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Pushing Back Against Langdell
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Pushing Back Against Langdell

Emily Zimmerman
University of Pittsburgh law review, v 83(5), pp 1-12
01 Jan 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5195/lawreview.2022.843
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.5195/lawreview.2022.843View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Government & Law Law Social Sciences
Legal education is dominated by the study of court opinions. Court opinions are the product of litigation. Therefore, legal education is necessarily focused on the law as it arises in the context of litigation. This focus on litigation is particularly intense in the first year of law school when students, in general, take a required slate of courses that focus predominantly on reading opinions. Moreover, the required first-year legal research, writing, and analysis courses typically focus on writing analytical memos in a litigation context (a lawsuit or a potential lawsuit) and trial or appellate briefs in court cases. This focus can have detrimental consequences for law students. First, law students may come to believe that the vast majority of disputes result in and are resolved by litigation, which is not the case. Second, law students may believe that the vast majority of law practice is litigation-focused, which is also not the case. Third, law students may develop a skewed view of the world, in which situations and relationships (both business and personal) are destined to end in catastrophe and breakdown.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

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Web of Science research areas
Law
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