The aim of the article is to provide an overview of the international and EU law framework concerning the relation between the research and teaching. The analysis of internal regulations of selected European states is provided for a broader vision and comparative perspective. Such an overview constitutes the initial ground for further research and evaluation of the applicable law and its implementation. The article constitutes a summary of the initial phase of the research project dedicated to the impact of the legal research on legal education based on the projects funded by the Polish National Science Centre.

The aim of this article is to show the structural similarities between legal discourse and film, and cinematographic works that can be useful in teaching law. For this purpose lacanian psychoanalysis is used (in the version presented by Slavoj Žižek) and the movies – Triumph of Will, Battleship Potemkin, Bezmiar sprawiedliwości, Twelve Angry Men and Dead Poets Society. Based on the three-level concept of meaning i.e. Imaginary, Symbolic and Real levels, the author shows that the centre point of legal discourse and film is the Great Other. Motion pictures as well as the law require their subjects to adopt the position of the entity to which the Great Other directs his message. Both discourses have the opportunity to abuse that position.

The article deals with legal education in the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), which was a transitory period between a feudal and modern state. The urgent need for institutional education of a state personnel resulted from existence of legal provisions stemming from several legal orders, divergence in qualifications of personnel in administration and judiciary, as well as a necessity for efficient implementation f Napoleonic law. Those circumstances were precisely diagnosed by the minister of justice. He initiated courses of law followed by the School of Law and School of Administration. As the Duchy’s territory was enlarged, legal teaching had place also at the university in Cracow. It seems that although the state existed for only a short period, a more or less cohesive governmental concept of legal education’s role existed. It was to serve mainly the development of the state and this utilitarian goal dominated. It is worth reminding that those first Polish endeavours in the field of modern legal education took place at the time of a public finance crisis. Although majority of income was devoted to military needs and many projects were put off until later, authorities noticed that for an efficient governing of a state a well-educated personnel is needed. At that time this belief was not common.

The objective of this article is to present a new approach to legal education, which laid the foundations of the law curriculum at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Zielona Góra. The concepts of legal education in Polish literature are presented in the first section of the article. The second part presents doubts connected to the prevailing model of teaching law at Polish universities – general studies (theoretical education). The next section presents the concept of teaching law at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Zielona Góra, based on the concept of practical studies. There are presented solutions to improve the practical education and professional prospects of students. The implementation of this concept is provided in the fourth section. There are presented effects of certain solutions (presented in the third section) after the end of the first cycle of law studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Zielona Góra.

This text is a contribution to the discussion on the state of legal education in Poland. The author refers, in particular, to the article by A. Czarnota, M. Paździora and M. Stambulski regarding a hidden program in legal education, describes the existing situation and proposes changes that should be introduced in legal studies and teaching methods for future lawyers. On selected examples, she shows how one can oppose the domination of dataism in university teaching at law faculties in
Poland and at the same time educate competent lawyers and conscious citizens.

Changes in the university model related to such phenomena as globalisation or technological development are important from the point of view of lawyer education. The aim of the study was to assess whether Polish legal provisions on the design of the programmes of law studies and the specific normative criteria for the evaluation of the quality of education allow a lawyer education model corresponding to a knowledge-based economy (KBE) to be formulated. The analysis showed that the provisions on the design of study programmes and the evaluation of the quality
of education do not allow a model study programme for the field of law, so that it can fully meet the requirements of the KBE, to be created. It was noted that creating a minimum normative standard in a legal education programme is necessary. Persons involved in the teaching of lawyers and beneficiaries of legal services should be involved in the development of this standard. The conducted research may improve legal solutions in such a way that they contribute to the improvement
of the process of creating study programmes in the field of law. The point is that they should be comparable and comply with GOW requirements. At the same time, they must ensure equal access to the legal professions for all law graduates.

The legislative changes that take place in the area of higher education and science pose new challenges to higher education institutions and create a new framework of verification of their teaching and research activity. Among the many significantly changing aspects of functioning of the system of higher education and science, the definition of the mission of this system seems to be particularly interesting. The new Higher Education and Science Law Act imposes important regulations in this domain. Defining the mission of the system of higher education and science
refers directly to the values lying at the heart of the activity of institutions of higher education and science, including universities in particular. A defined mission of a university ensures a reference to the tradition and the position of this university in the social system, characterises its identity, and indicates the values the university protects and promotes in its activity. Also, a defined mission statement points to a university’s main goals set on the future and the environment in which it
functions. In this area, defining the mission is also one of the instruments used to manage a university.

The aim of the research was to verify system solutions in the field of teaching law at the secondary school level. The authors analysed the main factors affecting the quality and quantity of matter related to law – the core curriculum, questions appearing on the secondary school-leaving examination and other local circumstances / related to a particular institution. According to the authors’ opinion, low legal awareness results from the underrepresentation of law at the secondary
school level. As a result of the analysis, authors came to the conclusion that the problem does not only lie in the underrepresentation of law in the secondary school curriculum, but is also a consequence of several imperfect solutions in the education system. In the last chapter, the authors suggested optimization solutions.

Modern education has to play a role that involves teaching everyone core competencies (knowledge, skills, attitude) to enable them to adapt to the changing world. This act of teaching needs to take place at every stage of education – not just academic. One of the most important – and most dynamically changing – spheres of social life is law. The article discusses issues related to non-lawyers acquiring the content of law from different sources, especially from the texts of legislative acts. This also includes a proposal of incorporating teaching about the language of law into the core curriculum of post-primary education institutions as an element of lifelong learning, acting as a component of the European education area.

What is law and what is teaching – remains disputable. The departure point shouldbe the notio n of law, which cannot be said to exist without reference to normativity, binding power and predictability. The obstacle in teaching law is that there are several centrifugal forces resulting in disintegration of law. These are, for example: creating fake sources of law such as binding recommendations, amending laws by lower-ranking acts, which is the specialty of the EU; informally adopting the
common law doctrine of stare decisis by Continental Judges; using the interpretation of law as a fig leaf for actually amending it; demanding the disregarding of national laws by judges if they come to the conclusion that national laws are in violation of the EU law by the EU Court, even if there is no procedural framework to do so. In teaching law, a teacher should promote theories and practices conducive to the cohesion of the legal system. Teachers have to take sides in the encounter of conflicting ideas and practices in the spirit of fighting for a better law.

A discussion on the law studies and the legal apprenticeship system in Poland has been offered in the article from the point of view of a question about the objectives of educating lawyers and about whether the current system of legal education is appropriate. By pointing to the system-determined role of lawyers pursuing their profession within institutionalised structures of the system of justice, the article concentrates, among others, on issues concerning the selection of the subjects to be taught. But especially on the dilemma whether legal education should produce skilled law technicians or elites co-shaping the ethical, intellectual, cultural, and economic profile of society. The views contained in the article are presented starting from an assessment of the significance of market knowledge through a determination of the utility of curricula for further professional development of lawyers both as actual lawyers and pursuing other professions and ending with a comparison of teaching broken down into traditional branches of law and newly-forming fields thereof. The article addresses also the claims for opening law to interdisciplinarity and the role of lawyer as a profession of trust in the context of a constant need to reinforce the trust in law itself.

The article discusses the Case Method – the dominant method of teaching in American law schools, based on an analysis of judicial decisions, created in the 1870s by Christophus Collumbus Langdell. Langdell perceived law as a science similar to physics or chemistry, and hence as an ordered system of objective knowledge, and the method of teaching that he created was intended to educate people dealing with law in a scientific manner. The article presents Langdell’s concept of law and the impact of his teaching method on the trends in American legal philosophy – classical jurisprudence and legal realism.