Th is book is published at a time of some turmoil in legal education in England and Wales. Since the Legal Services Act 2007 and changes in the regulatory environment there has been a series of reports and consultations that have prompted legal academics to refl ect upon what they are doing and why. The focus has been on ‘legal services education and training’ with a regulatory concern for the interests of the public as lawyers’ clients at its heart. Many views have been expressed. However, one argument which has emerged virtually unchallenged from this process is the need to develop undergraduate students’ ‘understanding of the relationship between morality and law, the values underpinning the legal system, and the role of lawyers in relation to those values’ (LETR Report, Recommendation 7). Th is book makes a signifi cant contribution to the debate as to why and how this needs to be done. Th is observation should not be taken to suggest that the book is primarily concerned with preparation for practice. It is not. It is concerned with legal education as a liberal academic education which uses law as its central discipline. Th us it should prepare students for their lives, whether as lawyers or otherwise.

Graham has identifi ed a number of values which have informed his practice as a legal educator. One which is barely articulated in the book is transparency. It suff uses the book through the very open way in which he presents underlying principles and the rational processes that have led him to them. In so doing he articulates a number of other values which I found hard to resist.

Pluralism is key to his approach to education. Th is involves respect for difference and an openness to frank debate. But we live in a hierarchical world where students’ self-determination can become perverted by their desire to get through the assessments and thus to meet externally-imposed goals. So another key value is self-determination achieved through relationships that are co-operative rather than manipulative. Th is has implications for overall curriculum design as well as how the individual teacher works with students.

These, perhaps, are the key values of education.