We explore law’s many meanings and values through stories. What is justice? Is our legal system just? How should we judge? What are law’s foundations? Must law be moral? Why obey law? How do we interpret the law? What kind of lawyer should I aspire to become? What values are most important to a meaningful life in the law? Literature helps answer these vital questions. It likewise teaches us new ways to critique our fickle justice system, to grasp law’s distinctive discourse, and to become better legal writers. Narrative structure, character development, and theme building, among other storytelling techniques, enhance our repertoire of writing and persuasion skills. Those skills also share center stage with our professional values, as we confront the many moral-legal dilemmas in a thoughtful lawyer’s life.
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.
Subject Area
LawGeographic Region
East North CentralUniversity or College
Capital UniversityFunding Status
PrivateEndowment (according to NACUBO's U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change* in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20) ($1,000)
107679Annual Tuition and Mandatory Fees 2021-2022 ($) (Resident; Non-resident, where applicable)
39953Course Title
Law and LiteratureTerminal Degree of Instructor(s)
LLMPosition of Instructor(s)
Adjunct Professor of LawAcademic Year(s) Active
Since 2006Primary Works on Reading List
Susan Glaspell, A Jury of Her Peers; Sophocles, Antigone; Jane Hirshfield, Justice without Passion; Tony Gilroy (dir.) Michael Clayton; Carl Sandberg, The Lawyers Know Too Much; Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor; George Orwell, A Hanging; Heywood Gould (dir.), Trial by Jury; Alan Parker (dir.), The Life of David Gale; Gary Fleder (dir.), Runaway Jury; Ryan Holiday, Conspiracy: A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire’s Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire; Katherine Ann Porter, Noon Wine; Benjamin Sells, The Soul of Law; Scott Turow, One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School; Ruthann Robson, Notes from a Difficult Case; Nancy Levit and Douglas O. Linder, The Happy Lawyer: Making a Good Life in the Law; and Douglas O. Linder and Nancy Levit, The Good Lawyer: Seeking Quality in the Practice of Law.
