Law and Society Commons^™

Why Lawyers Are Unhappy, Martin E.P. Seligman, Paul R. Verkuil, Terry H. Kang

Articles

[According to the authors of this article, the growing unhappiness of lawyers, particularly young lawyers, stems from three causes: (1) Lawyers are selected for their pessimism (or "prudence") and this generalizes to the rest of their lives; (2) Young associates hold jobs that are characterized by high pressure and low decision latitude, exactly the conditions that promote poor health and poor morale; and (3) American law is to some extent a zero-sum game, and negative emotions flow from zero-sum games....

This article has been shared with practitioners as well as academics. It grows out of faculty seminars held at the …

“Kulturkampf[S]” Or “Fit[S] Of Spite”?: Taking The Academic Culture Wars Seriously, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

Polarization and heated debate within legal academia are nothing new. Some might argue that vigorous contentiousness, even if not always civil, is essential to a healthy intellectual culture. Others would note that lawyers, legal academics especially, are a highly contentious bunch with a reputation for aggressive behavior.

Fundamentally, this Article asks whether strife and disagreement are a necessary part of academic discourse. The Article describes the academic Kulturkampfs aimed at Critical Race Theory that have taken place in the last ten years both outside of and within the Critical Race Theory (CRT) movement. The Article particularly examines what it is …

Reflections On The Essential Role Of Legal Scholarship In Advancing Causes Of Citizen Groups, Nadine Strossen

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Allegory From The Cave: A Story About A Mis-Educated Profession And The Paradoxical Prescription, Natasha Martin

Faculty Articles

The article reviews and engages Professor Derrick Bell’s more recent scholarship on the nature of the legal profession and the practice of law – ETHICAL AMBITION: LIVING A LIFE OF MEANING AND WORTH – placing Bell’s work in the broader framework of the entire legal enterprise highlighting its relevance to legal ethics, the ills of the profession and legal training. The article juxtaposes Bell’s more contemporary critique of the legal profession and practice with the observations of Carter G. Woodson in THE MIS-EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO, another African-American educator largely unfamiliar to the broader legal academy. The author proposes that …

Depriving Law Reform Of Its Potential? New Perspectives On The Public-Private Divide Law Commission Of Canada, Ed. (Vancouver: University Of British Columbia Press, 2003), Richard Devlin Frsc

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

New Perspectives on the Public-Private Divide is the second installment in a new series, Legal Dimensions, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Law Teachers, the Canadian Law and Society Association, the Canadian Council of Law Deans and the Law Commission of Canada. The ambitions of this series are large: to "examine various issues of law reform form a multidisciplinary perspective [and]... to advance our knowledge about law and society through the analysis of fundamental aspects of law."

The focus on the public-private divide is an excellent choice for the Legal Dimensions Series for no matter how one conceptualizes the relationship, …

Lawrence Summers’ Speech On “Innate” Differences Between Men And Women--A Different Perspective, Thomas Fischer

Faculty Articles

In this article, Professor Fischer outlines his experience in the admissions department at Georgetown University Law Center as well as other legal academic settings, and the perspective he gained with regard to women in the sphere of legal academia. The article outlines a careful reflection over the role of gender in these settings, in contrast with Lawrence Summer's perspective on innate gender differences.

The System Of Syllogism, Richard Dien Winfield

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

No abstract provided.

Fall 2004

Bill of Particulars

No abstract provided.

Law School Enters The Matrix: Teaching Critical Legal Studies, Jerry L. Anderson

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

From Legal Disputes To Conflict Resolution And Human Problem Solving: Legal Dispute Resolution In A Multidisciplinary Context, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

In The Beginning Was The Law… An Intellectual Odyssey, Patrick Mcauslan

The Practice of Law and Development: Socio-Legal Approaches

Is there such a distinctive phenomenon in practice as "law and development?" Isn’t all law directed towards some kind of development in the sense that new law – judicial decisions, legislation, administrative directives – change the existing law and so is a development from that existing law and in changing the existing law, change, in howsoever slight a degree, the economy and society of which the law is a part. Law and Development did not start in the 1960s when American legal scholars discovered the developing world nor did it end in the 1970s when, starved of funds to pursue …

Using Our Brains: What Cognitive Science Teaches About Teaching Law Students To Be Ethical, Professionally Responsible Lawyers, Alan M. Lerner

ExpressO

Throughout our lives, below the level of our consciousness, each of us develops powerful values, intuitions, expectations, and needs that powerfully affect both our perceptions and our judgments. Placed in situations in which we feel threatened, or which implicate our values, our brains, relying on those implicitly learned, emotionally weighted, memories, can "downshift," to primitive, self-protective problem solving techniques - fight or flight. Because these processes operate below the radar of our consciousness, we react without reflection or the opportunity for interdiction. Thus, it may be that automatic, “emotional” reaction, rather than thoughtful, reasoned analysis leads to our responses to …

Teaching Ethics/Doing Justice, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Imperium Strikes Back: The Need To Teach Socioeconomics To Law Students., William K. Black

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Lawyers Should Be Lawyers, But What Does That Mean?: A Response To Aiken & Wizner And Smith, Katherine R. Kruse

Scholarly Works

Lawyers should be more like social workers. That is the message of Law as Social Work, the provocative essay by Jane Aiken and Stephen Wizner (Aiken & Wizner) in the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy volume, which preceded the conference on Promoting Justice Through Interdisciplinary Teaching, Practice, and Scholarship, hosted by Washington University School of Law in March 2003. Almost as if in reply, Abbe Smith's contribution to the same pre-conference volume reasserts the importance of lawyers as zealous and partisan advocates, using the realities of the criminal defense context to argue for the value of the lawyer's …

Jubilee, Ronald C. Griffin

Journal Publications

This essay chronicles the work and celebrates the achievements of blacks and others who lived in and escaped the thralldom of white supremacy.

Diversity And The Practice Of Interest Assessment, Robert F. Nagel

Publications

No abstract provided.

Popular Culture As A Lens On Legal Professionalism, Alex Scherr, Hillary Farber

Scholarly Works

Why use art to teach lawyering?' Despite divergences in method and intention, the two disciplines overlap. If the prevalence of lawyers in movies, television, literature, and even humor means anything, popular culture remains fascinated with lawyers. Our practices, our ethics, and our professional personae serve as a mine for image and narrative, a target for cultural critique, and a catalyst for expression. Not surprisingly, images of lawyers in cartoons, film, television, and literature offer unique opportunities to teach and explore professionalism. The proliferation of lawyer images in popular culture provides an array of material ranging from career choice to particular …

Teaching Susan Glaspell's A Jury Of Her Peers And Trifles, Marina Angel

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Diversity Matters: Race, Gender And Ethnicity In Legal Education., Nancy E. Dowd, Kenneth B. Nunn, Jane E. Pendergast

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article presents more evidence of the inequality that persists in legal education for students. Based on a survey of University of Florida law students conducted in 2001, this study reaffirms the existence of differential experience and an inegalitarian culture in legal education. However, it also demonstrates the importance of diversity and the recognition by a significant majority of students of the value of race and gender pluralism. These competing findings provide a clear guide to the future direction of legal education.

Fall 2003

Bill of Particulars

No abstract provided.

Interpersonal Dynamics, Joshua D. Rosenberg

ExpressO

This article explains the importance of relationship skills to attorneys. It explains why, despite the significance of these skills to attorneys, law schools and law firms ignore them. It then explains how these skills can be taught in law school, and how a relation al perspective can become not simply an important part of the law, but also an important part of the lives of lawyers. It develops and supports an ap proach that develops the cognitive, behavioral, perceptual and emotional skills and awareness essential to both accurate communication and productive and meaningful relationships. This approach is quite different from …

Spring 2003

Bill of Particulars

No abstract provided.

Leveling The Playing Field: Federal Rules Of Evidence 412 & 415: Evidence Class As A Platform For Larger (More Important) Lessons, Jane H. Aiken

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Teachers often approach Federal Rules of Evidence 412 and 415 with trepidation. After all, it means that a law teacher will have to talk about sex, with a group (often a large group) of law students - many of whom are in their early twenties and have never had a non-peer conversation about sex. It looks like a recipe for disaster. Let me suggest just the opposite - it offers the law teacher an opportunity to address perhaps one of the most important lessons of law school: the law only works if there is a level playing field.

Syllabus: Asian Americans And The Law, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

This is the accompanying syllabus to the essay by Professor Chang, “Teaching Asian Americans and the Law: Struggling with History, Identity, and Politics.” The article explores the goals and challenges in constructing a course on Asian Americans and the Law. In his course on Asian Americans and the Law, Professor Chang tries to include in the weekly reading packets history, narratives, and cases. Professor Chang includes the narratives because he has found that the students often have a difficult time relating to the history without them. After all, narratives bring life to history, making it easier for students to relate …

Teaching Asian Americans And The Law: Struggling With History, Identity, And Politics, Robert S. Chang

Faculty Articles

In this brief article, Professor Chang explores the goals and challenges in constructing a course on Asian Americans and the Law. In his course on Asian Americans and the Law, Professor Chang tries to include in the weekly reading packets history, narratives, and cases. Professor Chang includes the narratives because he has found that the students often have a difficult time relating to the history without them. After all, narratives bring life to history, making it easier for students to relate to and/or identify with the historical persons who occupy very different subject positions with regard to race, nationality, immigration …

Spring 2002

Bill of Particulars

No abstract provided.

Biting Off What They Can Chew: Strategies For Involving Law Students In Problem-Solving Beyond Individual Client Representation, Katherine R. Kruse

Scholarly Works

Problem-solving is most often taught in the context of representing individual clients in small manageable cases where students retain primary control and develop a sense of ownership. Increasingly, law school clinical programs are involving students in broader service projects designed to meet the needs of clients that go unaddressed by the legal system. Student involvement in these projects presents challenges for the traditional model of problem-solving taught in individual case representation. This article explores the challenges of translating the problem-solving techniques employed in direct representation of individual clients into the larger context of problem-solving for a client community by examining …

Teaching The Law Of Race (Book Review), Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Keeping Feminism In Its Place: Sex Segregation And The Domestication Of Female Academics, Nancy Levit

Faculty Works

The thesis of Keeping Feminism in Its Place is that women are being "domesticated" in the legal academy. This occurs in two ways, one theoretical and one very practical: denigration of feminism on the theoretical level and sex segregation of men and women on the experiential level intertwine to disadvantage women in academia in complex and subtle ways.

The article examines occupational sex segregation and role differentiation between male and female law professors, demonstrating statistically that in legal academia, women are congregated in lower-ranking, lower-paying, lower-prestige positions. It also traces how segregation by sex persists in substantive course teaching assignments. …