Teaching and learning in Ho Chi Min City

In July 2013, I was asked to be part of a team of lawyers from DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills and the Australian Government Solicitor to partner with Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative (BABSEA CLE) in a new curriculum development project. This particular project involved the development of new pro bono, ethics and professional responsibility modules designed to provide a practical framework for universities and teaching staff to deliver interactive and experience-based teaching to students in these areas.

I've always had an interest in South East Asia since my first trip there as a law student, and I saw this project as a great opportunity to now contribute, in my professional capacity, to the development of other law students in some of the countries I have travelled to over the years.

So over the past few months, I and my DLA Piper colleagues delved into developing the content and teaching materials for a curriculum covering topics such as confidentiality, the lawyer's duty to the client, conflicts of interest, and the lawyer/client relationship. All the while, our efforts have been aimed at developing a comprehensive set of teaching materials that can be easily understood and adapted by university lecturers in a number of different countries within the region, and then delivered to students as an integral part of their legal studies.

When I was asked to participate in the first testing workshop in Vietnam, I was slightly apprehensive about the prospect of having to teach topics to university lecturers, having no formal teaching qualifications. I was unsure as to how some of the more interactive teaching methods might be received by lecturers and students who may be accustomed to a more passive, non-interactive lecture style. However, I couldn't refuse the opportunity to see some of our materials come to life, and I hoped that what I lacked in teaching skills, I could make up for with my energy, enthusiasm, and genuine interest in helping the participants get the most out of the project.

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city in early October, and quickly became re-acquainted with the humidity and chaos that is Vietnam's largest city - French colonial architecture and wide boulevards, usually thronged and choked with hundreds of motorbikes! The testing workshops were to be held at the University of Economics and Law (UEL) which is located in the Thu Duc District - 55 minutes from the centre of the city.  The DLA Piper team was asked to present two lessons during the workshops - the formation of the lawyer client relationship and the lawyer's duty of confidentiality.

It's one thing to develop teaching materials from my desk in Sydney, but taking these materials from the page to the classroom was a completely different experience.  Fortunately, my original apprehensions were quickly dispelled. In the first case, I was surprised by the fact that most of the lecturers were relatively young and responsive individuals who took an active role in the sessions. The students themselves were incredibly enthusiastic, and much to my surprise, there was never a shortage of willing participants for the interactive activities included in the sessions.

The sessions were simultaneously translated into Vietnamese, and whilst this resulted in long days (the sessions ran from 8.30 am to 5pm), the students maintained their energy throughout the day and really seemed to engage with all of the content. For me, the need to translate the material into another language also forced me to really deconstruct the concepts being taught, and remove some of the complicated language that we sometimes tend to hide behind. 

As it turned out, the students very quickly grasped most of the material. This was really highlighted by the presentations which they gave on day two of the workshop. The students were split into groups and given homework to present on one of the topics taught in  the previous days' sessions. I was really impressed by how much the students had retained and by the efforts that went into preparing the presentations - long after we departed they were working on their presentations until 10.30 that night!

To me, this not only demonstrated how genuinely interested the students were, but also how effective BABSEA CLE's interactive teaching methods are. Without any notes, any handouts, or anything else other than their participation in the sessions, the students had picked up the key messages of the sessions and presented them back to us in a way that gave the trainers a run for their money!

The most rewarding part of the experience for me was working closely with the students, in small groups, developing a rapport with them, and using my own experience to delve deeper into the topics we were teaching. It reminded me not only of the importance of pro bono work in a local and international sense, but also just how much I've learnt in my short career as a lawyer at DLA Piper.

I came away from the workshop feeling an incredible sense of pride to be a part of a project that is really working at a grassroots level. I honestly felt like I had taken as much away from the experience as the students and lecturers themselves - both in a personal, and professional capacity. I look forward to my continued involvement in the project and to seeing it grow and develop.