Self-study
P1
A proficiency in understanding, applying, and even formulating statutes—the actual texts of laws enacted by legislative bodies—is a vital aspect of the practice of law, but statutory law is often given too little attention by law schools. ███
Author's perspective ·
Statutes are critical to practicing law, but not given enough attention in law school
Current law school approach ·
Focuses on judicial decisions
P2
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Benefit of changing focus ·
Much actual work is based on how statutes apply
Sometimes how statutes apply are obvious. But other times it's not, so it's important for law students to learn to interpret statutes.
P3
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Additional benefit of changing focus ·
Ability to synthesize laws
Caselaw focus doesn't do good job of helping students understand interrelations among laws. Focus on statutes helps students see how laws fit together. This can help when students encounter other areas of law.
P4
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Potential objection ·
Statutes are different from region to region
Concession ·
Specific knowledge of statutes isn't usually transferrable between regions
So a focus on statutes may not seem appropriate for nationally-oriented schools.
Response to objection ·
Skills acquired in mastering a set of statutes are transferable
Focus on statutes is still important for national-oriented schools.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
13.
Which one of the following █████████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████
a
What are some ████ ██ █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████
Not answered. To the contrary—the author argues in P3 that this kind of analysis doesn’t build students’ skills in synthesis, whereas studying statutory law does.
b
In which areas ██ █████ ████████ ██ █ ███████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ █ ███████████ ██ █████████ ████
Not answered by the passage. The author doesn’t compare the skills needed for specific areas of practice.
c
What skills are ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████████
Not answered by the passage. The author argues that studying statutory law builds different skills than studying judicial decisions on individual cases, and that this is why we shouldn’t neglect teaching statutory law.
d
What are some ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████████
Two problems. First, the author only considers a
e
What is the ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ████████
This is