Explaining, Defending, and Exporting the Socratic Method

Sometimes, the professor will notify the students in advance that they are going to be called on. The professor might also include materials other than cases in the reading assignment, such as simple descriptions of the legal rules, or hypothetical problems that the students can consider before class. This is still considered “Socratic,” though, because students are still expected to prepare before class, the professor will still call on them in class to present their answers, and the whole process is directed not just at teaching the rules but, again, at training the students to “think like lawyers.”Being comfortable dealing with Socratic‐trained lawyers will become increasingly important, and having undergone a similar rite of passage will be helpful as well. The same goes for international legal education. As more international students comes to the U.S. for LL.M. degrees, they will benefit from having been exposed to the Socratic method before their arrival.