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Full-Text Articles in Law
Selecting And Designing Effective Legal Writing Problems, Grace C. Tonner, Diana Pratt
Selecting And Designing Effective Legal Writing Problems, Grace C. Tonner, Diana Pratt
Articles
Legal research and writing courses are unlike most substantive first year law school classes in that they teach using the problem method. The success of a legal writing course depends on the quality of the problems. The purpose of this article is to provide some guidance for legal writing professors in designing legal writing problems. The article addresses (1) general considerations in problem design, (2) designing expository problems, (3) designing persuasive problems, and (4) sources of problems. In the first section, we discuss problem design as it relates to the overall goals for teaching the basic forms of legal analysis, …
Letter To Judge Harry Edwards, James J. White
Letter To Judge Harry Edwards, James J. White
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Dear Harry: I write to second your statements concerning the disjunction between legal education and the legal profession and also to quibble with you. By examining the faculty, the curriculum, and the research agenda at Michigan, your school and mine, I hope to illustrate the ways in which you are right and to suggest other ways in which you and your clerk informants may be too pessimistic.
Clinical Realism: Simulated Hearings Based On Actual Events In Students' Lives, Samuel R. Gross
Clinical Realism: Simulated Hearings Based On Actual Events In Students' Lives, Samuel R. Gross
Articles
This essay describes a novel clinical format, a simulation course that is based on students' testimony about actual events in their own lives. The two main purposes of the course, however, are not novel. First, I aim to teach the students to be effective trial lawyers by instructing them in the techniques of direct examination and cross-examination and by making them sensitive to the roles of the other courtroom players: the witness, the judge, and the jury. Second, I hope to encourage the students to think about the social and ethical consequences of our method of trying lawsuits.
Gender And Race Bias Against Lawyers: A Classroom Response, Suellyn Scarnecchia
Gender And Race Bias Against Lawyers: A Classroom Response, Suellyn Scarnecchia
Articles
In reviewing other clinicians' approaches to teaching about bias, I identified problems that eventually led me to design a two-hour class session on bias against lawyers. The following is a review of a few other teaching methods and a description of my own approach, detailing its own strengths and weaknesses. This is not an exhaustive review of all possible approaches to bias. It is offered to promote classroom discussion of bias against lawyers and to invite the development of innovative alternatives to my approach.
The Moral Responsibility Of Law Schools, Terrance Sandalow
The Moral Responsibility Of Law Schools, Terrance Sandalow
Articles
The subject I have been asked to address, the moral responsibility of-law schools, is perplexing, less because answers to the implicit question are uncertain than because the meaning of the question is unclear. Our ideas about moral responsibility have been formed in reference to individuals. They presuppose the existence of distinctively human characteristics such as understanding and will. What, then, can be meant by the moral responsibility of "law schools," institutions that, just because they are not human, necessarily lack these capacities?
Administrators And Teachers—An Uneasy But Vital Relationship, Theodore J. St. Antoine
Administrators And Teachers—An Uneasy But Vital Relationship, Theodore J. St. Antoine
Articles
If William Faulkner could people a whole universe with the denizens of one atypical county in deepest Mississippi, I should be able to draw some general observations about the administration of teaching in American universities from my seven years' experience as dean of the Michigan Law School. But I lay no claim to Mr. Faulkner's powers of universalization, and so I shall begin with a few caveats about the peculiarities of legal education, about the ways we differ from undergraduate and graduate schools and even from other professional schools. My opinions can then be discounted accordingly.
Bad News And Good News, John W. Reed
Bad News And Good News, John W. Reed
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I have been asked to visit with you about some of my current interests in the evidence field, in which I teach. When you invite an academic lawyer to speak at your meeting, you obviously expect of him something other than the latest hot tips on trial strategy and tactics, something other than a speech entitled "Reflections on My Last Eleven Victories in Court." Others can do that for you, probably at lunch - or, even better, at cocktails with the successes more impressive and the defeats more forgivable under the influence of an ounce or two of alcohol.
The Basic Course—A Mild Dissent, Whitmore Gray
The Basic Course—A Mild Dissent, Whitmore Gray
Articles
Perhaps it is unusual to start a discussion of a topic with a dissent from the assumption underlying its choice, but I think that in the present case this may be justified. The present topic was no doubt selected because for many years teachers have viewed the course in "comparative law" as a basic course, leading subsequently to specialized courses or research in various subject matters or geographical areas. In fact, the other two speakers on this afternoon's program, Professors Rudolf Schlesinger of Cornell and Arthur von Mehren of Harvard, are both on record in the form of their casebooks …
Legal Education In The Soviet Union And Eastern Europe, Whitmore Gray
Legal Education In The Soviet Union And Eastern Europe, Whitmore Gray
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The following notes are based on interviews with law professors, law students and lawyers during a brief trip in 1970 to Moscow, Budapest and Prague. On previous visits in 1959 and 1965 the writer had visited law schools in Kiev, Baku, Tbilisi, Alma Ata, Leningrad, Prague and Warsaw, and had sat in on lectures, recitation sections, and examinations.1 In looking this time for changes, the writer was particularly interested in whether there was some reflection there of the general student malaise which the United States has been experiencing, manifested in American law schools in student pressure for "relevant" courses and …
The Lawyer As A Negotiator: An Adventure In Understanding And Teaching The Art Of Negotiation, James J. White
The Lawyer As A Negotiator: An Adventure In Understanding And Teaching The Art Of Negotiation, James J. White
Articles
In the fall of 1965 we enlisted experience as a teacher in an experimental seminar called "The Lawyer as a Negotiator." We gave the students experience not by simulation but by making them negotiate with one another for their grades in the course. In this as in many other "experience" courses the teaching supplement consisted of readings and of classroom participation by the students and teachers. However the supplement differed from the standard trials and appeals or legal writing course in that a psychiatrist was a full partner in the teaching and in the discussion and analysis of the student …
An Inquiry Concerning The Functions Of Procedure In Legal Education, Edson R. Sunderland
An Inquiry Concerning The Functions Of Procedure In Legal Education, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
Procedure has always been the bete noire of the law school teacher. No other subject has developed such divergent opinions or such endless debates. None recurs with such periodic frequency and in no field of legal pedagogy has discussion seemed so barren of results. Three different general sessions of the Association of American Law Schools during the last ten years have been devoted largely or wholly to the subject of teaching procedure, and yet no substantial progress seems to have been made toward a standardized scheme of treatment. Individual teachers and schools have their individual views and policies, and they …
Teaching Of International Law To Law Students, Edwin D. Dickinson
Teaching Of International Law To Law Students, Edwin D. Dickinson
Articles
A point to be noted at the outset, in any discussion of the teaching of international law to law students, is the relatively unimportant place which the subject occupies in the law student's program of study. The students in our law schools are tolerant of the interest which others manifest in international law. Indeed they are themselves greatly interested. They concede freely that it occupies an important place in the general scheme of things. But most of them feel that professional students cannot afford the time for even an introductory course. It results that courses in international law included in …
Jurisprudence And The Study Of Cases, Joseph H. Drake
Jurisprudence And The Study Of Cases, Joseph H. Drake
Articles
Following the suggestion of our Chairman, we have apparently agreed to assume that under the theme of jurisprudence we are to include all of the abstract, nonutilitarian subjects bearing upon the subject of law. Whether we call it a historical science, a science of sciences, or a philosophy, we all believe that it Is a valuable body of rapidly increasing knowledge, and our purpose now is to determine the methodological question as to how it can be made available for our undergraduate students in the law school.
A Four Year Course In Law, Henry M. Bates
A Four Year Course In Law, Henry M. Bates
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In the February, 1914, number of The Alumnus, devoted in part to the Michigan Law School, some account was given of the large number of new courses which had been added recently to the curriculum. The courses commented upon in that discussion, besides one advanced course in procedure, deal mainly with what may be called extra-legal or at least extra-professional subjects, such as the History of English Law, the Philosophy of Law and advanced courses in Roman Law and Jurisprudence. Prior to this period of expansion in the law curriculum many other additions had been made to the list of …
Should Applicants For Admission To The Bar Be Required To Take A Law School Course?, Henry M. Bates
Should Applicants For Admission To The Bar Be Required To Take A Law School Course?, Henry M. Bates
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If the requirements for admission to the bar had been advanced in any thing like equal degree with the progress made in law schools, there would be unqualified reasons for rejoicing in the prospect. Unfortunately, however, this is far from the case, though some notable advances even in this respect have been made. It is remarkable and unfortunate that in America and in Great Britain, whose system of law is undoubtedly the most difficult of all systems in the world to master, we require no institutional or school training of the men who are to fill the important functions of …
Some Recent Developments In The Department Of Law, Henry M. Bates
Some Recent Developments In The Department Of Law, Henry M. Bates
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The present continues to be a period of rapid and interesting development in legal education. The criticisms to which the law and its administration by courts and lawyers have been subjected during the last few years very naturally and properly has led to a careful reconsideration of existing methods of legal instruction in the hope that they might perhaps be improved. The truth is that scientific legal education, comparatively speaking, is still in its infancy both in England and in the United States. Instruction in law of the dogmatic and supposedly purely practical kind has long been carried on efficiently …
The Department Of Law And The State, Henry M. Bates
The Department Of Law And The State, Henry M. Bates
Articles
We are living in a period of extraordinary unrest. The spirit of criticism is prevalent, and no belief or creed, no institution is exempt from this questioning spirit of the time. Among social institutions perhaps none is being more relentlessly subjected to attack than the law as administered in our courts and practiced by our lawyers. It is true that much of the criticism leveled at legal institutions is unreasonable and is based upon ignorance or prejudice, but there remains a residuum of complaint which is well founded. In the very nature of things law and its administration always have …
The Teaching Of Practice And Procedure In Law Schools, Edson R. Sunderland
The Teaching Of Practice And Procedure In Law Schools, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
Procedure is merely the means of co-ordinating effort, of harmonizing differences, of offering every one equality of opportunity in offense and defense before the law. Without it there would be confusion, favoritism, and injustice. If the subject were viewed in this fundamental way, and were studied conscientiously as an incident and aid to the development and determination of the merits of controversies, the criticisms now so fiercely directed against it would largely disappear. In its use it is indispensable, in its abuse only does it cause trouble. A professional conscience to curb that abuse, and professional learning and skill to …
The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland
The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
In one respect the law is the most perplexing subject with which a man can deal. It shifts and changes so rapidly that only a nimble and diligent student can keep abreast of it. One is likely to wake up any morning and find that the legislature has repealed a good part of what he knows, and he is in constant danger of having his most carefully formed opinions completely upset by a new decision of the Supreme Court. These violent changes are not due to any new discoveries, such as constantly enliven the scientific world, but merely to the …
The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland
The Art Of Legal Practice, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
In one respect the law is the most perplexing subject with which a man can deal. It shifts and changes so rapidly that only a nimble and diligent student can keep abreast of it. One is likely to wake up any morning and find that the legislature has repealed a good part of what he knows, and he is in constant danger of having his most carefully formed opinions completely upset by a new decision of the Supreme Court. These violent changes are not due to any new discoveries, such as constantly enliven the scientific world, but merely to the …
Legal Education In The United States, Horace Lafayette Wilgus
Legal Education In The United States, Horace Lafayette Wilgus
Articles
The origin of law schools is lost in antiquity. It is probable there were advocates in Babylonia,1 and schools for the education of judges and scribes (perhaps the ancestral lawyers) in Egypt,2 more than 2000 years B.C. The Civil Code of Deuteronomy was published 621 B.C.,3 and soon afterward schools of the prophets were formed for its study.4 When Ezra left Babylon for Jerusalem (485 B.C.) he "set his heart * * * to teach in Jerusalem statutes and judgments,"5 and the ruins of his school could be seen by the law students at Husal, 500 years later.6 It is …
Humanistic, And Particularly Classical, Studies As A Preparation For The Law, Harry B. Hutchins
Humanistic, And Particularly Classical, Studies As A Preparation For The Law, Harry B. Hutchins
Articles
Aside from the elementary branches, no particular subject is absolutely essential as a basis for the study and practice of the law. In this respect the law occupies a place somewhat different from that of the other learned professions. The student and practitioner of medicine must of necessity get a substantial scientific foundation for his professional work. This for him is an absolutely essential prerequisite. For the professional courses in engineering a special and definite scientific preparation must be made; without it nothing but the most ordinary work in engineering can be accomplished. And it is probable that for theology, …
Conveyancing In The Law Department, James H. Brewster
Conveyancing In The Law Department, James H. Brewster
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There was a time when the young man "studied law" in the private office of some successful practicing lawyer. Much time was spent by the student in copying legal papers the real meaning of which was seldom understood and seldom explained. Fundamental legal principles were but little considered. Only under the most exceptional circumstances was this method educational. There was little, if any, systematic and orderly study of law as a science. That young men, after serving such an apprenticeship, ever became good lawyers was rather in spite of this manner of training them than because of it. As the …
The Practice Court, Edson R. Sunderland
The Practice Court, Edson R. Sunderland
Articles
The law department of the University of Michigan has always proceeded upon the theory that the chief function of a law school is to fit men for the practice of the law. An aim to make professional instruction as thoroughly practical as possible is by no means a narrow one, nor is it out of accord with the liberalizing tendencies of university culture. The age is insisting with more and more emphasis that nothing is valuable which is not useful, a doctrine which does not put culture upon a money basis but does insist that all knowledge is but a …
Recollection Of The Law Department, Jerome C. Knowlton
Recollection Of The Law Department, Jerome C. Knowlton
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In 1859 the Department of Law began its work in education at the the university of Michigan, with three professors and ninety students. The faculty consisted of Thomas M. Cooley, James V. Campbell and Charles I. Walker. Judge Cooley resided in Ann Arbor and the other gentlemen lived in Detroit. At this time these men were young and inexperienced in educational work and had not achieved in any marked degree, success at the bar. Today the lives of Cooley, Campbell and Walker make up some of the best chapters in the history of the State of Michigan, and the better …
Suggestions As To The Study Of Law, Floyd R. Mechem
Suggestions As To The Study Of Law, Floyd R. Mechem
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I have been asked to make a few suggestions respecting the study of law. I realize, of course, that I am in no position to speak with authority upon the subject. I realize also that it is a subject upon which competent judges might give different opinions. It seems to me, however, that two or three points may be suggested with reference to which all might agree.
Law School Of The University Of Michigan, Henry W. Rogers
Law School Of The University Of Michigan, Henry W. Rogers
Articles
The University of Michigan is one of the two largest universities in the United States, and this position it has attained within a comparatively few years. In June, 1887, it celebrated its semi-centennial ; and the University Calendar this year issued shows a Faculty roll of one hundred and eight professors, instructors, and assistants, as well as the names of eighteen hundred and eighty-two students. Harvard University, founded in 1636, and the oldest institution of learning in the country, celebrating its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary in November, i886, leads it in numbers by only seventeen students. In 1871 the …