The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

Law Review
 office.
From her early willingness to last through the occasional Legal Writing class to her
current vibrant concern about politics and injustice, I have learned alongside and
from her about law and society. I dedicate this work to my daughters.

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Contents
Notes on Transcription
xvii
I
INTRODUCTION
1. Entering the World of U.S. Law
3
2. Law, Language, and the Law School Classroom
12
3. Study Design, Methodology, and Profile
31
II
SIMILARITY
:
LEGAL EPISTEMOLOGY
4. Learning to Read Like a Lawyer: Text, Context,
and Linguistic Ideology
43
5. Epistemology and Teaching Styles:
Different Forms, Same Message
84
6. On Becoming a Legal Person: Identity and the Social Context
of Legal Epistemology
97
III
DIFFERENCE
:
SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN LEGAL PEDAGOGY
7. Professorial Style in Context
141
8. Student Participation and Social Difference: Race, Gender,
Status, and Context in Law School Classes
174
IV
CONCLUSION
:
READING
,
TALKING
,
AND THINKING
LIKE A LAWYER
9. Legal Language and American Law: Authority, Morality,
and Linguistic Ideology
207
Notes
225
Bibliography
279
Index
301

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(1.25) Numbers in parentheses indicate length of turn (here,
one minute and two and a half seconds). Turns are
measured to .005, or half of a second.
(.) Enclosed dot indicates a very short untimed pause.
// // Parallel lines indicate overlapping speech.
[[laughter]] Double brackets indicate backchannel sounds, laughter,
etc. (Occasionally backchannel comments are indicated
this way for ease of reading; more usually they are
indicated using //parallel lines// to mark overlapping
backchannels.)
emphasis Underlining indicates emphatic stress.
() Single parentheses indicate inaudible or barely audible
speech.
[says name]
Italicized material in italicized brackets is descriptive
commentary, summaries of omitted portions, and
metacommentary from EM regarding transcript, as well
as paraphrases and substitutes where necessary to protect
confidentiality.
[ . . . ]
Ellipses in italicized brackets indicate omitted material.
*
oh* ((*sarcastically*))
Italicized material in double parentheses describes
aspects of speech delivery (intonation, etc.); asterisks
mark the relevant transcript passage.
You- Hyphen indicates a cut-off, usually one that is turn-
internal.
I--
--you Parallel dashes refer to coordinated speech, where one
speaker stops before finishing an utterance, and another
speaker begins speaking smoothly immediately thereafter
(i.e., immediately latched utterances).
Notes on Transcription
xvii

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I
.
.
INTRODUCTION
Law, considered as a science, consists of certain principles or
doctrines. To have such a mastery of these as to be able to apply
them with constant facility and certainty to the ever-tangled
skein of human affairs, is what constitutes a true lawyer, and