Law schools

A detailed Summary of Law schools

The Beginning of Law Schools and The Study of Law

Up to the middle of the last century, the more popular method of legal instruction in America was the training of young law students in the office of a judge or practicing attorney. Even today a large number of lawyers in the United States receive their training somewhat in the same manner. In order to be admitted into the practice of law, one must pass a bar examination. This exam is conducted by a court or board acting under judicial direction. The knowledge needed to study for and pass the exam can be found wherever the candidate thinks they can find it.

The oldest law school in America was of Judge Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut, established in 1784. For several decades' law students received their training through lectures and instruction by Judge Reeve and his assistants, whom were practicing lawyers. This oldest American law school was a private institution. After some time there was a rise in competitors, and law courses were introduced in connection with existing colleges. Among the new schools was Harvard College, whose first professorship of law dates from 1816, but the school did not attain its position of great and rapidly increasing significance for the develop

The case-books are now used everywhere in the same method of instruction. Each student thoroughly studies the cases and strives to perfect all the facts involved as well as the rule of law. Usually students prepare a brief abstract and bring it to class. During the class period the professor calls upon a student to state the content of the case. This is followed by a interchange of questions and answers by the professor and student. Later, other students get involved in the discussion and form their opinions of the case. The transition of one case to another is very rapid, pauses in between may occur if the professor notices lack of understanding by the students. After the discussion, the professor usually takes a moment to explain the case and the rules of law involved, while all students take notes. This format of instruction is not used by all professors. Every professor has a different version but basically the same idea. Some professors choose to have more discussions of the case and less lecture. And many professors cite other cases from the Law Reports and occasionally give references to single prominent legal works (Janosik 82).

The first edition of the first book planned by Langdell was " A Selection of Cases on the Law of Contracts", these books were his view of how the English common law must be taught (Lisneck, Friedland, and Salamone 18). These books were arranged in a way that the material of the field of law appears systematically organized in the order of cases. This organization is clearly indicated by the titles of the separate parts of the book and the headings of subordinate sections. In each section the cases are again chosen to form a well-defined instructional whole. The case which shows the main principle is referred to as the "leading case," this comes first followed by cases intended to show individual extensions or limitations of the principle. As time passes the case-books are modified with new cases which continually create new law. The text-books used in the text-book method were also going through similar changes, they were continually advanced at frequent intervals, and brought up to the latest stage of literature and of the decisions of the highest court (32).

ment of legal instruction till 1830 (Gillers 20).

Langdell himself best describes the case-book method in his own words. His analysis of his method found in 1871 should answer most questions about the idea.

The case method system of instruction has been proven to be very successful in many ways. The method has two goals: the development of the logical, legal power of thinking, and the obtainment of positive knowledge. Students who learn from the text-book method only pick-up the mental work of another instead of himself working out the principles and legal rules from the material of the cases. When students study and memorize material, they later tend to forget and they must keep on revising. However the students who work out the abstract thoughts for them self keep a firm hold on the material, therefore the case method is exactly the method which really does convey legal knowledge (Castleman and Niewoehner 32-33). Usually the third year students, who study the more difficult cases, are analyzing the cases with great readiness and comprehend the subject matter well. Students showed not only superb logical training, potential for independent study, and quick understanding or the actual point of law involved, but also certain knowledge of positive law. Then there are the beginners, they are usually confused by what is demanded of them in class. Most of the time the particularly quick and talented students participate in debate and pick-up knowledge more rapidly. But after some time things begin to become more clear to the others,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Law Reports, Louis Forer, Friedland Salamone, Justice Holmes, Langdell York, Street Journal, Castleman Niewoehner, Blackstone's Commentaries, Study Law, Columbia Chicago, law school, text-book method, harvard law school, harvard law, students study, success method, wall street, street journal, method system, law schools, study law, wall street journal, choose law school, disparity blacks whites, indicated disparity blacks,

Approximate Word count = 2540
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous