Families, Law and Literature, University of Baltimore

The relationship between law and literature is founded on the notion that an understanding of stories­­ how they are constructed and told­­is beneficial to lawyers in their representation of clients. Clients' stories lie at the heart of a legal case and effective lawyering involves using these narratives to the client's best advantage. The most recent versions of law and literature courses include the teaching of close reading and reflective writing skills­­tools utilized in narrative studies. These methods have the potential to enrich and enliven the attorney­client relationship with empathetic understanding, promote ethical decision making, develop in the student a professional voice and identity, and advance strategies for legal and dvocacy. The process of close reading and reflective writing enlarges the imagination and expands possiblilities of perception both with respect to oneself and to others. In doing so, it creates for law students a way to think abouth themselves in relation to their clients and their clients' predcaments in fresh ways. This course will involve the study of narrative accounts of children and families (novels, memoirs and essays) using close reading and reflective writing methods to facilitate the examination of these texts as they relate to lawyering. In additon to class discussions of the assigned reading materials, students will practice in class reflective writing involving exercises based upon the reading material. Grades will depend upon the extent and quality of class participation, a brief midterm paper and a final paper. The instructor of this course has since left the University of Baltimore, but has discussed their experience of delivering this course; see Judith Beverly Moran, 'Families, Law and Literature: The Story of a Course on Storytelling', University of San Francisco Law Review, 49.1 (2015): doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2596782. This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.