Teaching Methods
Learning in law school is essentially self-directed. Most of your learning will happen outside of the classroom and independently of myself or any other professor. In fact, many professors, (myself included) will test you on significantly more than can ever be covered in class. My role is to structure my course in such a way as to facilitate your self-directed learning. I do that through the following: detailed syllabus, assigned readings and problems and problem-based and collaborative learning. A. Detailed Syllabus The syllabus for this course consist of this web page and connected web pages. The syllabus is an important study tool. It provides you with specific guidelines as to my expectations regarding what you should learn, what skills and understanding I value and how I organize the content of the course. However, the syllabus is not a contract and I retain the right to modify it at my discretion.
I do not generally engage in strict lecturing - if this is your preferred method of learning you will be unhappy in this course. If you prefer lecturing please consider taking this course from another professor.
B. Assignments consist of both readings and problems. The assigned reading provides you with the opportunity not only to obtain rule and process information. The assigned readings serve as a basis for solving problems. It is my expectation that you will be thoroughly familiar with the assignment and completely prepared for class participation.
My classroom instruction is both similar to and different from traditional law school teaching. It is similar in that I use large group discussion and questioning to explore the problems. However, unlike other class the discussion is focused on problem-solving not on case analysis. Of course, we will be reading cases but cases are only one tool for problem solving.
