Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy: A Polemic against the System

A Constitutional Bill of Rights — The Canadian Experience

“…Of course, it is not that there are not better or worse answers or even correct ones, but that 'there is never any "correct legal solution" that is other than the correct ethical and political solution to that legal problem.' 6 Again, that is, of course, 'correct' in the contingent and contextual sense that certain people for certain purposes at a certain time and place are persuaded that it is correct. A resoundingly pragmatic account does not deny the existence of such a standard, but de-stabilises its status and grou nding.…”

Late Night Thoughts on Blogging While Reading Duncan Kennedy's 'Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy' in an Arkansas Motel Room

“…It is the handsome recent New York University Press reissue of Duncan Legal Education and the Reproduction of Hierarchy: A Polemic Against the System (LERH). 4 It is not only a printed book, it is the ultimate elite artifact, a book by the Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School, suitably ensconced between the sober boards and gold lettering of one of America's premier academic presses. It is a potent symbol of elite control of the academic discourse.…”

“…They are almost certainly in Kennedy's classroom because Harvard is the most prestigious law school in the world. 4 Even the left-wing students-more intelligent, sensitive, and better educated (they have read more Foucault than Coase)-are probably there because Harvard is the most prestigious law school in the world. After all, if they really wanted public service more than prestige they could have gone to, say, Northeastern, Texas Southern, the City University of New York, Howard, the University of the District of Columbia, the New College of California, or any number of other places with a strong historic commitment to social justice over elitism.…”

“…Downloads, of course, are not a measure of quality, but they are a testament to the ease with which relative outsiders can reach an audience. 4 where anybody with a keyboard can fawn over, sneer at, argue with, or correct two of the most influential current thinkers on law, Judge Richard Posner and Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Posner and Becker will even respond to the comments, at least to the saner ones.…”

Nota sobre la historia de CLS en los Estados Unidos

“…La gran mayoría se opone (1) al carácter reaccionario de la pedagogía de sus colegas, (2) a los procedimientos y criterios que limitan el acceso de las mujeres y de las minorías raciales al medio universitario, (3) al reforzamiento por medio de la enseñanza de las jerarquías sociales y en particular profesionales y (4) a la exclusión de las cuestiones de justicia económica, social, racial y sexual de los programas de estudios, exclusión que parece favorecer al statu quo [Pickard, Feinman y Feldman, M. J. Frug 1985, Duncan Kennedy 1982.…”