The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

Lefkowitz
 case, the Minnesota store selling the stole.
60
Jessica:
The reasonable person wouldn’t believe that you were conferring
power on them to accept and form a contract.
61
Prof.:
That’s- that’s an excellent point. And that is the reason that ads
in general are not believed, are not construed as offers, is that no
reasonable person reading the ad, no matter how detailed-
You’re- Gwen’s looking at me and she’s saying, “Well, 
I
 would
have.”

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Professorial Style in Context
161
62
Gwen:
Well, I don’t know-
63
Prof.:
Let me finish. Let me finish, then we can discuss it 
[ . . . omitted
material, finishes point regarding reasonable person (.45 overall turn
time); calls on student with hand up . . . ] 
Dirk.
64
Dirk:
Uh, an interesting story in the paper today, kind of like () 
Lefkowitz
case, Filene’s Basement.
65
Prof.:
Yeah, somebody handed it to me. I didn’t read it. Tell us.
66
Dirk:
Uh, they said the first one thousand people to show up at seven
fifty-five to the 
[specifies location]
 store could get a thousand dollar
shopping spree, all right? So they set the number of people. So
then you have to question if it’s reasonable then, since they
specified the number of people, you know, obviously that’s not
unlimited. That’s specified. But then they said it was actually one
thousand people could enter a drawing to get one one thousand
dollar shopping // spree //
67
Alicia:
// yeah// the wording’s in there, and it’s really
confusing, and they say they’ve done it in Boston and they never
had a problem--
68
Dirk:
--yeah, never had a problem.
69
Prof.:
Never had a problem because who wants to sue? Okay, never- never
had a problem because who wants to sue? I’ll get the- read quickly
and try to find the language. (.11 pause) The ads, which ran in 
[omit
names of newspapers]
, oh we have Filene’s Basement here, now? [[70
class laughter]] And I didn’t know it? Where is it? [[71 class
laughter]]
72–77
[omit several turns where students call out the street names, the
professor asks for the cross street, students respond, class laughs]
78
Prof.:
All right, here’s what the ad says 
[ . . . omitted material, reads ad, (.32
overall turn time) . . . ]
 making them eligible for a shopping
// spree at each store //
79
Gwen:
// That’s bull-//
80
Nat:
// It says “to win.” It says “to win.” Not “you will get.”//
81
Prof.:
“Be one of the first thousand people to win.” 
[ . . . omitted material,
reads terms of settlement with attorney general’s office to appease
disgruntled customers: a drawing where 60 customers will each get a
$1,000 shopping spree . . . ]
82
[[Class commentary, someone whistles, someone (unidentified)
asks, “Each?”]]
83
Prof.:
Each, instead of the thousand. [[84 Class, calling out, one student
says, “Instead of one.”]] Yeah (). Boy, that’s quite the settlement.
And that settles (). Anna?
85
Anna:
But, you know, right when I’m really busy, I was at 
[grocery
store name] 
just wanting to buy some stamps at the counter, and
there was a woman ahead of me. She had twenty-five coupons for
items

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162
Difference
that