Legal education in America is purely practical. And in terms of educational methods and subjects included in the student programs.

In all American colleges, the main teaching method, starting from the second half of the 19th century, is the Socratic method: before classes, students study the material proposed by the professor, and directly in the classroom, there is live communication with the teacher, a discussion of what they have read. Undoubtedly, this method makes it possible to successfully develop students’ analytical abilities: a professor can ask any student a question regarding the topic under discussion or assess the opinion of another student who has already spoken in the lesson. For this reason, each participant in the class must constantly follow the thread of reasoning and be ready to talk about position at the professor’s request. In addition, this method is an excellent basis for developing public speaking skills.

Every American lawyer follows in their work the generally accepted standards for conducting legal research, the description of which is devoted to a large number of various manuals and textbooks.

About the Main Features of Legal Research

In the United States, lawyers begin to conduct research by referring to secondary sources: articles and comments on a topic of interest. Referral to journal articles, commentaries, and monographs usually follows only in cases where the law is not formulated enough, and it is necessary to reveal its true meaning.

This difference is largely explained by the difference in the legal systems of the United States, namely, the difference in the sources of law: in the United States – both statutory and case law. In this regard, it is quite difficult to establish the applicable law in America: even if there is a law regulating the client’s issue, it is necessary to study a large array of judicial practice that relates to the issue under study and can interpret the legislative rule completely unexpectedly for the participants in the turnover. Moreover, finding all relevant precedents on your own is difficult. At the same time, secondary sources often give a complete picture of a particular problem with references to all relevant sources of law.

Study of Judgments

An American lawyer has to study a very large number of court decisions. After all, even if a lawyer discovers a solution that can be applied to a client’s problem, there can always be another, later solution, according to which the rule is modified or specified by the court. At the same time, the study of practice is not a priority. This is rarely done in the US. As they say in America: lawyers here do not believe in theory but practice.

Subject

In America, this stage of research is considered quite important. The main reason is that the court, when making decisions, is always under the influence of political factors. That is, it forms the rule of law by the current political interest. Therefore, the rule established by the court in a decision under certain political conditions may not work (and will be changed by the court) in other political realities. In this regard, an American lawyer must consider the reasons for making a particular court decision.

The thought process of the American lawyer focuses on “political-factual” reasoning rather than “theoretic-legal.”

Inductive Process

And about one more specificity of the thinking process of an American lawyer: this process is inductive. To solve a client’s legal issue, a lawyer in the United States starts from a specific situation (studies existing precedents on the issue), finds the most appropriate precedent, derives a general rule from it, and then applies it to the client’s problem.

Rules For Drafting Legal Documents

The United States has generally accepted standards for drafting legal documents. These standards aim to provide the readers with maximum convenience in familiarizing themselves with the document. In addition, such measures make it easier for representatives of the disputing parties and judges to study the position set out in the document, and through this, to a certain extent, the resolution of legal disputes.

A negative attitude will be shown if the standards for compiling a document are not followed.

In some situations, lawyers not only can but are required to draw up a document in a certain form. Therefore, when preparing a document for filing with the court, a lawyer should study the rules for preparing a document established by the court, whose jurisdiction is to consider the client’s dispute.

In America, each court has its own rules regarding paperwork. Moreover, these rules can relate to completely different details. For example, the court may have certain requirements:

• to sheet size
• to text font
• to the number of lines on a document sheet
• to the number of sheets in the document
• to the color of the paper being used.

Advantages of the American Bar

Where there is the publicity of the trial, it is in America. Any person, even if they are not a US citizen, can ask the court for any decision, and the court will provide the decision absolutely without hindrance. No passes are required at the entrance to the courts. At the same time, security is ensured – by checking for the presence of prohibited items and not identity documents.