미국 로스쿨의 법학교육방법－Case Method에 관한 오해와 이해－

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Case Method Teaching in Action

Jae-Won Kim


Substantial numbers of Korean law professors and lawyers have been to U.S. law schools for the last two decades. Most of them who had an agreeable impression have kept advocating some form of adaption of the teaching method of the American law schools, commonly called, “Socratic method.” Although there still exist those who oppose such import of the foreign method, the government's plan to establish a new law school system which models after the American system supports the efforts of the proponents.
Under the circumstance, the issue now is not whether the Socratic method is a useful teaching tool for future Korean lawyers, but how to use it effectively. Many Korean academics, including myself, have introduced the historical development of the Socratic method and the way it works. The main purpose of this article thus is not to repeat such description but to help readers experience the method in action.
In a typical first-year law school class in the U.S., students are often asked a series of never-ending questions. This method is quite different from the standard ‘I speak and you learn’ lecture method. A law professor chooses students for one-on-one question and answer sessions, leading them through case-specific factual and legal analyses. Each Socratic dialogue is designed to teach students how lawyers think and explain themselves professionally. To show the real flavor of this method, the significant parts of this article consists of hypothetical dialogues on a real case.