Reflections on Values and legal education. Raymond T. Nimmer Dean and Leonard Childs Professor of Law University of Houston Law Center

Basics You get what you seek or ask for 180 law schools About 8,000 law faculty Many different – but a basic core: “Thinking like lawyer” Subsequent – learning law Increasingly – learn law skills Learning to be a professional Learning to be a business person Law as a business

Basics – the visit Fulbright Distinguished Chair three months Lisbon – Catholica Law School LLM students – Portugal and elsewhere Contracts Electronic commercial transactions Class at Cambridge General reaction: much to learn from Especially the dominant values; We shape our by self-selection and by approach in L. School

Topics Rules find/ search vs. attack/ avoid/ use Values vs. economic consequences Effect of high stakes litigation Relation between academics and practice Life style and language issues

Rule search vs … Teach in US style Cases and challenging or questioning Contrast: rule finding/ top down delivery “Tell me why she was wrong” “Tell me why case is wrong” “Tell me how to get around this” The last week on conditions Was this good – what values change

Values and economics Its just money The woman student’s comment The wedding cake problem The specific performance remedy Is it just money? Should it be? The Cambridge class

High stakes litigation Law as viewed through risk and cost level Class action metric – e.g., recent 9 th Circuit cases re arbitration etc. Compare – law as viewed through lower stakes lower costs Substantive shape – write rules to allow or avoid Procedural shape Social welfare shaping

Privacy illustration Hypothetical – should X company disclose names of customers to Y company, with whom it works. Modern privacy law Conflict of perspectives Dollar risk vs. individual “protection” Student response

Academics and practice The interaction in Portugal and England The split in the U.S. How does this effect what is taught Traditional – skills Non-traditional – values Traditional – ethics as separate

Language and style Life style choices Small law firm models Billable hours and law as a business Law office management as a skill

Conclusion You get what you aim for and lose what you ignore There are other methodologies for creating good lawyers