For First Years 06 - Kennedy's Article (1 Viewer)

[Mountain.Dew]

hello to all first years law students 06!

i was wondering, about the 2nd seminar, when we had to refer to Kennedy's article...what exactly is Kennedy trying to argue or put forward? there is a lot of legal jargon and extended vocab in there, and many of the grammatical structuring is putting a strain on my brain in trying to get my head around it...

are other people finding difficulty with this? if not, it would be so kind if u could tell us what that article is exaclty about! gracious thanks in advance guys!

 

[c_james]

I think Kennedy is basically saying that you cannot make a distinction between what legal purists call 'legal reasoning' and 'ethical reasoning' and policy. For example, it's erroneous to think that a decision can be legally sound and at the same time be ethically or politically wrong. I recall he uses the example of a case in which a family who'd been wronged by a coal mining company only received minimal compensation - he says the immediate response is one of outrage, but that law school lecturers teach that, on closer inspection, such a decision can have sound legal reasoning behind it. Kennedy basically calls this 'sound legal reasoning' a load of crap.

He does of course make other points, chief among these being that law school is really a microcosm of the corporate world which doesn't impart nearly enough practical skills to students, and that, while law schools are hierarchical places, they're also rife with ambivalence in that there's no one consensus among academia.

Anyway, that's what I got from the article after a read through. I'm just as clueless as you though, so for all I know I could be completely off track too.

 

[Komit]

You're not clueless at all - you got 4 state rankings.

 

[c_james]

You're not clueless at all - you got 4 state rankings.

Not in law unfortunately .

 

[Mountain.Dew]

thank you c_james! i dont no what i could do without you!

oh yes...about ur 4 state rankings in law...you will get them, dont worry