How to Stop Engineers from Becoming “Bush Lawyers”: The Art of Teaching Law to Engineering and Construction Students

Law forms a core part of most engineering and construction programs. The way that law subjects are taught varies dramatically, and too often focuses on trying to teach students complex aspects of the law, such as contract, tort, and trade practices. This paper suggests that the aim of including law subjects in construction and engineering degrees needs to be clearly understood as this determines the content of the law subject. It is argued that the reason for including a law subject should be not to teach students the law, but rather to train them to recognize when legal issues arise in their work, and how to respond to such issues. With this aim in mind, a model curriculum is proposed and insight given into how to most effectively implement such a course.