The Case Method of Law Teaching

1. The Case Method of Law Teaching Unit 18

2. CASE STUDIES- generally • a long history in business, law, and medical education • the use in science education is relatively recent  - to teach scientific concepts and content - to process skills and critical thinking  - the use of cases in the classroom makes science relevant (familiaritywithcasesfromnews, etc.)

3. Case method = Casebook method The casebook method, also known as the case method • the primary method of teaching law in law schools in the United States. (But also used in other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand.... Germany) • It was pioneered at Harvard Law School by Christopher Columbus Langdell. • It is based on the PRINCIPLE that rather than studying highly abstract summaries of legal rules (the technique still used in most countries), the best way to learn American law is to read the actual judicial opinions which become the law under the rule of precedents (due to its Anglo-American common law origin).

4. Preparing a casebook • American law professors traditionally collect the best cases concerning a particular area of the law • Some professors heavily edit cases down to the most important paragraphs • A few present all cases in full, and most others are in between. • One common technique is to provide almost all of the entire text of a landmark case which created an important legal rule, followed by brief notes summarizing other cases which further refined the rule.

5. Socratic method in American law schools • For a given class, a professor will assign several cases from the casebook to read; • require students to be familiar with any notes following those cases. • In class, the professor will ask students questions about the assigned cases to determine whether they identified and understood the correct rule from the case, if there is one .

6. What makes the case method different compared to most other academic programmes? • (1) it requires students to work almost exclusively with primary source material which is often written in obscure or obsolete language; and • (2) a typical American law school class is supposed to be a dialogue about the meaning of a case, not a straightforward lecture.

7. Study the following expressions. • doctrinaire lecturing • the true material of legal science • legal instruction • a selection of the leading opinions in a certain area of law • to adopt a method • to compile casebooks in the main fileds of legal study • to deliver formal lecture • to ask probing questions • to know the court’s reasoning • to compare different solutions of two state legislatures

8. Readthetext, p. 81 andsumupthefirsttwoparagraphsusingthefollowingverbsin Past SimpleTense. Paragraph I • develop • rebel / oppose • insist / argue • focus • bringtogether / make • write (a book) Paragraph II • adopt • compile / put together • use / apply

9. TASKS in the case method instruction:

10. Compare your legal study with the described principles of the case method. • What are the main differences? • What are in your opinion the adventages of the case method study? • Are there any disadventages? Explain. 4. If you had a chance to reorganize the law study at your faculty, what would you change?