A first-year law student sent me a nice note the other day thanking me for turning her on to the beauty of the common law as an enervating force shadowing our social and political lives. She’d seen that Derek Chauvin, the cop accused in the George Floyd killing, had filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case against him. Chauvin claimed that had been trained to use exactly the type of restraint that led to Floyd’s death, and his motion included pictures of training officers demonstrating it and excerpts from police manuals sanctioning it. While the outcome was tragic, Chauvin claimed he couldn’t be found to have the mens rea needed to commit a crime when he was following to the letter the procedure he had been trained and ordered to employ in that situation. Reading the motion, she understood exactly what issues that were likely to drive the outcome of the case.

American legal education relies on a casebook method; students study important appellate cases to learn legal principles. During the 20 or so years I taught law, I used more trial court pleadings and decisions than appellate cases. Yes, appellate decisions involve deep analyses and shape binding precedent for future cases, but for my money the day-to-day hugger-mugger of the trial bench is where we can best watch the raw, fresh and unfiltered events of life forge a shared sense of community rights, responsibilities and privileges.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]