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lawyers and literature
Assignment Archive--2012
On Using the "Class Assignments" page of the Course Website
note: The assigned readings are noted by  (double square bullets). A single bullet is used to direct you to my "instructor's notes" on the assigned reading and to biographical and other work by or about the author of the assigned reading that you might want to pursue.
note2: Some of the assigned readers are available on-line. If so, you will find them designed by an "on-line text" designation that follows the assigned reader. If the text is not available on-line it will be provided to you by the instructor.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012: Getting Started
Peruse the course website and the course syllabus.
I have never quite settled, in theory, or in practice, on exactly and precisely what I should tell you as we get the course underway. Over the years, I have presented the course in the form of a short syllabus and a rather long-ish one. Sometimes, I try to figure out exactly what can be said about the course, and at other times, I've simply tried to let the course speak for itself. It is possible, I realize, that you may have far less interest in where and how we begin than I do.
Assuming that the very idea of a course like lawyers and literature stirs the imagination and rouses you to ask:
 What is this course? What is it all about?
What kind of place does the instructor think it might have in my education as a lawyer?
I have tried to provide an array of answers, first in the form of questions that I put to myself (a wayward effort at what websites call "frequently asked questions"), something like a self-interview:
Some Practical Questions about the Course and How It Will Proceed
I was sufficient amused by this first effort at the question and answer format, that I had a second go at it. This time I decided to rely more heavily on the various pedagogical scraps I had lying about on my desk that I had collected and stuffed away in my lawyers and literature files. This second, and more extended FAQ effort, needs a good deal of editing (and lay-out work). I present it to you as a work-in-progress and you may, I warn you, find it of absolutely no help in the least.
More Questions about the Course
With those with less practical concerns, more interested in a discipline/legal studies/intellectual orientation to "lawyers and literature" as field of study, you are invited to read a "letter" I wrote for Australian students in "law and literature" that has been revised as a letter to you:
A Letter to "Lawyers and Literature" Students
I have been working on a book about legal education for some years--currently titled Cautionary Tales: A Backroads Tour of Legal Education. In the book, I try to take what I have in mind for you and the "lawyers and literature" course and what I've learned about the use of stories and their presentation as a central part of your legal education and explain all of this to a larger audience. Any one of the following chapters in the manuscript could be viewed as an introduction to the course:
With so many, and so varied an offering of introductions, I rest assured that they are plentiful enough that you can more than exhaust yourself reading them!
Thursday, January 12, 2012: Getting to Stories
Frank Kafka, "Before the Law," in The Penal Colony: Stories and Short Pieces (New York: Schocken, 1961)(Willa & Edwin Muir trans.) [on-line text]
Three Parables [read alongside "Before the Law"]
[Instructor's Note (and web resources)]
Jeremy Gilman, "The Real World of Law School" [on-line text]
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--Jeremy Gilman: Jeremy Gilman is a partner in a Cleveland law firm. For more Gilman stories, published by Professor Elkins in the Legal Studies Forum, see: ["Light Banter: The Faculty at Lunch"] ["Game Day"] ["Catskills on Court Street"]
Jeremy Gilman was born in Brooklyn, New York, 1955; admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1983 and the Florida Bar in 1985. He received his A.B. in 1979 from Columbia College, and his J.D. in 1983 from Case Western Reserve University where he was Editor of the Case Western Reserve University Law Review, 1982-1983. His practice areas include: Complex Litigation; Business Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Securities Litigation; Class Actions; Bankruptcy Litigation; Administrative Litigation; Health Care Litigation; Advertising and Marketing; Unfair Competition.
"Centaurs," in J.S. Marcus, The Art of Cartography 17-23 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991) [reprinted in Jay Wishingrad (ed.), Legal Fictions: Short Stories About Lawyers and the Law 97-100 (Woodstock, New York: Overlook Press, 1992)]
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--J.S. Marcus: [Bio note]
Tuesday, January 17. 2012: Lowell B. Komie's Law Student Stories
"The Interview" | "The Ice Horse" | "Spring" in Lowell B. Komie, The Legal Fiction of Lowell B. Komie 1-11, 23-35, 13-21 (Chicago: Swordfish Chicago, 2005)
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--Lowell B. Komie: Lowell B. Komie is a Chicago attorney and writer. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1951 and his J.D. from Northwestern University in 1954. His legal practice is now located in Deerfield and he continues to write and publish his work. For an interview of Komie conducted by James R. Elkins in 2000, see: [Interview] [Norbert Blei's 2003 Interview]
Professor Louise Harmon's Reading of Komie: Illuminating the Dark: The Stories of Lowell B. Komie and the Pursuit of Meaningful Work, 31 Legal Stud. F. 851 (2007) [on-line text]
Supplemental Reading: Brenda Waugh, A Theory of Employment Discrimination, 40 J. Legal Educ. 113 (1990) [on-line text] [a verse narrative by a former West Virginia University student and her law firm interview experiences] :: Jason Wandling, Estoppel, 25 Legal Stud. F. 343 (2001) [on-line text][an essay--should we call it creative non-fiction?--about law school by a West Virginia University student]
Thursday, January 19, 2012: Lowell B. Komie's Lawyer Stories
Please read "The Cornucopia of Julia K." and "Skipping Stones" in Lowell B. Komie, The Legal Fiction of Lowell B. Komie (Chicago: Swordfish Chicago, 2005):
"The Cornucopia of Julia K." [pp. 69-76][on-line text]
"Skipping Stones" [pp. 61-68][on-line text]
As you read the Komie stories, select a couple of passages (of no more than a paragraph) that capture or encode some significant aspect, element, or meaning of the story. Be prepared to read this selection in class, and offer some brief comments on what draws you to the passage and the significance of the passage in reading the story as a whole. [On working with passages consider this comment by David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky: "A reader who needs to have access to something in the essay [story] can use simple memory aids. A reader can go back and scan, for one thing, to find passages or examples that might be worth reconsidering. Or a reader can construct a personal index, making marks in the margin or underlining passages that seem interesting or mysterious or difficult. A mark is a way of saying, 'This is something I might want to work on later.' If you mark the selections in the book as you read them, you will give yourself a working record of what, at the first moment of reading, you felt might be worth a second reading." David Bartholomae & Anthony Petrosky, "Introduction: Ways of Reading," in David Bartholomae, Writing on the Margins: Essays on Composition and Teaching 272-288, at 277-278 (Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2005)]
Professor Elkins' Reading of Komie: For an introduction to Kome's work, see James R. Elkins, "Lowell B. Komie's Lawyer Stories," in Lowell B. Komie, The Legal Fiction of Lowell B. Komie xiii-xvi (Chicago: Swordfish Chicago, 2005). For my essay on Komie's stories, see Meditation on the Odd Lives We Live, 31 Legal Stud. F. 885 (2007) [a revised version of the essay will appear as a chapter in Cautionary Tales: A Backroads Tour of Legal Education, a book in progress]
Thursday, January 26, 2012: Lowell B. Komie Stories
Please read the following stories in Lowell B. Komie, The Legal Fiction of Lowell B. Komie (Chicago: Swordfish Chicago, 2005):
"The Honorable Alicia Beauchamp" [161-173][on-line text]
"Ash" [175-186][on-line text]
[For reference: Operation Greylord] [Terry Hake and John Drummond on Operation Greylord :: 9:28 mins.]
"Podhoretz Revisited" [pp. 225-230][on-line text]
Tuesday, January 31. 2012: All Manner of Oddness
"Weight," in Margaret Atwood, Wilderness Tips 163-178 (New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1990)
Biographical Note--Margaret Atwood: [Margaret Atwood: Writing Philosophy] [Margaret Atwood (1939- )] [Resume -- Canadian Poets]
"Puttermesser: Her Work History, Her Ancestry, Her Afterlife," in Cynthia Ozick, The Puttermesser Papers 3-19 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997) [The story also appears in Cynthia Ozick, Levitation: Five Fictions (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982)]
Thursday, February 2. 2012: Mystery at the Center of a Lawyer's Life
Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" [on-line text] [online text:: alternative site] [Kindle, EPUB and other formats]
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--Herman Melville: [Herman Melville -- The American Academy of Poets] [The premier web resource for Bartleby research is: Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-Street]
Tuesday, February 7, 2012: The Lawyer and the Old Judge
Leslie Hall Pinder, On Double Tracks, 31 Legal Stud. F. 1043-1111 (2007)[an extensive excerpt from Leslie Hall Pinder, On Double Tracks (Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys Ltd., 1990)] [on-line text]
Biographical Note--Leslie Hall Pinder: Pinder grew up in Saskatchewan. She studied English at the University of Saskatchewan and Dalhousie University. After traveling in Europe, she moved to Vancouver and obtained her law degree at the University of British Columbia. She has been a lawyer in Vancouver since 1977. Pinder published her first novel, Under the House, in 1986. On Double Tracks, her second novel, was published in 1990. Pinder's latest novel, Bring Me One of Everything has recently been published by Grey Swan Press and will be available on Amazon.com in the next few days.
Instructor's Note
Elkins: "Finding Pinder" Pinder|Elkins Correspondence
Pinder Interview: Talking About Her New Book--Bring Me One of Everything [pt2] [pt3 :: talking about her decision to become a lawyer]
Leslie Hall Pinder is also a poet: 35 Stones | Bring Me One of Everything
Tuesday, February 14. 2012: A Judge's Poems
Selected poems from the poetry of James Clarke. The selected poems are from James Clarke's published collections of poetry: Silver Mercies (Exile Editions, 1997), The Raggedy Parade (Exile Editions, 1998), The Ancient Pedigree of Plums (Exile Editions 1999), The Way Everyone Is Inside (Exile Editions, 2000), Flying Home Through the Dark (Exile Editions, 2001), How to Bribe a Judge: Poems from the Bench (Exile Editions, 2002), Forced Passage: A Short History of Hanging (Exile Editions, 2005), Dreamworks: New and Selected Poems (Exile Editions, 2008).
James Clarke was born in Peterborough, Ontario, attended McGill University and Osgoode Hall. He practiced law in Cobourg, Ontario and was appointed to the Bench in 1983 and served as a judge of the Superior Court of Ontario. Clarke, now retired, resides in Guelph, in southwestern Ontario, a 100 kilometers west of Toronto. Clarke is also the author of two memoirs: A Mourner's Kaddish: Suicide and the Rediscovery of Hope (Novalis, 2006) and a second memoir to be published by Exile Editions, Canada, in 2012.
Reading the Clarke poems:
 Select two or three of the poems that you find that most engage you. Write a brief commentary on what it is that draws you to the poem. (You will be asked to read this commentary and discuss it in class.)
Select the poem (or poems) that you would withdraw from the collection if you were given the task of editing the selection for publication. You should be prepared to say something, in some preliminary way, about your concern about the poem (or poems) you have chosen.
An Illinois Judge Talks About Being a Poet: Warren Wolfson
Xeroxed Packets: Poetry of Warren Wolfson and Charles Reynard
Tuesday, February 21. 2012: Virtue and Self-Deception
Albert Camus, The Fall (New York: Vintage Books, 1956)
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--Albert Camus: [Albert Camus]
Tuesday, February 28. 2012: Facing Existential Despair
"The Death of Ivan Ilych," in Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych and Other Stories 95-156 (New York: New American Library, 1960) [on-line text]
[Instructor's Note]
Biographical Note--Tolstoy: [Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)]
Thursday, March 1, 2012: Writing for the Course
Packet of Xeroxed Essays Provided To You: Illustrative Writings
For Thursday, read the essays by Deirdre Purdy, Jason Wandling, and Brenda Waugh.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012: A John William Corrington Story
John William Corrington, A Day in Thy Court, 26 Legal Stud. F. 336 (2002) [on-line text]
Biographical Note--John William Corrington: [A Biographical Essay on Corrington by James R. Elkins][a copy of this essay on Corrington has been provided to you in the "Writing the Course" packet.] [A Bio-bibliographical note on John William Corrington] [An Interview of Corrington]
Recommended Reading: John William Corrington, Logos, Lex, and Law, 26 Legal Stud. F. 709 (2002) [on-line text]
Thursday, March 8. 2012: Another Corrington Story
John William Corrington, Every Act Whatever of Man, 26 Legal Stud. F. 246 (2002) [online text]
Tuesday, March 13, 2012: Thinking About the Course
Michael L. Richmond, Can Shakespeare Make You a Partner? 20 St. Mary's L. J. 885 (1989)
On Richmond's argument (made in passing), that literature may help you strengthen your writing skills, as a lawyer, see William Domnarski, The Opinion as Essay, The Judge as Essayist: Some Observations on Legal Writing, 10 J. Legal Prof. 139 (1985-1986)(working with the recognition that "the lawyer is not a professional writer") [on-line text] [See also: Nancy L. Cook, Thinking Like a Writer: A Novel Discipline for Those Trained to Think Like a Lawyer (Review Essay), 20 Legal Stud. F. 441 (1996); Maria Caravan, Using Literature to Teach Legal Writing, 23 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 1 (2004); Michele G. Falkow, Pride and Prejudice: Lessons Legal Writers Can Learn From Literature, 21 Touro L. Rev. 349 (2005); Stephen E. Smith, The Poetry of Persuasion: Early Literary Theory and Its Advice to Legal Writers, 6 J. ALWD 55 (2009)]
For further study of the use of primary figures of speech used in literature: Simile--Wikipedia | Metaphor--Wikipedia
Excerpts from William Domnarski, Law and Literature, 27 Legal Stud. F. 109 (2003) [on-line text] [full-text of the Domnarski essay]
James R. Elkins, "In Search of Lawyer Stories" (draft of a chapter in a forthcoming book, Cautionary Tales: A Backroads Tour of Legal Education) [on-line text]
Thursday, March 15. 2012: A Corrington Story
John William Corrington, The Actes and Monuments, 26 Legal Stud. F. 181 (2002) [online text]
Tuesday, March 20, 2012: A Corrington Story
John William Corrington, Pleadings, 26 Legal Stud. F. 211 (2002) [on-line text]
Tuesday|Thursday, March 27 & 28: Spring Break
Tuesday, April 3, 2012: Poetry and the Practice of Law
Tim Nolan, Poetry and the Practice of Law, 46 So. Dakota L. Rev. 677 (2001) [xerox hand-out] ["Poetry and the Practice of Law," as well as the interviews that I've asked you to read, ar available on-line at The Poetry of Tim Nolan]
Tim Nolan's Poetry (in the Legal Studies Forum) [xerox hand-out]
Interviews with Tim Nolan[xerox hand-out]
Thursday April 5: Lawyer Poets Tend to their Legal World
When Lawyers Talk About Their World: The Legal Verse of Lawyer Poets (James R. Elkins ed.)(scheduled for publication in 2012 by Pleasure Boat Studios) [the book manuscript handed-out in class]
Read the poems in the following first sections of the anthology: "A Lawyer's Education" | "Novice Lawyer" | "A Lawyer's Work Day"
As I indicated in class, all of the poets whose work is represented in the anthology are lawyers, or maybe I should say, were trained as lawyers. For biographical notes on each of the poets, see: Lawyer Verse Anthology Bios
What are you looking for when you read poems? (A curious question. Maybe even an interesting one. We read, at times, don't we, without knowing exactly what we are after? We know what it is when we find it! See out that (this?) works out in reading the poems in the first three sections of the lawyer verse anthology.
Look for a poem that you find most clearly fits your idea of a poem, a poem that looks, sounds, feels to you as . . . well . . . poetic.
Look for a poem that you find compelling, engaging, perhaps one you find surprising.
Look for a poem that you find revealing--revealing something about lawyers that you might not have given much thought.
Look for a poem that you dislike, indeed, that you dislike not just as a person might dislike pistachio ice cream, but dislike in the sense that you are willing to argue that the poem doesn't belong in a published collection about poems about lawyers and their world.
Tuesday April 10, 2012: Lawyer Verse Antholgy
Read poems in the following sections of the lawyer verse anthology: "Whims of a Day" (pp. 52-66) | "When the Lawyer Goes to Court" (pp. 67-75) | "Surviving the Ravages of the Work" (pp. 119-147)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
James R. Elkins, A Lawyer's Literary Miscellany, 34 Legal Stud. F. 389 (2010)
 Lawyers and Literature Home Page
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