Law in (case)books, Law (school) in Action: the Case for Casebook Reviews
| Publication year | 1996 |
| Citation | Vol. 20 No. 02 |
Legal academia, and by extension law professors, has an ambivalent, nearly schizophrenic, attitude towards the casebook. On one hand, law professors have an abiding appreciation for the centrality of the casebook within the law school curriculum. Although it is fashionable to claim that law school pedagogy has long since transcended the casebook method bequeathed to us by Christopher Columbus Langdell(fn1)-embracing clinical training,(fn2) simulated lawyering exercises,(fn3) and computer assisted exercises(fn4)-the truth is that, for the overwhelming majority of law school classes, the casebook still occupies the pedagogical center of the course. In fact, when law professors who teach the same subject meet, the first question they invariably ask is, "What casebook do you use?" And with good reason. The nature of the casebook chosen is a handy shorthand way to locate new acquaintances both in terms of the spectrum of substantive ideological attitudes towards the subject matter and as to general pedagogical stance. If they use the same casebook as you do, then you have a golden opportunity to pick someone else's brain about how to teach a problematic case or troublesome section of the book. Or, if you are so inclined, you can regale your newfound colleagues with your own successful approach to thorny cases or materials in the book. If they use a different casebook, you are presented with the possibility of finding out whether you're missing out on a better casebook than the one you presently use. Even the most satisfied casebook user(fn5) is always on the lookout for a better book to trade up to. All of this suggests that legal academics do indeed have a healthy regard for the importance of the casebook to our profession.
On the other hand, other practices within the legal academy seem to betray a lack of esteem for the casebook as a serious contribution to legal scholarship. For example, young untenured faculty are counseled by their senior colleagues not to waste time working on casebooks. A casebook, they are advised, will not count towards the scholarly production expected for tenure in the way that law review articles would.(fn6) Writing a casebook, we warn them, merely involves selecting, organizing and editing cases and statutes, appending edited selections from scholarly articles in law, the humanities, and the social sciences, and crafting provocative and thoughtful questions and observations to provoke further student insight in reflecting upon the preceding materials, all to create a coherent picture for the student of a...
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