Legal Commentary

Over the course of my now nearly nine years as a full-time academic I?ve taught (at least three times apiece) four of the six courses that are traditionally part of the first-year curriculum (Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Property, and Civil Procedure).  This is attributable partly to differing curricular needs at the two schools where I?ve taught, and partly to nearly nine years in practice that involved stints doing work in the seemingly disparate fields of commercial real estate, public defense, and civil litigation.  But there may be something else at work.  Just this morning I was reading an article discussing Karl Llewellyn and found myself thinking that it would be pretty fun to teach Contracts some day.  (It is, perhaps, no wonder that I recently finished writing an article expressing skepticism about judicial specialization.  Which article, I may as well note while I?ve got the microphone, remains available to the enterprising law review.)  It?s unfortunate that the first year of law school ends up being so pressure-filled, because the questions involved are not only important, but endlessly fascinating.