain it to you.

The Eight Key Stages of PBL on the LLM – Summary

First Element: Group Work with PBL Tutor (Approximately 1 hour)
Stage 1 – Clarify Unclear Terms and Concepts and Collate Key Information
a.Read the problem
b.Clarify any unclear terms
c.Gather key information
  • Identify key parties – and what their legal issues are
  • Identify key facts/chronology
Stage 2 – Define the Problem
  1. Summarise the key issues
  2. Name the Problem
Stage 3 – Analyse the Problem
  1. Free Brainstorm
Stage 4 – Arrange the Brainstorming systematically/thematically
Stage 5 – Define Learning Outcomes
Second Element: Self-Directed Study (Approximately 17.5 hours per Module per week)
Stage 6 – Undertake Research and Use Resources for Self-Directed Study
Stage 7 – Share the Results of Self Directed Study with the Rest of the Firm (via Wiki and Blog on VLE)
Third Element: Group Work with PBL Tutor (Approximately 1 hour)
Stage 8 – General Feedback to the Group from the PBL Tutor

Introduction

The starting point of all PBL is the PBL Problem. You will be given this approximately one week before the first PBL Session. The PBL Problem is a legal scenario related to the LLM Module that you are studying. Those receiving support from CELT will be given the opportunity to read through it and discuss and practiceunderstanding the meaning of the language (not legal content) with CELT.

Example:

The Managing Director of Santa Clause Toys Ltd[1]is coming to see you next week regarding the attached extract from a sales catalogue he picked up at a recent trade fair in Paris. He wants to order some toys to sell in the UK. It is the first time that the toy company has purchasedany goods from China. The managing director wants to make sure he understands the legal terms used and their importance commercially before he places the order. He is also worried about how he can ensure that the terms of any contract are those he is familiar with and are printed on the back of his own firm’s order form, rather than those of the seller[2].
Extract from Sales Catalogue
Your purchase order must be based on our quotation. Upon receipt of your purchase order we will issue a Pro-forma Invoice within 3 working days from receipt as acknowledgement of your order. In case you have not heard from us within the time stipulated, please contact us immediately. Please send your purchase order to our Shenzhen address as mentioned in the contact section.Further details contact: sales@
Minimum Order
The minimum order depends on the size of the toy: small/ 500 units; medium/ 300 units, large/ 250 units.
Production Time
Lead-time usually is 45 days, however, depending on the size of order it may vary.
Export Documents
We normally offer following documents with export shipments:
1. Pro-forma Invoice & Sales Confirmation
2. Packing List
3. Standard Certificate of Origin or GSP Form A Certificate of Origin
4. Bill of Lading or Air Way Bill
Any additional Document(s) and/or Certificate(s) should be requested with your purchase order. We normally ship FAS 2010, Port of Shenzhen, but can offer CIF 2010 please stipulate for a quote.
Contractual Provisions
We may require you to supply us with a Letter of Credit through an approved bank in Shenzhen, China
The contract terms including payment terms, and guarantees are printed on our standard Pro-forma Invoice – this is available on request.

The First PBL Session –Group Session with the PBL Tutor – Approximately 1 hour

The main purpose of the PBL Problem is to give you a ‘commercial’ context within which you study the law. It should also give you the skills to help you to tackle unfamiliar real life problems that you will be faced with in the future when you have left YLS. We analyse the Problem in a structured way over 8 Key Stages.

In the first PBL Session you work through the first 5 stages with the rest of your student group (Student Law Firm) in the presence of a PBL Tutor. This is the first of 2 PBL Sessions the group has with a PBL Tutor on each problem.

Stage 1 – Clarify Unclear Terms and Concepts & Collate Key Information
  1. Read the Problem & Clarify Terms
  • The Chair arranges for the Problem to be read out loud to the group
  • The group identifies any terms which are: unclear/not understood
  • The group members assist each other to understand the unclear terms by sharing their existing knowledge
  • Everyone confirms they understand the Problem?
  • (Any words that remain unclear may become a Learning Outcome.
  1. Gather Key Information
  2. Key Parties
  • Identify the key parties
  • What are their interests (what do they want from their lawyer)?
  • Are there any other parties/interests that need to be considered?
  • Key Facts
  • Scribe sets out the key facts on the Smart Board – chronology is usually best but not always

Stage 1 – Comments

Two members of the group are nominated as Chair and Scribe respectively. These roles change from PBL session to PBL session and therefore everyone undertakes the roles. The Chair (with the help of the PBL Tutor) manages the PBL session and the Scribe records the collective findings of the group.

First, the group will consider any unknown or unclear terms. In this Problem a number of potentially unclear terms are included in the example. Whether or not you find a term to be unclear may depend on your undergraduate degree or your practical experience before coming to YLS. Students will share their knowledge to assist the group in understanding the Problem and its solution. This is just how lawyers work in practice – major commercial/corporate deals involve teams of lawyers that share their expertise. Sharing your expertise verbally with others helps develop your communication skills.

Let us suppose the group knows the terms:

  • Standard Certificate of Origin or GSP Form A Certificate of Origin(if you do not then please Google it) – e.g. see for example:
  • FAS and CIF – see for example:

However, some members of the group may not know:

  • ‘What is a Bill of Lading/Air Way Bill’? Or ‘What is a Letter of Credit’?

If this is the case, another member of the group may know the definition of these terms, and can share that knowledge. If not, this may become a learning outcome.

Secondly, the group will look at the parties and their interest. We know the parties (see FN 1 &2) and can make a sensible assumption about their interests.

This is a deliberately simple problem with only two parties (a buyer and a seller); there is no conflict between them (yet!) but already we can identify that they have different interests because the buyer: “… is also worried about how he can ensure that the terms of any contract are those he is familiar with and are printed on the back of his own firm’s order form, rather than those of the seller”. Presumably the seller wants his/her own terms of contract instead.

Thirdly, the group will walk through the facts of the case. Chronologically the problem is also simple here – the parties have not yet entered into a contract, they are still discussing terms. The Scribe records these findings on the Smart Board.

Stage 2 - Define the Problem
  1. Summarise
  • Summarise the core problem in 1 or 2 sentences – be careful not to analyse yet
  • (This is about getting a preliminary idea about what the problem is about, what lies at the root of it and the subject areas it covers. How do the facts and various interests relate to one another?)
  1. Name the Problem
  • Make it something fun and memorable that encapsulates the focus of the problem
  • Get several suggestions and get group to decide on one
  • If there are no suggestions, the Chair should ask each member of the group to write one down, so suggestions are anonymous. Then read them out and they can decide.

Stage 2 – Comments

Again with this deliberately simple Problem, a summary is straightforward: It is about “whose contractual terms will govern a particular sale?”

Students should try and give it a memorable name so the group starts to identify with the Problem and can remember it. Here we cancall it: “A Christmas Contract” picking up that one of the parties is called “Santa Clause Toys” (if you do not know who Santa Clause was/is then Google him).

Stage 3 - Analyse the Problem - Effective Brainstorming
  • “Brainstorm” to get the ideas out – the Scribe will make a rough mind map on the Smart Board
  • Draw on existing knowledge
  • Discuss concepts of law & how they relate to the facts of the problem
  • Encourage deeper thinking by analysing & incorporating recalled knowledge
  • Allow anything that may be relevant don’t be inhibited by right or wrong answers

Stage 3 – Comments

Here the problem is about: “Whosecontractual terms will govern a particular sale?”

A brainstorm is a free-for-all activity (see the definition in the Glossary below) to which all the students will contribute. The Scribe records this on the Smart Board normally in the form of a “spider diagram”.[3]

What does the student group know about this collectively? Students can, for example, identify that one issue is which law will govern the contract. You cannot automatically assume it is English or indeed Chinese. Assuming it is one of these (although the parties could choose a ‘neutral’ national law) then they will probably be different rules about governing law in the absence of any express contractual provisions to that effect and also different rules about how and when contracts are formed.

The governing law issue is only one of many!

Stage 4 – Organise the Ideas
  • Scrutinise the ideas in greater depth if necessary
  • The Scribe will organise the ideas in a systematic way – main areas/themes/links between concepts (e.g. by drawing around particular words with a particular colour)
  • Irrelevant areas can be ignored and discarded

Stage 4 - Comments

Here the group takesthe comments and ideas from the Smart Board andarranges them into a few key areas of research that we would need to know to be able to answer the type of questions that our client (The Managing Director of Santa Clause Toys Ltd) may ask us. The Scribe does the actual writing on the Smart Board. Here we will suppose that there are three ideas arising from this Problem:

-Are there any particular benefits in this arrangement being made subject to English law?

-Are there any particular benefits in this arrangement being made subject to Chinese law?

-Can he (the MD) impose a choice of contractual terms by the manner in which he places the order (e.g. by including his own terms on the sales order form)?

Stage 5 - Define Learning Outcomes (L/Os)
  • This determines the areas of law the group is you going to choose to research in Self-Directed Study
  • These need to be in the form of specific questions that relate to the ideas from the Problem but they need not “solve” the Problem (this is not “problem solving” but PBL!)
  • The L/Os need to be sufficiently precise that you can research them to a reasonable depth within a reasonable time period
  • Generally two or three L/Os will be enough
  • The Scribe writes them down and circulates them to all group members (e.g. by posting them on the VLE or sending them by group e-mail)

Stage 5 – Comments

Building on the brainstorm and the thematic arrangement of ideas, students will finally formulate a number of learning outcomes, or research questions. The Tutor will help you with developing Learning Outcomes that are not too broad or that require you to use research materials that YLS simply does not have easily available. In this example we are going to choose two main L/Os but also research the unclear terms from Stage 1.

1)In English law, which law governs a contract if the parties do not specifically choose a jurisdiction within their contract?

2)In English law, is it possible to force a party to contract on your terms by stating that those terms will apply on the order form sent to order goods?

3)What do the terms: Bill of Lading/Air Way Bill and Letter of Credit mean?

In this example, the potential research into Chinese law was not supported by the PBL Tutor because of the absence of easily accessible library materials on that subject.

The Second Element of PBL – Self-Directed Learning – Approximately 17.5 hours per week per Module

Stage 6 – Undertake Research and use Resources for Self-Directed Study
  • Students should use a range of resources to undertake individual research on the agreed learning outcomes. These resources will initially be text books and other materials referred to in seminars but soon you will be using the electronic resourcesavailable via the LawLibrary
  • You may find that the Seminars have pointed you in the right direction or given background/extra reading that will help you
  • It is important to keep a note of all the resources used – see Stage 7.
  • Generally it is helpful to ‘layer’ research, that is start to understand it from a basic student text-book then undertake deeper research electronically based on any cases referred to in that text book or any journal articles mentioned in the text book/seminars
  • Once you have learned how to use them; it is often best to use one of the major data bases that the Library subscribes to (e.g. See the “Quick Links” on the Library page and access – Metalib gateway; then Law; then Westlaw UK for “Chitty on Contracts” or Lexis Library for Halsbury’s Laws of England.

Stage 6 - Comments:

There will be at least a week between the first group session (Stages 1-5) and the feedback session (Stage 8).

Stage 6 provides the main opportunity for you to develop and practice research skills that will be useful later in the programme (particularly in researching and writing the Dissertation) and is also a key skill for any practising lawyer. Training sessions on legal research are given on the LLM Programme; and you will learn by “doing” and by observing what other students have done. The research is summarised on the Wiki and Blog parts of the VLE as identified in Stage 7.

Students will undertake their legal research with reference to primary legal sources (such as statutes and case law) as well as secondary sources and academic commentary (such as text books or journal articles). In this Problem, if you enter the search term: “Bill of Lading” into the search box in Halsbury’s Laws of England you find 368 entries but you do also find a good definition in half a page. This shows the strengths and weaknesses of electronic data bases. Alternatively, using one of the suggested text books (Goode on Commercial Law) gives about 20 references in the index but these refer to an example: (p983-987) and the text places it in the context of “A Typical Export Transaction” – pp952+. Reading Goode will therefore give much more context and allow you to understand more of the overall Problem scenario and help you with the other Learning Outcomes exampled here. Together, the primary and secondary sources should give you a comprehensive understanding of the law, as well as an appreciation of the key academic debates surrounding the legal topics you are studying.

Stage 7 – Sharing Results of Self Directed Study with the Rest of the Group (Wiki and Blog).
  1. Wiki
  • The Wiki is a space on the VLE reserved for each PBL Session; upon which individual students should place any learning that they think is relevant to the Learning Outcomes and will help other students in the group
  • It is an “evolving” picture as while early contributions are likely to be purely knowledge based (e.g. the relevant pages in the standard text book) the later entries from other students in the group should react to and comment on earlier entries
  • This is aimed at developing theoverall knowledge of the group (by elaborating, explaining and enhancing/critiquing the legal knowledge offered)
  • It gives the opportunity for students to develop legal skills (by challenging and critiquing the work of others, reviewing and responding to critiques of one’s own work)
  • It develops the discipline of citing & criticising resources & evaluating the strength of evidence offered to support a particular proposition
  1. Blog
  • The Blog is the group’s summary of their individual work, presented as a summary answer to each Learning Outcome
  • This is joint work, co-ordinated by the Chair/Scribe of the particular PBL Session

Stage 7 - Comments: