The Language of Law School: Learning to "Think Like a Lawyer"

by Elizabeth Mertz

Overview

In this linguistic study of law school education, Mertz shows how law professors employ the Socratic method between teacher and student, forcing the student to shift away from moral and emotional terms in thinking about conflict, toward frameworks of legal authority instead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199884704
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/03/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Elizabeth Mertz is Senior Researcher, American Bar Foundation and Professor of Law, Wisconsin Law School.

Table of Contents

Notes on Transcription     xvii
Introduction
Entering the World of U.S. Law     3
Law, Language, and the Law School Classroom     12
Study Design, Methodology, and Profile     31
Similarity: legal Epistemology
Learning to Read Like a Lawyer: Text, Context, and Linguistic Ideology     43
Epistemology and Teaching Styles: Different Forms, Same Message     84
On Becoming a Legal Person: Identity and the Social Context of Legal Epistemology     97
Difference: Social Structure in Legal Pedagogy
Professorial Style in Context     141
Student Participation and Social Difference: Race, Gender, Status, and Context in Law School Classes     174
Conclusion: Reading, Talking, and Thinking Like a Lawyer
Legal Language and American Law: Authority, Morality, and Linguistic Ideology     207
Notes     225
Bibliography     279
Index     301

Editorial Reviews

"Mertz has produced nothing short of a masterpiece in the linguistic anthropology of law and society, one of those rare interdisciplinary efforts that comes along every decade or so. Just as important, the depth of the analysis is matched only by the eloquence of her prose. Her clear writing, coupled with liberal use of data excerpts through out the chapters and the fact that the book is available in an affordable paperback edition, makes The Language of Law School an attractive text for a number of courses in linguistic anthropology, discourse studies, legal discourse, law and society, and legal socialization at graduate, undergraduate, and professional levels." —American Anthropologist

From the Publisher