Introducing Crisis to the Classroom

SPP Associate Professor of Practice Kirsten Roberts Lyer recently co-organized Day of Crisis, a 24-hour event during which teams of law students compete against each other to deal with a series of major international crises. The competition took place at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London and was co-organized with Associate Professor in Public International Law Philippa Webb.

Roberts Lyer has organized similar events as part of two of the courses she has taught at SPP this year. It will also be a major component of the elective Skills For Impact module that she is teaching in the spring term. “I think these types of activities are especially valuable because they reflect what happens at work every day,” Roberts Lyer explained. “Someone pops their head into your office and asks you to prepare briefing notes for a meeting that will take place later that day or you are asked for your advice about a particular policy proposal. You have to be able to respond quickly – and accurately.”

In the Rule of Law course she taught during the Winter term, Roberts Lyer reviewed the national institutions that are essential to achieve the goals of the rule of law. During the last two weeks of the course, she presented teams of students with a “crisis” that they had to work together to handle. “The student teams need to identify each other’s strengths and weaknesses and assign responsibilities accordingly, and to work quickly to meet a deadline. These are all important skills,” said Roberts Lyer.  Second-year MPA student Tamara Stupalova agrees. “The exercises are really useful for practicing working in a team under time pressure, since you have to distribute tasks quickly and finish on time as a group. It was also interesting to see how much good work a group is able to do in a short period of time, so it's kind of empowering really!”