primer

So with the impending exam, I've gone absolutely crazy and have resorted to random acts of writing out things that are not related to the bar, but are nevertheless related to the law. I have absolutely no rational reason for this, and in fact, I'd like to know myself why I feel compelled to write things down in such a frenzy. It's some sort of anti-stress mechanism my body uses and I can't help it (I guess it's kind of like blogging).

The other day what resulted were what I though an American law school curriculum should look like. I imagined that the first year would start off one-month ahead of the 2L and 3Ls. The one-month would be used for an mandatory introductory course to law, which would explain how everything fit together - the big picture. I guess I thought that we were thrown to the wolves our first year without any real context. Here are some thing's I would cover in that one-month. Oh, and after reviewing this, it helped me realize how I should be explaining the law to my non-lawyer friends.

Law Curriculum

I.                   Venues of Law –

A.                Judicial – Courts

B.                 Legislative – Congress, Legislatures

C.                 Executive – President, Public Agencies, Departments

II.                Common Law System

A.                Precedent

B.                 Stare Decisis

III.             Sources of Law & Enforcement Methods

A.                Case Law

B.                 Statutory Law

C.                 Regulations

D.                Treatise

IV.             Foundational Law – Categorized by (1) substantive/procedural, (2) private/public, (3) civil/criminal, (4) case/statutory

Primarily Substantive	Primarily Procedural	Both Substantive and Procedural
Contracts Torts Property Criminal Family Law	Civil Procedure Criminal Procedure Evidence Administrative Law	Constitutional Law Public International Law Professional Responsibility

Primarily Private	Primarily Public	Narrow Class
Contracts Family Law	Torts Property Criminal Civil Procedure Constitutional Law Criminal Procedure Evidence Administrative Law Public International Law	Professional Responsibility

Civil	Criminal	Both Civil and Criminal
Contracts Torts Property	Criminal Law Criminal Procedure	Evidence Constitutional Law Administrative Law Family Law Public International Law Professional Responsibility

Primarily Enforced via Case Law	Primarily Enforced via Statute	Enforced via Case and Statute
Torts	Property Criminal Civil Procedure Criminal Procedure Evidence Family Law Administrative Public International Law Professional Responsibility	Contracts Constitutional Law

V.                Specialty – categorized by foundation

Contracts	Bankruptcy Anti-trust* Commercial Paper / Negotiable Instruments Secured Transactions Consumer Protection Corporate Finance Insurance Employment**** Futures/Options/Derivatives***** Private International Law Business Transactions Agency^
Torts	Mass Torts Agency^
Property	Bankruptcy Anti-Trust Taxation Trusts and Estates Intellectual Property (Media, Bioethics, Patents, Trademarks) Admiralty Employment Law**** Corporations Partnerships Franchise
Criminal Law and Procedure	Trial Advocacy/Procedure** Appellate Advocacy/Procedure***
Civil Procedure	Jurisdictions Federal Courts Trial Advocacy/Procedure** Appellate Advocacy/Procedure*** Arbitration/Negotiation
Evidence	Trial Advocacy/Procedure**
Family Law	Marriage (annulment, divorce, child custody) Domestic Violence
Constitutional Law	Gender Rights Race First Amendment Public Policy^^
Administrative Law	Environmental + Anti-trust* Health++ Futures/Options/Derivatives***** Education Public Policy^^ Food and Drug
Public International Law	Human Rights Environmental + Health ++