About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

70 U. Cin. L. Rev. 137 (2001-2002)
The Ideology of the Case Method/Final Examination Law School

handle is hein.journals/ucinlr70 and id is 147 raw text is: THE IDEOLOGY OF THE CASE METHOD/FINAL
EXAMINATION LAW SCHOOL
Philip C. Kissam
I. INTRODUCTION
The case method/final examination system of law schools remains
the predominant method of legal education despite dramatic changes in
modern legal practices, powerful criticisms of the case method and final
examinations, and challenges from new ideas and new forms of legal
education such as clinical education and the legal writing movement.
The case method/final examination system is grounded in both material
and ideological factors that produce an apparent consensus about the
necessity, if not also the wisdom, of the system. The ideological forces
that sustain the traditional system of legal education require
examination in order to establish a fair and open evaluation of the
system and of proposals that would change the system. This article
analyzes these forces and then concludes its critique by sketching a
fanciful but realistic utopia of legal education that would decenter the
case method/final examination system and install diverse alternative
methods throughout the law school curriculum.
Legal education has been essentially the same for the past 100 years.
Most courses study particular legal doctrines by employing some version
of the law school's case method.' Law students typically are evaluated
by    end-of-the-semester,      time-limited,    problem-solving       final
examinations that are graded in ways that help establish a class ranking
system based upon comparative average grades.2 To be sure, clinical
legal education and writing programs have developed in the past half
* Professor of Law, University of Kansas. I wish to thank Rex Hwang for his helpful research
assistance and Rick Levy, Ben Sax, Peter Schanck andJohn Henry Schlegel for their perceptive comments
on this project and drafts of the essay. This project originated a long time ago as a presentation to a faculty
workshop on legal scholarship at Washburn Law School, and subsequently as a paper for a faculty seminar
on ideology at the University of Kansas. I thank the participants in the workshop and seminar for their
stimulating discussions of these ideas.
1. See, e.g., ROBERT STEVENS, LAW SCHOOL: LEGAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA FROM THE 1850S
TOTHE 1980S (1983); Edmund M. Morgan, The CasetMethod, 4J. LEGAL EDUC. 379 (1952); Russell L
Weaver, Langdell's Legacy: Living with the Case Method, 36 VIL.L L. REV. 517 (1991).
2. See, e.g., Robert C. Downs & Nancy Levit, If t Can't Be Lake Woebegone: A Nationwide Suwcy of Law
School Grading and Grade Nonnalization Practces, 65 UMKC L. REV. 819, 822-23 (1997); Steve H. Nickles,
Examining and Grading in American Law &hools, 30 ARK. L. REV. 411,413-15 (1977); Steve Sheppard, An
Informal Histoy of How Law Schools Evaluate Students, With A Predictable Emphasis On Law School Final Exams, 65
UMKC L. REV. 657, 657-58 (1997).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most