LS: Pre-Law: Course Syllabus

POS/PLA 417

Justice and the Judicial Process

 

 

Fall Semester, TT @ 9:30 – 10:50, K-300
E-MAIL: POLANDRC@FLAGLER.EDU

Benjamin Sells on page 36 of his book, The Soul of the Law, asserts the following: Almost every lawyer can tell one or more anecdotes about a law professor saying something along the lines of ‘You are not here to find truth and justice; you are here to learn the Law.’ Early on, a professional distinction is drawn between justice as an altruistic goal and the Law’s work-a-day procedures and practices. By the end of the second year of law school or so, explicit talk about justice, fairness, truth, and the like is rarely heard among either law professors or law students. The truth of that statement compels the teaching of this course. Seek the truth and then use that knowledge to accomplish justice in the law and in society.

INSTRUCTOR:
Judge Richard Poland, Associate Professor of Law, K-309
Office hours: M-F 7:30-9:30 A.M. or by appointment
E-mail or call at: Work 819-6338

TEXTS:
Law and Justice; Abadinsky, Howard; 5th ed., 2003, Prentice-Hall.
Philosophical Problems in the Law; 4th ed., Adams, David; 2005; Wadsworth.
Additional resources available at www.flagler.edu/academics/prelaw/index.html

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course examines justice in the American legal system, both civil and criminal justice as well as the tension between law and justice. Law, justice, the courts, and the key players are critically evaluated. Particular attention is placed upon the history of American jurisprudence, discrimination in the judicial process, and the civil and the criminal practice of law including torts, jury nullification, plea bargaining, the insanity defense, different burdens of proof, and the presumption of innocence. Because the popular culture of American law shapes our views of justice and of the judicial process, legal film is used as text.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
Lawyers refer to the American legal system as a system of justice. Citizens who use the courts expect to be treated fairly and to have a final result which is just. Judges often discuss "criminal justice" and "civil justice" as though we all know what they mean. But the reality is that what the law may demand is not necessarily what justice requires. What the law demands is called legal (process) justice which may differ from substantive (right result) justice. Thus, doing the legal thing does not always accomplish the right thing. A tension exists between law and justice when the law focuses on process over substance. In fact, some scholars argue that the law is a tool of injustice. Others argue that the meaning of justice is too ambiguous to be a goal of the law. This course explores the tension between law and justice while attempting to reconcile the reasons for that difference within the context of the judicial process.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
The student is expected to master the course materials. Class participation is expected. Students will demonstrate proficiency in this course by writing one analytical paper (with one case brief) and by passing a final examination. The paper must be from 6-10 pages in length. Each paper will analyze the tension between law abd justice by considering, in part, the central justice issues presented in the film and text. Use 12-point font with one-inch margins, and double-space. Writing assignments will be made randomly. The paper is 50% of the grade; so write it well. The final is also worth 50%. Each paper will discuss one of the major topics in the outline and will be due three class periods after the assignment, except the last paper which is due on Thursday of the final week of class. The paper must integrate the films, the judicial opinions, and the readings in this syllabus. A Bibliography with more than 3 sources is required. Either the APA or MLA format is acceptable. Late papers are not accepted; college level writing is required.

GRADING:
A=90-100 B=80-89 C=70-79 D=60-69 F=below 60

I reserve the right to “bump up” borderline grades based on quality class participation and continuous improvement by a student during the semester.

COURSE OUTLINE:
I. The Nature & History of Law and Justice
II. Civil Law: Justice in Torts
III. Criminal Law: Procedural and Substantive Justice
IV. Prejudice & Discrimination in the Judicial Process

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION:
The Professor will lecture, use film, and employ the Socratic method. Participation is necessary to optimize the classroom experience. Be civil to me and to each other. Do not hesitate to ask questions about any of the material. On occasion, Political Forum Speakers will address the class.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The student will understand the difference between legal justice and substantive justice. The student will also be able to recognize the tension which exists between the two types of justice within the judicial process and to identify several injustices which exist within the judicial system. The student will be able to brief a judicial opinion and analyze legal issues.

ATTENDANCE:
Attendance is required. Six absences will result in the assignment of a “WP” or a “WF,” whichever is appropriate. More than three unexcused absences will result a lowered grade. Two tardys equal one absence. Remember that 80% of life is just showing up. Be here and be enlightened.

CHEATING:
Cheating of any sort will result in an F for the course. Do not plagiarize by downloading material from the Internet. Give credit where credit is due in your paper. Also, remember that the papers are not collaborative efforts. If you need clarification about the graded writing assignments, see me. Your final product must be your own, since it counts for 50% of your grade. This collaboration policy applies only to the written assignments. Study groups are otherwise encouraged to discuss the textbook and the issues.

DISABILITIES STATEMENT:
Special services and reasonable accommodations are available to those students who furnish the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities with documentation. You are required to notify me during the first week of class. I will do my best to assist you and to reasonably accommodate you.

CELL PHONES:
All cell phones must be turned off during class, unless prior permission is given. These are very annoying. If you have an emergency situation that requires you to have your phone turned on, advise me before the class begins. Otherwise, a ringing phone may negatively impact your final grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE:
Below is a tentative list of class assignments. While this schedule is detailed, remember that the future is both unwritten and uncertain. The schedule may need to be modified occasionally. If you have missed a class, it is your responsibility to contact me about any change in the schedule. Before your assigned paper is due, you may examine a sample in my office to assist you in understanding the correct format and content. Also, by the end of the second week, write a one-page paper entitled “The Biggest Injustice in my World as Perceived by Me and What I Plan to Do about It.”


Week 1: Introduce the course and instructor. Review syllabus. Explain law vs. justice and the difference between legal justice and substantive justice. History of Law Schools and Legal Education. Abadinsky text: Chapter 4; Adams text: pp. 612-621

Week 2: The Nature of Law and Justice. Abadinsky text: Chapters 1 & 2. Adams text: pp. 1-14, 76-83, 157-159, & 200-202. Brief: The Amistad (40 U.S. 518) and The Antelop (23 U.S. 66)

Week 3: The History of American Law and Justice. Abadinsky text: Chapter 3. Adams text: pp. 15-18, 22-33, 38-40 & 46-49.

Week 4: History (continued). Adams text: pp. 89-95, 119 & 149-152.
Brief: Riggs v. Palmer (22 N.E. 188).

Week 5: Civil Law: Justice in Torts. Abadinsky text: Chapters 5 & 6. Adams text: pp. 517-528 & 549-558. Brief: Holden v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (608 N.W.2d 187).

Week 6: Civil Law (continued). Abadinsky text: Chapters 7 & 8. Adams text: pp. 560-568 & 585-586.
Brief: Lynch v. Fisher (34 So. 2d 513) and Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad (248 N.Y. 339).

Week 7: Civil Law (continued). Abadinsky text: Chapters 12 and 14. Adams text pp. 319-322.

Week 8: Civil Law (continued). Adams text: pp.586-590 & 601-611. Brief the following cases: Quirke v. City of Harvey (639 N.E.2d 1355) & Summers v. Tice (199 P.2d 1).

Week 9: Criminal Law: Procedural and Substantive Justice: Abadinsky text: Chapters 9 & 10. Adams text: 384-394. Brief: People v. Dlugash (363 N.E.2d 1155).

Week 10: Criminal Law (continued). Adams text: pp. 406-414, 430-437 & 446-449. Brief: State v. Cameron (100 Wash. 2d 520) & Lockyer v. Andrade (538 U.S. 63).

Week 11: Criminal Law (continued). Abadinsky text: Chapters 11 & 13. Adams text: pp. 466-476, 490-493 & 509-516. Brief: Atkins v. Virginia (536 U.S. 304), Coker v. Georgia (433 U.S. 584) & McCleskey v. Kemp (481 U.S. 279).

Week 12: Prejudice and Discrimination in the Judicial Process: Adams text: pp. 293-295, 300-314 & 370-372. Brief: Cato v. U.S. (70 F.3d. 1103) & Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1).

Week 13: Prejudice (continued). Adams text: pp. 327-332, 346-353 & 373-378. Brief: Michael H. v. Gerald D. (491 U.S. 110) & United States v. Virginia (518 U.S. 515).

Week 14: Review Four Main Areas for Final Exam.

Week 15: FINAL EXAMINATION: (See Registrar's Schedule)

The following film schedule corresponds to the course outline above. Selected excerpts from some of these films will be shown throughout the semester to supplement the reading materials. As writing assignments are made, students are encouraged to rent the films. Remember that you must incorporate into your paper the assigned syllabus readings from the texts as well as some of the cases and films.

I. Paper Chase, The Amistad, Judgment At Nuremberg, & To Kill A Mockingbird
II. The Verdict, A Class Action, Philadelphia, and The Rainmaker
III. 12 Angry Men, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Chamber.
IV. A Time to Kill, The Accused, and Kramer v. Kramer

“Lawyers are practitioners of the science of justice; their vocation is the protection of the injured and the innocent, the defense of the weak, the conservation of the rights and prosperity of the citizen, and the vigorous maintenance of the legitimate and wholesome powers of government.” – David Hoffman

 

FILM AS LEGAL TEXT: A SYNOPSIS BY JUDGE POLAND
(The best legal movies available for pedagogical purposes)

I. The Nature and History of Law and Justice

1. The Paper Chase: This is a classic film about the law school experience which every aspiring law student should view. This is a historical perspective of how law school classes were once taught. Professor Kingsley’s skill at using sarcasm and the Socratic method in a contracts class will create tension within you as you watch this film. It begins on the first day of 1L classes at Harvard Law School.

2. The Amistad: Based on an actual U.S. Supreme Court case, this judicial conflict confronts the very foundation of the American justice system. Unlike in The Antelope, the Africans aboard La Amistad were captured and enslaved on U.S. soil. The question becomes whether these men and women are people or property. The court scenes are an accurate depiction of the judicial process in Colonial America. Note the evolution over the past two centuries.

3. Judgment at Nuremberg: Was it victor's justice or was a significant statement made to future generations? There were 12 Nuremberg trials. The most famous one was the Major War Criminals Trial involving 21 war criminals. This film, however, is about The Justice Trial involving 16 German judges and officials of the Reich Ministry who chose to enforce immoral laws. Are these judges culpable for the crimes against nature or were they simply following the Rule of Law principle?

4. To Kill A Mockingbird: In the South of the 1930s, the word of white trash would be believed over the word of a respectable black man. When a white woman wrongly accuses field hand Tom Robinson of rape, the only thing left to do is convict him, despite all the reasonable doubt raised by his capable attorney.


II. Civil Law: Justice in Torts

1. The Verdict: An alcoholic attorney stumbles into a deep-pocket case of medical malpractice, a very important area in American tort law. This film is a cornerstone of tort cinema, but it also raises significant professional and ethical issues. A high-powered medical malpractice defense team represents the doctors and the hospital.

2. A Class Action: Courtroom drama is combined with the family drama of a father-daughter relationship. He represents justice and she represents the law. The target here is not negligent physicians as it was in The Verdict; rather, it’s the automobile industry in a class action products liability lawsuit. Argo’s bean-counters calculate early on that it is cheaper to pay off the claims of 132 mangled and deceased plaintiff’s than it is to recall and retrofit 175,000 automobiles.

3. Philadelphia: This film explores the tort of wrongful termination when homophobic senior partners fire one of their rising stars who tests HIV positive. The target becomes employers who discriminate against the disabled in their hiring and promotional practices. Is the alleged incompetence of the junior partner merely a pretextual reason for his termination?

4. Rainmaker: Perhaps the best tort film is saved for last. A rookie lawyer who has yet to pass the bar examination signs (in blood) a young man dying of bone cancer to a contingency fee agreement for a wrongful death action against a powerful insurance company. Despite facing long odds against a seasoned battery of lawyers, truth finds a way to show itself in the courtroom. As in all these tort cases, the plaintiff’s lawyer is truly a hero and corporate America is portrayed as the villain.

III. Criminal Law: Procedural and Substantive Justice

1. 12 Angry Men: Angry does not begin to describe it. A classic illustration of reasonable doubt in action, 12 white men turn a poorly tried defense case inside-out. One reasonable juror, quietly yet effectively, turns an 11 to 1 vote completely around to a 1 to 11 vote. Will justice prevail in this criminal case or will the jury be hung? Can you count the reasonable doubts discovered by these 12 angry jurors?

2. Anatomy of a Murder: Quite simply, this classic is the best legal film ever made – bar none. The law is accurate and the courtroom scenes are realistic. Will the right-wrong test of insanity apply in this murder case or should the defendant be excused because he experienced an irresistible impulse? The sparring of the trial lawyers is riveting.

3. The Chamber: The legality and the ethics of the death penalty are at issue. The legal arguments on both sides, the appellate process, and the politics of capital punishment are explored. Like in A Class Action, there is the added intrigue of family relationships.

IV. Prejudice and Discrimination in the Judicial Process

1. A Time To Kill: Can a black man receive a fair trial in the South? Is jury nullification a remote possibility when the jury has voted 12 to 1 to convict the night before closing arguments? Should a defendant who plans and lies in wait for his victims be able to raise the insanity defense? If your 10 year old daughter were degrade, raped, and left for dead, would you be tempted to murder the perpetrators? This is a compelling battle between law and justice.

2. The Accused: What are the limits of justice and of social responsibility? This film will test those limits. What are the effects of the plea bargaining process on a victim of a brutal crime? Should the judicial process treat the victim as though she were the criminal? Is this discriminatory treatment of women? Her first scream was for help; her second scream will be for justice. The crime of rape and the inchoate crime of solicitation are fully examined.

3. Kramer v. Kramer: There is an abundance of evidence that minorities and women are discriminated against in the judicial process. Reasonable people will not disagree about that. But do men ever experience discrimination and prejudice in the courtroom? Is there a judicial stereotype that finds women to always be the more fit parent in a divorce action? Is gender in fact a factor in determining the best interest of a child in a custody battle? You be the judge. Please notice who is responsible for doing the right thing at the end of this film.

 

BRIEFING COURT CASES
By Judge Rick Poland @ Flagler College

BRIEF: A clear and concise written summary detailing the facts, procedural history, issue(s), holding(s), and rationale of the court in a particular case. For my classes, the brief should also contain an evaluation of the court's rationale and a synthesis, when appropriate. The purpose of doing a brief is to aid in the comprehension of the case and to have a summary for review purposes prior to an examination.

ELEMENTS OF A BRIEF

1. Identification of the Case. Put the name of the case and the legal citation at the top of the page. For example, Tarasoff v. Regents. (551 P.2d 334.)

2. Facts. Summarize what happened in the case. Do not repeat all the facts as given in the case; rather, write about the legally significant facts. Identify the parties, their status, and the nature of the dispute between the parties.

3. Procedural History. State what happened in the court(s) below. This usually involves the trial court and an intermediate appellate court. What was the disposition of each court? What important motions or procedural matters were argued and how did the court dispose of them.

4. Issue(s). What is the legal question(s) before the court? Generally, what question is on appeal from the court below? Always put the issue in the form of a question and frame it narrowly.

5. Holding. Quite simply, answer the issue(s) raised in the opinion affirmatively or negatively. Then restate the issue in declarative sentence form so that you have a Rule of the Case.

6. Rationale. This is the heart of the brief. Explain the court's reasoning for deciding the case in the manner by which it did. Did the court rely upon precedent, general legal principles, public policy, or something else? Look at the majority opinion for the court's rationale. Discuss dissenting or concurring opinions only when enlightening.

7. Evaluation. Do you agree with the court's reasoning? Why or why not?

8. Synthesis. This is a "putting together" of the cases you have read that deal with the same issue(s). Integrate this case with the others which you have read and briefed. Put the body of law in this area together so that it makes sense (if possible) and so that you demonstrate your knowledge of the law in this area. How has the law changed? What is problematic? What is not?

Note: If you need to see a sample of a case brief, let me know and I will provide one for you.

 

Questions to Ponder for Papers
(Primarily for Film Analysis)

1. What legal point(s) is the film making and does it make that point well?

2. How are the lawyers in the film portrayed (litigators or counselors, heroes or villains, good or evil, etc.)? Are the portrayals authentic?

3. How do we interpret the social, political, and cultural messages encoded in the film? Is there a hidden agenda?

4. What are the examples of justice being served?

5. What are the examples of a lack of justice?

6. Is there tension between what the law demands and what justice requires? (i.e. legal justice versus substantive justice)

7. As a result of watching the film, what have you learned about lawyers and the legal process?

8. What recommendation would you make to reform the system?

- Discuss these questions in your paper, as you integrate the film, the texts, and the legal cases.

- Use 12 font. All papers are due two periods after the assignment, except for the last paper. No late papers.

- "A" papers will be analytical, integrate the course materials, and have a Bibliography. "B" papers will discuss the issues analytically. "C" papers will be merely competent. "D" papers will not be competent. "F" papers will be short and uninspiring.

- Poor grammar, spelling, and punctuation will result in a lowered grade. College-level writing is required.

 

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