Langdell’s case method founded all modern American legal education.

Evidence

Several innovations in legal education followed from these assumptions: If law is a science, then legal study belongs in an academic setting rather than in a law office; law school, not apprenticeship, is the way to produce qualified lawyers. The teachers at such schools should be selected on the basis of their knowledge of those principles rather than their experience in the law. Langdell, therefore, hired full-time law professors rather than relying on practicing lawyers who taught part-time. These instructors should introduce students to the important appellate decisions elaborating those principles. To facilitate this process, under Langdell’s leadership pertinent cases were for the first time collected in casebooks. Finally, instead of merely lecturing, instructors should develop students’ skill in analyzing cases and identifying legal principles. Thus, the standard mode of instruction became Socratic questioning, with the instructor calling on students to answer probing questions about the cases they had read. The contemporary flavor of these innovations testifies to the success of Langdell’s efforts. Although his innovations were controversial initially, all law schools today employ faculties of full-time academics who use the case method and Socratic questioning. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 652

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the case method and Socratic instruction, core institutional terminology for a course on judicial process.
• XREF: Langdell’s view of law as a science connects to legal formalism and Langdell-style appellate reasoning covered elsewhere in the course. — connects to: The Harvard case method conquered American law teaching nationwide by 1903. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4055; Langdell conceived law as a science whose primary sources are printed cases — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3519

Broader Connections

• The Harvard case method conquered American law teaching nationwide by 1903. #corroborates (0.90) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4055
• Langdell conceived law as a science whose primary sources are printed cases #expands (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3519