Science in the Law School Curriculum: The Diffusion of Practice Innovations after Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

在杜伯特三部曲之后，美国法律文化的实践环境发生了广泛的变化。不仅正在进行诉讼的案件的类型发生了变化，而且法律专业人员提供、质疑和评估专家证词发挥作用的案件所需的技能也发生了变化。然而，法学院之间提供的课程数量和种类存在巨大差异，这些课程旨在为未来的律师提供与科学或科学证据有关的知识和经验。这项研究将应用扩散模型来调查法学院和法学院教授在多大程度上将涉及科学证据的诉讼案件的创新纳入法学院的课程。将进行一项多方法研究，将从对法学院教授的电话抽样调查、课程材料的内容分析和相关网站上公布的档案数据中获得的与每个因素有关的数据纳入其中，以提供当前教育格局的图景，并确定与法学院学生科学教育的可获得性和内容有关的因素。这项研究的结果将通过确定相关阅读材料和信息来源，并描述课程形式和内容，为法学教授和法律专业人员提供资源。这些信息将被用来编制一门科学证据课程的示范课程，供法学教授使用。关于要调查的因素的信息也可以被法学院管理者用来确定其课程的优势和弱点，并可能被用来支持为改进其学校的课程而要求额外资金和资源的论点。最后，这个项目有可能通过提供资源来显著和积极地影响社会，这些资源可以用来更好地为法律系学生未来的律师、法官和立法者职业生涯做准备。

Following the Daubert trilogy, broad changes have occurred within the practice environment of the United States legal culture. Not only have the kinds of cases that are being litigated changed, but also the skills needed by legal professionals to proffer, challenge, and evaluate cases in which expert testimony plays a part. However, wide disparity exists among law schools in the number and variety of courses offered that are designed to provide future attorneys with knowledge and experience related to science or scientific evidence. This research will apply a diffusion model to investigate the extent to which law schools and law school professors have incorporated innovations in litigating cases involving scientific evidence into the law school curriculum. A multi-method study incorporating data related to each of the factors obtained from a telephone sample survey of law school professors, content analysis of course materials, and archival data published on relevant web sites will be conducted to provide a picture of the current educational landscape and to identify the factors that are related to the availability and content of science education for law students. The findings of this research will provide resources for law professors and legal professionals by identifying relevant readings and sources of information, and describing course formats and contents. This information will be used to produce a model curriculum for a scientific evidence course, which will be made available to law professors. Information about the factors to be investigated can also be used by law school administrators to identify strengths and weaknesses in their curriculum, and may be used to support arguments for additional funding and resources in order to improve the curricula of their schools. Finally, this project has the potential to significantly and positively impact society by providing resources that may be used to better prepare law students for their future careers as attorneys, judges, and legislators.