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

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Presentation on theme: "Reflections on Values and legal education. Raymond T. Nimmer Dean and Leonard Childs Professor of Law University of Houston Law Center"— Presentation transcript:

1 Reflections on Values and legal education. Raymond T. Nimmer Dean and Leonard Childs Professor of Law University of Houston Law Center rnimmer@uh.edu

2 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

3 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

4 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

5 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

6 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

7 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

8 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

9 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

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

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


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