Self-paced
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
███████ ████████ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███ █████ ██ █ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ████ █ ████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ █████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████
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
███████ █████ ████ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████████████ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ █ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ████ ████ █ ████████ ██████ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ████
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
███ ████████ ████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ █ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ █ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █ ███ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███
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
12.
The author discusses the skill ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██
a
identify and describe ███ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████
In other words, the discussion of synthesis serves the role of a premise that supports the author’s overall recommendation. The author explains that improved skill in synthesizing legal information is one of the benefits that would result from teaching more statutory law, which is the change he’s advocating.
b
indicate that law ███████ █████████ █████ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ██
The author does mention in P3 that law schools put a lot of value on analyzing individual cases, but his discussion of synthesis doesn’t explain why they do that. He doesn’t up synthesis to make a point about case analysis—to the contrary, he brings up case analysis to make a point about synthesis (namely, that synthesis skills are currently overshadowed by case analysis skills, and that this is one reason to teach more statutory law).
c
argue for the ███████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████
The author never argues that skill in synthesis is more important than any other skill. He just argues that it’s important to some degree, and that studying statutory law helps develop it.
d
explain why this █████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███
This gets the relationship backward. The author’s not saying that you need skill in synthesis to study statutory law; he’s saying that studying statutory law will in turn help you strengthen your skill in synthesis.
e
provide an example ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███
The author gives an example of this in P2, but that example has nothing to do with skill in synthesis. The author doesn’t provide any examples while discussing skill in synthesis.