解读美国法学院.docx

解读美国法学院.docx

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解读美国法学院

解读美国法学院

8/29/2002法律英语学习网

一篇很好的文章，建议打印下来好好研读:

UnderstandingLawSchool

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ByProfessorKennethW.Graham,Jr.

ProfessorofLawatUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles

co-author:

FederalPracticeandProcedure:

Evidence

PublishedbyCasenotesPublishingCo.,Inc.

INTRODUCTION

Therearemanygoodbooksthattellyouexactlyhowyoushouldbriefcases,

takenotesinclass,makeanoutlineofyourcourses,orwriteanswersonla

wschoolexaminations.Whattheydon'ttellyouiswhyyoushoulddotheset

hings.Programmingisfineforcomputers,butwehumansgettired,bored,an

dsufferpainwhenwehavetoperformtaskswedonotunderstand.Thisessay

triestoeasethepainbygivingyouanunderstandingoflawschoolandlet

tingyouprogramyourself.

Lawstudentsaresurprisedwhentheydiscover,sometimestoolate,thatthe

studyskillsthatgotthemintolawschoolarenotenoughtokeepthemthere

.Itshouldbeobviousthatlawschoolisdifferent.Thecasebooksdon'tsee

mtoexplain,andtheprofessorsdon'tseemtolecture.Whylawschoolisdi

fferentisfrequentlyexplainedbutseldomunderstood.Theexplanationgoes

likethis:

lawprofessorsarenottryingtoteachyouabunchofrulesyouw

illforgetwhentheexamisover;theyaretryingtoteachyouprofessional

skillsthatwilllastalifetime.

Thedistinctionbetweenlearningrulesandacquiringskillsisclearerinth

issentencethanitwilleverbeintheclassroom.Perhapsthisisbecauseo

neoftheskillsyouhavetolearnishowtofindtherulesandanotherish

owtoapplytheruleafteryouhavefoundit.Sinceyouhavetolearnsomer

ulesinordertopracticetheseskills,itiseasytothinkthatitisther

ulesandnottheskillsthatyououghttobestudying.Butprofessorsdon't

makeunderstandingthedistinctionanyeasierwhentheydescribetheskills

theyaretryingtoteachyoubysomevaguedescriptionsuchas"learningto

thinklikealawyer."Letmetrytobeabitclearer.

ThinkingLikeaLawyer

Duringmylastyearinlawschool,IoncetriedtostudywhileIwasbaby-si

ttingourtwochildren.Distractedfrommyworkbythesoundsofforbiddena

ctivities,Idashedtothebedroom,threwopenthedoor,andbellowed:

"How

manytimeshavewetoldyoukidsnottojumponthebed?

"Mythree-year-old

daughterreplied（innocently?

）:

"But,Daddy-weweren'tjumpingonthebed.

Wewerejumpingoffthebed!

"Thiswasaprecociousexampleof"Thinkingli

kealawyer."

Ifweweretoanalyzethisaslegalrhetoric,wewouldsaythatImade"ana

rgumentfromauthority";thatis,Icitedarule（"Nojumpingonthebed"）f

romanauthoritativesource（me）.Mydaughter,unabletochallengetheautho

rityoftherule（forexample,byarguingthatitwasunconstitutional）,res

pondedwitha"conceptualargument';thatis,shedefinedakeyconcept（"ju

mpingonthebed"）inawaythatmadetheruleinapplicabletoherconduct（

"Jumpingoffthebed"）.Ifyoufocusonthetypeofargumentmade,ratherth

anthespecificsoftheargument,thisinterchangebetweenmydaughterandm

eisthesamesortofargumentthatlawyersmakeeveryday.

Lawyersmakemanyotherkindsofarguments.Historicalarguments:

"Thisisa

goodrulebecauseithassurvivedforhundredsofyears"or"thisisabad

rulebecausesocietyhaschangedtoomuchsinceitwasfirstadopted."Proce

ssarguments:

"Thisisabadrulebecauseitwillbehardtoenforce"or"th

isisagoodrulebecauseitwasdraftedbylegislativeexpertswhoknowmor

eaboutthesubjectthananyoneelse."Instrumental（or"policy"）arguments:

"Thisisagoodrulebecauseitwillproducesomeresultthatisgoodfors

ociety（suchasencouraginginvestmentordeterringnegligentbehavior）."Le

galrhetoric--thinkinglikealawyer--requiresthatyouunderstandthev

arioustypesoflegalargumentssothatyoucantailorthemtofitanyspeci

ficcase.

Legalargumentsresembleplaysinfootballoropeningsinchessbecauseify

ouunderstandtheirbasicstructure,youwillbeabletoseesomecommonway

stodefendagainstthem.Forexample,aninstrumentalargumentinvolvesbot

hapredictionabouttheeffectofaruleandanevaluationofthatruleas

eithergoodorbad;e.g.,"The'no-jumping-on-the-bedrule'isgoodbecause

itallowsDaddytostudy."Therefore,youcanrespondtoaninstrumentalarg

umentinthreeways:

bydisputingtheprediction（"jumpingonthebedisnot

noisy"）;bycontestingthevalueplacedontheresult（"whosaysstudyingi

sgood?

"）;orbypointingtosomebadconsequenceoftherulethatoutweighs

thegoodeffectitissupposedtoproduce（"ifwecan'tjumponthebed,we

'llgrowuptobejuveniledelinquents"）.

Understandingthestructureofaparticularargumentdoesnottellyouwheth

eritisgoodorbad.Learningtomakeagoodlegalargumentisaskillthat

takeslotsofpractice.AsIwillexplain,muchofyourtimeinlawschool

willbespentpracticingthisskill-andothersaswell.Letusseehowund

erstandingthatlegaleducationisprimarilyskillstrainingcanaffecthow

youstudyinlawschool.

PREPARINGFORCLASS

Youwillprobablyarriveforyourfirstyearinlawschooleagertogetast

artonyourstudies.Butyoumayfindthatthelawschoolisnotasreadyfo

ryouasyouareforthelawschool;classassignmentsarenotposted,books

arenotyetinthebookstore,andtheprofessorisnotduebackintownunt

ilthefirstdayofclasses.Don'tpanicorwasteyourtimeandenergyfrivo

lously.Insteadthinkaboutwhatyouneedtodotobeasuccessfullawstude

nt.

Studiesofsuccessfulstudentsshowthatonetraittheyallshareisthecap

acityforself-reflectionandanalysis;thatis,theyconstantlyasknotjus

t"whatshouldIdotoprepareforclass?

"butalso"whyamIdoingitthis

way?

"Emphasizethepersonalpronouninthatlastquestion.Themostimporta

ntpersonindeterminingyoursuccessorfailureinannotbeasuccessfullaw

studentifyoudonotconstantlylookatyourstudyhabitsfromthatperspective.

Inthinkingaboutyoursuccessinlawschool,thefirstquestionyoumustas

kis"howshouldIdefine,'success'?

"Somestudentsunthinkinglyadoptthe

populardefinition:

"'successinlawschoolmeansfinishinginthetop10%o

ftheclass."Butbythatdefinition,90%oftheclassisdoomedtofail.At

theotherextreme,afterafewweeksoflawschool,manystudentsbegindef

ining"success"as"notflunkingout."Butdefining"success"sothatitis

easytoachieveisnotveryrationaleither.

Togetyourowndefinitionof"success,"defineitintermsofthingsthaty

oucancontrolratherthanthosethatareinthelapsofthegods;forexamp

le,define"success"intermsoftheeffortyouputinratherthantheeffec

tithasonyourprofessor'sevaluationofyourexam.Ortrytomakesuccess

animmediateandconcretepossibilityratherthanaremoteandgrandiosego

al;forexample,"success"means"studying10hoursonSaturday"ratherthan

"beingeditor-in-chiefofthelawreviewinmythirdyear."Alwayskeepin

mindyourownstrengthsandweaknesses.Ifcallingyourselfa"success"isn

otsufficienttomotivateyoutobriefallthecasesbeforeyougohometoda

y,thenpromiseyourselfatriple-dipicecreamconeifyougetthejobdone

.

TimeandtheLawStudent

Despiteyouruniqueness,thereisonewaythatyouarelikeallotherlawst

udents:

noneofyouhasmorethan168hoursperweektostudy.Despitethes

toriesyoumayhaveheardabout"straightA"studentswhonevercrackabook

aftersundown,alltheevidenceshowsthatthemoretimeyouspendstudying

thebetteryourgradesarelikelytobe.So,somestudentsspend100hours

perweekstudying,whichstillleavesthemnearly10hoursadaytoeat,sl

eep,exercise,andperformotherbodilyfunctions.Butifyouhavetowork4

0hoursperweektosupportyourfamily（asIdid）,youcan'tbethatprofli

gatewithyourstudytime.Youhavetobudgetitcarefully.

Thebestwaytobudgetyourtimeisthewaylawyersdoit:

bykeepingtimes

heets.Timesheetsbreakdownthedayintoincrementsof10to15minutes.C

arrythemwithyouandgetinthehabitofrecordingexactlyhowyouspendy

ourtimeasyouaredoingit;e.g.,"10:

57am.-11:

50a.m.-attendedcontr

actsclass"or"briefedpages30-41inproperty"or"stoodinlineatthere

gistrar'sofficeandthoughtofseveralcrimes."Gothroughyourdailytime

sheetsattheendofeachweekand"bill"eachprofessorforthetimeyousp

entstudyingforeachclassand"bill"yourselffortherest.

Keepingtimesheetsisnotonlyagoodwaytoacquireaprofessionalskill;

itwillalsohelpyoutoavoidsomecommonmistakes.Oneoftheseisspendin

gmoretimeonclassesthatyouunderstandandenjoythanyoudoonthoseyo

uhatebecausetheyaredifficult.Anothererroristosupposethatyouspen

tanhourstudyingbetweentortsandcontractsbyignoringthe10minutesyo

uspentgoingtoandfromthoseclasses,the10minutesyouspentinconvers

ationbyyourlocker,andthe10minutesyouspentinthejohn.Timesheets

canhelpyoudistinguishbetween"qualityhours"andthekindwhereyouspen

d60minutesstaringatthepage,understandingnothing,andslappingyourf

acetokeepawake."Billing"yourhourswillhelpyoutoschedulethemmore

productivelyandshowyouwhereyoucansqueezeinthetimeyouneedforam

ajorresearchpaperoravisitfromyourlover.

KnowYourEnemy

Ifyoufocusonskillsratherthanrules,youcanseewhypeoplehavebeena

simportantasprinciplesinshapingourlaw.Thisiswhywehavebattlesov