AppellatePro

The Socratic Method - Farewell

2011-12-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

That said, what we once called Socratic teaching in law schools is indeed a thing of the past, for a simple reason: It was premised on two assumptions about the nature of law, which are simply no longer believed by most of the legal professoriate. First, Socratic teaching, as well as the "case method" that accompanied it, was premised on the Langdellian assumption that the "law" consists foremost of the principles and rules explicit in or implied by the opinions generated by appellate courts. Today this strikes many law professors as demonstrably false: whatever was the case in 1900, our law today consists primarily of statutes and regulations generated by democratically elected bodies and administrative agencies, and secondarily of judicial interpretations of those texts by appellate courts. Courts interpret that law, with varying degrees of discretion, but the "common law" originating from, as well as interpreted by judges, is dwindling, both in size and importance.
Second, Socratic teaching was premised upon an assumption that the legal principles imminent in the existing common law were overwhelmingly just, as well as complete. That moral optimism regarding the perfection of the common law now seems quite misplaced.

Law in film & television - with extra butter

2011-12-16T14:54:00.004-07:00

Working on building one of my ohter blogs: popcornlaw.com

Stanley Fish on Legal Education

2011-12-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

the practice of law is more than a technical/strategic exercise in which doctrines, precedents, rules and tests are marshaled in the service of a client’s cause. The marshaling takes place within an enterprise that is purposive. That is, law is more than an aggregation of discrete tactics and procedures; it is an enterprise informed by a vision of how the state can and cannot employ the legalized violence of which it is the sole proprietor - source

Watch your language in that appellate brief

2011-11-29T15:54:00.001-07:00

The Colorado Court of Appeals slams very bad appellate briefs - in a published opinion!

Don't Do the Ostrich in an Appellate Court

2011-11-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

Judge Posner (7th Circuit) strikes again - with pictures! Do not do the "Ostrich" on the briefing in an appeal. Opinion here.

Update: blogs go wild.

Nicastro Sucks

2011-11-17T09:06:00.001-07:00

From the NYU Journal of Law, and a series of three posts discussing the Supreme Court’s decision last term in J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 131 S. Ct. 2780 (2011).

This one by Mike Richards: "As it stands, Justice Kennedy’s resolution of J. McIntyre is an invitation for a foreign manufacturer to shield itself from personal jurisdiction—and, a fortiori, liability—simply by telling its distributor to sell throughout the United States without specifying any particular state."

Read the full post here.

Typography for Lawyers

2011-11-14T16:08:00.001-07:00

New Public Citation Format for Colorado Case Law

2011-11-14T09:57:00.001-07:00

The Colorado Supreme Court is considering a new public citation format for all published opinions by it and the court of appeals. Yippee. Finally.