Abstract:

The teaching of legal subjects has been following, in general, the traditional component of the lecture supported, where appropriate, with some classes of practical resolution of cases. In this sense, the new curriculum promoted by the Bologna process, which generally reduces the numbers of lectures and tries to involve students as an active element of the teaching-learning process, requires new ways to motivate students in order to get them implicated in this method.

The paper will describe the innovative measures taken to diversify the formative initiatives in the classes of Criminal Procedural Law at the University of the Basque Country (Bilbao-Biscay), which are having satisfactory results increasing the students´ motivation towards the aforementioned subject.

This new methodology implemented combines traditional lectures with:
a. Practical classes, supported by Mr. Ángel Gil Hernández, Chief Judge of Biscay. These practices are based on:
- Watching recordings of criminal trials, with a preliminary study of the related procedural documentation of the cases. After that, students must write the judgement of the cases and subsequently a debate is carried out to discuss the final judgement given by the Court.
- Visit to the Provincial Court in order to follow criminal trials after examining documents from their process. After the trials, the Chief Judge interacts with the students and discusses the details with them.

b. A seminar based on reading the crime novel "El Alquimista Impaciente" (Nadal Award 2000), so that students write some public prosecution and another procedural writings about any of the situations described in the book. The activity involves collaboration with the writer of the novel, Lorenzo Silva, who was also a lawyer. In November 2009 Lorenzo Silva visited the University of the Basque Country to take part in the seminar and discuss with the participants.

The article will describe the activities mentioned above, the experience achieved and the problems faced by the Professor in the implementation of this educational initiative.

Keywords:

Teaching, Law, Criminal Law, Procedural Law.