Charles Dickens's Bleak House will be used in every class.
Course members must read this novel before the course begins. We
will explore the uses of literature in understanding the theory
and the practice of law. At one level, seminal literary texts
that every lawyer should know will provide a proving ground for
examining legal norms and professional performance. At another
level, we will be using both literature and literary criticism
to study the nature of legal language. What are the common
rhetorical and linguistic devices that every lawyer employs
more-or-less unawares? How do the uses and misuses of these
devices produce the stereotypes that control popular
understanding of the legal process, and how can we guard
ourselves against those stereotypes? How can a heightened
appreciation of the artifice in language help to bring success
in the advocacy process? At a third level, attention will be
given to recent debates in law and literature for what they can
tell us about the nature of legal education today