Rodrigo's Thirteenth Chronicle: Legal Formalism and Law's Discontents
45 Pages Posted: 7 Jan 2016
Date Written: 1997
Abstract
The public are discontent with lawyers, believing them cold, impersonal, and grasping. At the same time, lawyers are unhappy with their work, finding it overly regimented and pressured. Rodrigo and the professor, joined by Giannina, Rodrigo’s wife, who is now a law student at a top school, discuss what lies behind these discontents, which they deem related. They also trace them to a common source, namely law’s preoccupation with form, formalism, and doctrine at the expense of human values and connection.
Keywords: legal education, legal profession, formalism, happiness and unhappiness
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Delgado, Richard, Rodrigo's Thirteenth Chronicle: Legal Formalism and Law's Discontents (1997). Michigan Law Review, Vol. 95, 1997, U of Alabama Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2711835, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2711835
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