Law, Lawyers and Literature, Atlanta's John Marshall Law School

Law and literature contextualizes law within a framework for interpretation through the arts, most specifically, but not limited to, written literature. The course encompasses a variety of perspectives from which to construct a broader societal context within which to conceptualize the law, including law in literature and law as literature. Studying law in literature examine the way in which legal situations are presented in literature. Through well- known and lesserknown literary works in a variety of genres selected by the instructor, the course will stimulate critical thought, synthesis of themes derived from diverse sources, and appreciation of the political and social contexts in which the law operates. Law as literature views legal texts themselves as a form of literature, which permits a re-examination of those texts using methods of literary critique and literary analysis. Among the goals of this course are to enhance students’ appreciation of law’s impact on society and law’s response to societal problems, and to improve the analytic and communication skills of students by introducing them to the tools of literary analysis and criticism. Note that the appended syllabus is from 2014/15. 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.