Updated – What Should Be Taught In Torts? A Series of Guest Posts

(Bumped to the top to note Sunday’s new post.)

I’m back from Austin, where it was approximately 145 degrees.  Hooray for Guero’s and Chuy’s.

This week, being back-to-school or welcome-to-school at many law schools, I’ve invited what I think is a pretty great range of people — from torts profs to law students to practicing lawyers to a judge to policy people — to submit guest posts on what should be taught in law schools’ torts classes.  As you’ll see, the responses were quite varied and interesting.

Monday and Tuesday will feature the initial posts, with the rest of the week set aside for responses by the authors or by others.  If you have a comment that you think would better be a post rather than in the comments field, send me an e-mail (wchilds AT law DOT wnec DOT edu).

The posts:

Sunday

Andrew McClurg provided a response to the posts from Ted Frank and Michael Moreland.

Thursday

Michael Moreland responded to Andrew McClurg’s post.  Moreland is an assistant professor at Villanova University School of Law and most recently worked in the White House.

Ted Frank has provided a response to McClurg’s and Nordberg’s posts.

Peter Nordberg has replied to Frank’s response.

Wednesday

Peter Nordberg has posted a response to other posts.

Jennifer Wriggins has submitted a post about Torts and race.  Wriggins is an associate professor at the University of Maine School of Law.

RiskProf has an interesting post wanting more focus on economic realities of the tort system.  (I think that’s a fair description of the post.)

There are also interesting comments, several to this post (click on “comments” below if you don’t see them).  In addition, there are two commenters on Nordberg’s post, including my colleague Jamie Colburn and Amos Presler, who has the interesting perspective of having worked for a plaintiffs’ expert in litigation. (He may have worked as a defense expert too; Google is silent.)  Finally, one of Professor Shapo’s former students suggests the value of folk music.

I’m expecting to receive some other comments and will post them as they arrive.

Tuesday

David Owen: What I Wish 1st Year Torts Students Would Learn.  David Owen is the Carolina Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Office of Tort Law Studies at the University of South Carolina where he teaches courses on Tort Law and Products Liability.

John Day: The Economics of Case Acceptance.  John A. Day is a founding member of Branham & Day in Brentwood, Tennessee.  He is a prolific blogger, most notably at DayOnTorts.com.  His firm primarily represents plaintiffs in civil litigation.

Ted Frank: Two Things.  Ted Frank is Resident Fellow and Director of the American Enterprise Institute Liability Project.  He frequently blogs at Overlawyered and Point of Law.

Peter Nordberg: Logic and Inference.  Peter Nordberg is a shareholder in the law firm of Berger & Montague and runs Daubert on the Web.

David Swanner: What Should They Teach at Law School?  Dave Swanner is a plaintiff’s attorney with the second trial related blog in the country, SCTrialLaw.com. He’s a sole practitioner and used to teach interrogation for the Army.

Monday

Marshall Shapo: What Should Be Taught.  Marshall S. Shapo is the Frederic P. Vose Professor at Northwestern University School of Law.

Robert Bailey: More Balance.  Robert W. Bailey, MD, FACS, is a Professor of Surgery (former) & third-year law student at Florida International University College of Law.

James M. Rosenbaum: Common Law.  Judge James M. Rosenbaum is the Chief Judge in the District of Minnesota.  I clerked for him.

Andrew McClurg: Three Things We Should Be Teaching in Torts (But Aren’t).  Andrew McClurg is the Herbert Herff Chair of Excellence in Law, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, The University of Memphis.

Arnold Friede: Taking Proximate Cause Seriously.  Arnold Friede is Senior Corporate Counsel at Pfizer.  Prior to joining Pfizer in 1998, he served in various roles, including Vice President and General Counsel, at Unilever.  He has also worked at the FDA.

I will update this post throughout the week to include links to the various pieces.