During the first conference of the Innotalk-Law Network the first exchange of teaching experiences and innovation techniques took place through the talk Legal Education in the United States and Spain: What can we learn from each other? A discussion opened with a brief remarks, by Professor Jamie O´Connell, from UC Berkeley (School of Law).

The scientific meeting took place in the headquarters California-Spain- Campus Initiative in the Beatriu Civera Building. During this meeting, Law Teaching Staff from the Universitat de València and American Teaching Staff from the School of law of the University of California at Berkeley and from the Golden Gate University of San Francisco have the chance to debate and compare both Law educational systems under the Programme of Educational Innovation including the transfer of legal and educational methods of the Common Law to the Spanish Law.

The meeting was presented by the Vice-Principal for International Relations and Cooperation, Guillermo Palao. Furthermore, it counted with the participation of the Vice-Dean de International relations of the Faculty of Law, Ángeles Solanes. The Doctor Elena Górriz, professor of Law in the Universitat de València and director of the innovation project, highlighted this experience as a new opportunity and a challenge heretofore unexplored. She said that the purpose is to compare experiences when it comes to educational innovation and to import the most beneficial aspects of the Common law system to the university studies of our country in order to contribute to the academic excellence. The professor Jaime O’Connell, from the School of Law of University of California at Berkeley presented the debate and underlined that it was a unique chance to share the teaching techniques and methods used in the Faculty of Law of that university and to learn from the teaching experiences of our professors of Law. O’Connell explained which were the main features of the teaching in the different levels of the Degree in Law in the United States. Moreover, he underlined the importance that the Law students acquire skills in the legal practice as well as the promotion of competencies in the undergraduate studies that allow them to think and act as Law professionals. The American professor emphasised several educational methods through which the participation of the students in their own learning is encouraged in an innovative way as well as the work of the Legal Clinics -comparing it with the Legal Clinic of the VLC/CAMPUS of the Universitat de València. He explained other new educational methods which can become popular in the Law teaching in the Spanish system.

The Teaching Staff from the Faculty of Law such as Eric Christiansen Maria José Reyes, Rosario Serra, Ruth Mestre, Carolina Sanchís, or Ana Marrades took part in the debate. They analysed the most important differences between both educational systems and focused on how innovative techniques can be ‘imported’ to the Spanish educational system in order to improve teaching and achieve the academic excellence.

The programme Innotalk, managed by the Policies for Excellence Office [OPEX], is designed as informal meetings to debate between the Teaching Staff or the student body with the aim of taking into account the initiatives of innovation and the opinion about topics of interest. Innotalk-Law Network is included in the Programme Innotalk and is funded by the educational innovation programme of the Universitat de València.