Discovering the Really Big Picture
by
Michael L. Closen

In many of our core law school courses, we (and the professors who have gone before us) struggle with the challenge of helping students to see the "big picture." What that usually means is the big picture of contracts, torts, corporations, property, evidence, and the like -- how the pieces of the puzzle of a single legal subject fit together. Indeed, the coming together of the otherwise seemingly disjointed features of a law school subject represents the purpose for which the true teachers among us exist.

But, can there be an even higher calling? Yes, to be sure. There is an even bigger picture to be painted by us and discovered and appreciated by our students. During the last 10 years, I have had the chance to teach two courses that have challenged both me and my students to grasp a much bigger picture. The first example is the course in AIDS Law and Policy. As HIV has impacted virtually every area of law, so too the table of contents of the AIDS casebook (Leonard, Bobinski, Closen, Wojcik, et al., AIDS LAW AND POLICY (2d ed. 1995)) reads like a survey of the law school curriculum. The 13 chapter headings include tort issues, criminal law, domestic relations, insurance law, estate planning, education law, immigration and international law, public health law, and so on.

Teaching a course such as AIDS Law and Policy is intimidating because it requires the professor to master some 13 different legal fields at least adequately enough to lead the class, answer students' questions, and otherwise provide assistance to the class (perhaps with the writing of research papers). On the other hand, the benefits for the professor far exceed the risks. There is never a dull moment as the course progresses quickly from topic to topic. The class is especially ripe for guest speakers, such as government lawyers and private attorneys who specialize in the particular subject areas covered, and such as people living with HIV-AIDS (who can bring a genuine human element to the cold classroom). The greatest sense of achievement for the professor comes from the attempt, which is often successful, to bring together so many divergent fields and to paint the really big picture of how so many legal subjects merge around a central point, in this case the serious health epidemic of HIV-AIDS.

The second example seems rather benign by comparison with HIV-AIDS Law and Policy, but it, too, poses the same kinds of challenges and opportunities. That second course is, believe it or not, Notary Law and Practice. There is a casebook that contains 15 chapter titles reflecting numerous traditional law school subjects. (Closen, Ahlers, Jarvis, et al., NOTARY LAW AND PRACTICE (1997)). Notary law brings together or affects many legal subjects, such as torts, criminal law, agency, attorney ethics, insurance/bond law, conflict of laws, administrative law, international law, and so forth. Once again, the wide breadth of the subtopics to be considered offers chances to employ a variety of teaching methods -- from guest speakers, to drafting exercises, to role playing, and more.

Time permitting, there can be even further development of the picture to include matters of historical background, public policy, economics, and business practice associated with the two courses noted above. Such interdisciplinary endeavors lend important variety, interest, and dimension to the enlarged picture.

I wish that every senior law student would enroll in a class like AIDS Law and Policy, or Notary Law and Practice. Other comparable courses might include Aviation Law, Children and the Law, Computer Law, Sexual Orientation and the Law, Elder Law, and Psychology and the Law. Such a course would help to bridge the gap we all hear about and talk about that separates law school and real-world law practice. If more of us would take up the challenge of offering such classes, more of our students would follow our lead and enroll in such courses. And, while we might not all live happily ever after, we would appreciate more of what goes on around us. We would see a really big picture.