The emerging use of the teaching methodology of storytelling in the law curriculum and its possible role in producing successful law graduates

There has been a shift in recent years in the teaching of law at higher education institutions from a teacher centred learning to a student centred learning environment. In particular there has been a move towards active learning rather than passive learning by the student. As part of that movement the concept of narrative and storytelling has emerged as a teaching methodology to assist law students to better understand the skills that a lawyer would need in practice. The central theme of this approach will be for students to appreciate that a lawyer; even though they are listeners and tellers of stories, are also constructors of stories for their clients to be used in solving their legal problems (Grose, 2009). In order to cultivate humanity in the teaching of law, it is vital that our law teachers make students aware of the human actors beneath the words of the appellate judgments that they read (Watkins, 2009).