Building a new curriculum at PUC-Rio Law School (Brazil)
Vargas, D. , “Building a new curriculum for PUC-Rio Law School”. IALS Buenos Aires, 2011.
2011 International Association of Law Schools
Conference on Teaching, Legal Education and Strategic Planning
Buenos Aires, April 2011
Theme for Paper: Curriculum Content of Legal Education.
Sub-theme: criteria for determination of the curriculum
Building a new curriculum for PUC-Rio Law School.
Daniela Trejos Vargas*1
PUC-Rio College of Law, Brazil dvargas@puc-rio.br In March 2008, the first-year Law Students at PUC-Rio inaugurated the new curriculum of the Law School. This paper will address the methodology used to prepare the new curriculum for legal studies at PUC-Rio, a project that involved students, former students and faculty members.
1. Criteria for determination of the curriculum
In Brazil, undergraduate University studies have to observe a national curricular guideline (Diretrizes Curriculares) that are established by the Ministry of Education that must be observed by the Law Schools. Such curricular guideline does not establish how the contents will be distributed along the five-year program for studies of Law, nor does it determine the number of courses or credit-hours attributed to each topic. However, at the end of the program, the student must have covered all those contents.
The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB - Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil) does not have a say in the accreditation of Law Schools in Brazil, this being the sole attribution of the
Ministry of Education. However, the OAB is in charge of the Bar Exam, which is now a unified, national examination. Although the national curricular guideline is the official guideline for legal studies in Brazil, Law Schools cannot ignore the importance of empowering its students for a career in Law, either as private lawyers or as public lawyers – and for this to happen, students must pass the Bar Examination. Evidently, students expect that the areas of Law and the topics comprise the
2011 International Association of Law Schools
Conference on Teaching, Legal Education and Strategic Planning
Buenos Aires, April 2011
Theme for Paper: Curriculum Content of Legal Education.
Sub-theme: criteria for determination of the curriculum
Building a new curriculum for PUC-Rio Law School.
Daniela Trejos Vargas*1
PUC-Rio College of Law, Brazil dvargas@puc-rio.br In March 2008, the first-year Law Students at PUC-Rio inaugurated the new curriculum of the Law School. This paper will address the methodology used to prepare the new curriculum for legal studies at PUC-Rio, a project that involved students, former students and faculty members.
1. Criteria for determination of the curriculum
In Brazil, undergraduate University studies have to observe a national curricular guideline (Diretrizes Curriculares) that are established by the Ministry of Education that must be observed by the Law Schools. Such curricular guideline does not establish how the contents will be distributed along the five-year program for studies of Law, nor does it determine the number of courses or credit-hours attributed to each topic. However, at the end of the program, the student must have covered all those contents.
The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB - Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil) does not have a say in the accreditation of Law Schools in Brazil, this being the sole attribution of the
Ministry of Education. However, the OAB is in charge of the Bar Exam, which is now a unified, national examination. Although the national curricular guideline is the official guideline for legal studies in Brazil, Law Schools cannot ignore the importance of empowering its students for a career in Law, either as private lawyers or as public lawyers – and for this to happen, students must pass the Bar Examination. Evidently, students expect that the areas of Law and the topics comprise the