Case Studies and the Classroom: Enriching the Study of Law Through Real Client Stories
Document Type Article
Abstract
This article discusses the use of case studies, based on actual cases, and stories from these case studies, to teach traditional classroom courses. These cases were clinic cases that the author reduced to case studies, thus connecting clinical and classroom education. The author identifies several different types of stories that he argues enrich classroom education, including stories that lawyers tell about their cases; stories that clients tell about their own cases as part of their self-advocacy; stories that clients tell retrospectively; and stories that students tell, by writing and producing plays, that fill in the holes in actual case studies. He identifies the strengths and challenges of teaching with one’s own cases and with stories from them, and concludes that this “is a wonderful way to practice law and teach.”