The Professors Drone On...
...and on, and on, and on. In fact, I sit in class and mostly try to tune them out. I don't think I've experienced a moment in the last month where something said in class brought any particular insight to the reading assignments. But, then again... since I try to block the boring droll of the professors, perhaps I am missing something.
Either way, I have a suspicion that I'll do fine on the exams (the sole determinant of my grades). Unless, that is, all of my fellow students are mega-geniuses and throw the curve out of whack. However, from listening to many of them speak in class I think it's a safe bet that such won't happen. It's not that anyone is particularly stupid (okay, perhaps there are one or two moronic souls)... but they're not stellar minds either. This is what one would expect in a third or fourth-rate law school and that's what's here--myself included.
The least helpful topics discussed in class are the "why" questions. For instance, "Why has our society accepted that provocation in certain instances should mitigate a prospective conviction of murder to manslaughter?"
I'm not sure I even fundamentally care about the philosophy, nor do I think pondering such will make me a better attorney. I just need to know that such can, at times under law, be raised as an affirmative defense.
And, ONLY if I'm practicing criminal law.
In other words, I need to know the "black letter law," even though professors tell us over and over again that the study of such is futile.
Not from a practitioners point of view, it isn't, Professor Douchebag.
Comments
When you're defending somebody for murder, and the other attorney attacks the basis of the argument you're trying to put forth to reduce charges, you better be able to understand that argument's reasoning, and not just that it exist, in order to defend it.
With any profession, understanding the theory behind the process is what seperates the tradesmen from the engineers.
Posted by: Chris | October 19, 2007 07:16 PM
You commit the logical fallacy of gleaning it impossible, or at the very least difficult, for one not to understand the reasoning simply because the argument is valid and exists. Only where one is in uncharted legal territory will one ever have to dwell on the reasoning to ensure success. And, for most practitioners--those instances are few and far between. As law students, we can learn such principles more readily on the job--if needed at all. Quit wasting my time in law school with it...
Posted by: Josh | October 19, 2007 09:20 PM
Josh,
I hate to say this but I believe the professor's are right, and here's why.
As a law student, you're looking for the 'Black Letter Law'. Your attitude is tell me what the law is, I'll learn it and apply it and I don't want to waste time on philosophy crap.
That's not an unreasonable position for a student to take.
But the problem with the law is that it involves people. The law involves people and real live situations.
Once you understand the basic situations, the black letter is far less useful than you think.
For example in torts, a very common concept is that a person has to be reasonable. The black letter law is whether there's a duty, and whether the person acted reasonably. Okay. That sounds simple. But it's *not* that simple in real life.
Let's put up a scale of reasonableness. On one end, you have a retired baptist minister, who has never done a wrong or reckless thing in his entire life. On the other hand, you have bat-shit crazy.
Well, where do you draw the line in the middle? If your near one end or the other, it's pretty clear, but the closer you get to the middle, the harder it becomes.
By understanding the reasoning behind the law, you can dig deeper into the facts and make arguments that your guy was (or was not, if you work for a defense firm) acting reasonable.
I can't tell you the number of times that by reading the case law, talking to the client about the bad facts *and* trying to find good facts that counter balance the bad facts we have been able to keep cases alive that had difficult liability issues.
On a less practical note, the general purpose of the law is a method of resolving conflict in society. I think the reasons and rules that it's based on are important to know. If I was a client, I wouldn't want to hire a lawyer that didn't understand the law's place in our society. Just a thought.
Posted by: Dave | October 27, 2007 04:51 PM