Discovering Legal Thinking in Non-Legal Contexts
Don Doernberg
Pace University

Most students come to law school with a vague understanding that they are going to have to learn to think like lawyers. That frightens them, because they perceive it as some mystical, almost unknowable, way of thinking, and the fear in turn interferes with their learning. What they do not realize is that they have, in some ways, been thinking like lawyers for most of their lives; they simply have not done it in as systematic and rigorous a manner as the law demands.

Professor Charles Calleros of Arizona State University presented two exercises that he has used to get his students started on the legal analytical process in contexts that are far more familiar to them than the normal grist for the first-semester mill. Professor Sophie Sparrow of the Franklin Pierce Law Center will demonstrate one, and I will present a bit of the second-enough to give the flavor of it-and then comment briefly on how I was able to use it with my students on the second day of orientation this past fall to get them involved in analyzing a single hypothetical case, seeing how later cases may affect our understanding of what earlier cases meant and synthesizing a line of cases. Over the next two days, they learned a bit about dealing with new fact patterns, writing examination questions, and working collaboratively. It sounds like a huge amount to which to introduce them in the space of a couple of days, but somewhat to my surprise, they did not find it overwhelming.

I hasten to add that the idea for this exercise is entirely Charles Calleros’s, including the production of the videotape that we will see. I am indebted to him for his willingness to share his experience and his support of my efforts to find additional uses for the exercise that he initially designed. I heartily recommend reading Charles R. Calleros, Using Demonstrations in Familiar Nonlegal Contexts to Teach Unfamiliar Concepts of Legal Method to New Students, forthcoming in 7 Legal Writing: the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute (2001).

If you want to get a copy of the videotape at any point, send an e-mail to Charles.Calleros@asu.edu with a copy to Vera.Hamer-Sonn@asu.edu. To cover his costs, Charles asks that you mail him a $10 check. The address is 5215 West Del Rio, Chandler, AZ 85226.