Law School In Plain English

N.A. Capozzi

Description

The premise of the book is simple: to teach law students how to be law students.

So much time is lost in law school with students trying to learn how to be a law student. So many students spend too much time learning how to take notes, prepare for class, case brief, outline, prepare for finals and so much more. No one will teach them these things yet mastery of these things is pivotal to the student's success in law school. This causes the student stress, leads to being unproductive, and it can create an unbalanced lifestyle.

Law School in Plain English is the solution to these problems. With its uncompromising plainness and easy to read style, the book covers all aspects of what it means to be a law student, how to succeed, and how to improve quality of life while in law school.

Sujets

• Practical Guides
• Droit et juridique
• Law

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 27 janvier 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781631738111
• Langue: English

Extrait

LAW SCHOOL IN PLAIN ENGLISH
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO BEING A LAW STUDENT
N.A. Capozzi
Zen Juris & Co.
FRESNO, CALIFORNIA

 
 
Copyright © 2014 by N.A. Capozzi.
 
Published in eBook format by Primedia E-launch LLC
Converted by http://www.eBookIt.com
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
 
Zen Juris & Co.
438 East Shaw Avneue #159
Fresno, California 93710
www.zenjuris.com
 
 
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the “Special Sales Department” at the address above.
 
Law School in Plain English/ N.A. Capozzi. —1st ed.
ISBN 978-1-63173-811-1
 
To my wife for her continual support in all of life’s adventures.
 
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
 
―ABRAHAM LINCOLN
CHAPTER ONE
Thinking
Introduction
If you are to succeed as a law student, and eventually as a lawyer, you must change the way you think. For the most part, this change comes automatically as a natural reaction to studying the law. This change does not happen overnight. The process is not a sprint; it is not quite a marathon. There is no start and finish line. The goal is to learn how to critically think — to think like a lawyer.
Gradually, you will no longer see black and white. No clear right, no clear wrong. Opinions once solidified deep within your persona will change. Grey becomes your new color and you wear it proudly. You will no longer be able to watch a political debate, at least not in the same way you once did, because all you will see and hear is, well, nothing. No argument made to you will be free from your counter-argument. Suddenly you react more quickly. You can now think of a point to make in the future while making a current point. There is always a hole, always a fallacy, always a chink in the armor of another’s argument.
You must be careful with this new mind of yours. Its power can have serious repercussions. You must pledge not to use this weaponry on loved ones or helpless souls. For if you do, conflict is sure to erupt. At its most grandiose misuse, terrible social injustices can and will occur. Perhaps this is why the general public regards lawyers so negatively. But the goodness derived from critical thinking skills far outweigh the negatives. Just look to our nation’s history, and it is filled with highly capable and well-intentioned lawyers. You need look no further than Abraham Lincoln, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and many others.
 
How does law school prepare you to think like a lawyer?
 
Law school, above all, is a forum for language. A new language, one specifically created and honed for lawyers. Language surrounds your studies, the classroom, and testing environments. Internalizing this language and mastering it is the direct path to learning to think like a lawyer. Law school utilizes two techniques to aid this pursuit: the Case Method and Socratic Method.
The Case Method
The Case Method is the first and most important method by which professors teach the law. First promoted by professors at Harvard Law School, this method breaks from most of the world’s legal education systems and focuses on actual judicial opinions to learn the law. Most other countries use strictly a rule-based approach whereby the student only memorizes legal rules and their application. Rules are very important at American law schools; however, the rules are learned, usually, indirectly through the study of judicial opinions.
In line with this method, professors usually assign “casebooks” to their students. Casebooks look like normal textbooks yet are filled almost entirely of primary source material — the cases, the law. Usually the casebooks contain the most important cases found on the topic to be studied. Often, for each topic or sub-topic, a casebook will contain one landmark case which sets forth pivotal jurisprudence followed by similar cases that fine tune the landmark case.
Professors can assign all the cases, only some, or only bits and pieces of each. Some like to go line by line in discussing a case, and others prefer a broader, more theoretical approach. Whatever the approach, you must catch on early to how each of your professors utilizes casebooks.
 
Do professors expect you to read everything in the book?
 
Yes, but this depends. The answer is never an absolute yes or no; instead, you need to understand your professor and his or her style of teaching. Catching on early will save countless hours of misdirected studying. The solution is simple and obvious: just ask the professor or a former student.
The Socratic Method
The Case Method goes hand-in-hand with the Socratic Method. Named after the famous Greek philosopher Socrates, this method is premised on the idea that asking and answering questions stimulates critical thinking. The concept is one of opposition and conflict in which the positions of the participants are pitted against each other.
In law school, this means the professor can be the mediator or the inquisitor. Usually, the professor will begin class with a question based on that day’s reading. A student will get called on and try to give their best answer. Even if the answer appears to be right, the professor will probably continue to ask that student more questions. Or the professor may call upon another student with a new question or may ask the second student to respond to the first student’s answer. You see, nothing is ever really taught in law school. The flow of knowledge is circular and is largely based on how prepared the class is to respond to questioning. A well-prepared class will be able to handle more complex questions, which in turn will create a more elaborate discussion of the law. If ill-prepared, the class may never move forward and the students will have to make up for lost ground privately.
You should learn your professor’s style in regards to the Socratic Method. This is vital. Though some commonalities between professors exist, the method is heavily influenced by the personal approach of the professor. Some prefer to call on students at random. Others use a checklist to make sure everyone participates. Some ask students to counter the main (majority) argument made by a judge in the opinion(s). Others focus on the minor (dissenting) opinions. Often a professor will ask a student, “So, what happened here?” The student then must recite back everything important, including the procedural and factual history of the case, along with the major rules, holdings, and reasoning of the court. It is also common to be questioned about two cases simultaneously; usually, this leads to a comparing or contrasting of legal authority.
The worst answer a student can provide to the professor’s questions is, “I don’t know,” or even worse, “I am unprepared,” or the like. In law school, what usually happens in this scenario is that the professor will stick with that student and continue questioning him or her. Then the professor will allow other students to correct the unprepared student. At the end of the class, the student will still likely receive zero credit for participation and may even get an absence mark for the class.
The point of this method is to force students to defend their arguments with sound reasoning and by rebutting any counterarguments. Professors love to play devil’s advocate and most are very good in the role. The most common way in which a professor plays such a role is by attacking any assumption made by the student. Assumptions are deadly to an argument because they are not grounded in fact or analysis.
And remember, there is almost never one correct answer. In fact, a central goal of this method is not to answer correctly but rather to go through the process of exploring all the details and possibilities of complex legal issues. Neither is it the goal to simply memorize the law. Instead, the goal is to soundly apply the law to any given facts. This is called analysis, and in it lays the key to succeeding in law school. The goal is to learn how to think critically. The goal is to start thinking like a lawyer.
IRAC
Get used to these four simple letters: I-R-A-C. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. It is the bedrock of legal reasoning and law school academics. It is said that IRAC is the formula by which most lawyers conduct legal analysis. While this may be true, many students get confused about the proper role of IRAC. They ask:
Do I write my exam (or paper, etc.) using the IRAC method?
Do I case brief according to IRAC?
Where exactly would I use the IRAC method?
These questions are common. For a concept heralded as being straightforward, IRAC sure can be confusing. The answers to the above questions are the most common you will (or should) hear in law school: it depends.
As a preliminary matter, and for purposes of this chapter, IRAC should be thought of as a thinking tool, not a writing tool. In essence, it provides the student a reliable method for taking very complex and dense material and making it as simple and easily digestible as possible. IRAC, if done correctly, will predominantly exist in your mind. It is a writing tool in so far as writing is an extension of thought. IRAC flows from your analytical ability.
Confused yet? Let’s break it down.
“I” is for Issue
Every step is important in IRAC. But pay special attention to the “Issue” because i