Ruminations on education

In the system of American legal education, much emphasis is placed on the process of learning. It seems to me that this is in keeping with the goal of a legal education – to teach its students to think like lawyers. This process is complex, and perhaps a few definitions will help towards understanding it.

Knowledge can be seen as the ability to mentally retrieve information. When legal knowledge is challenged and defended, this leads towards a deeper understanding of and use for this knowledge. Yet, the ultimate ability to understand the law and to apply it to diverse cases requires one to “think like a lawyer” – or in the ancient sense – wisdom.

To facilitate the mental retrieval of information, one creates multiple mental connections to that information, which, in itself, is helpful. In law school, this is accomplished through complicated reading assignments, often discussing a sole concept from both case law and academic treatises. The Socratic method completes this process. It is a beneficial mental exercise, enabling the student to consider one problem from multiple angles, all the while refining the same underlying legal principles. This is legal wisdom – derived from information, through knowledge and ultimately understanding.