As we learn from the Hollywood movies, USA lawyers are notoriously eloquent, and trials in this country often reminds plays. While the image of lawyers in the movies may not necessarily match the reality, US lawyers do have exceptional analytical, quick-thinking, and responsive skills. One of the prerequisites for this ability is the analytical dialogue, more commonly known as the “Socratic method”, used by professors in US law schools.
In Lithuania, the analytical dialogue is not a traditionally emphasized method of teaching in legal education. However, the skills developed by students through this method contribute to the development of lawyers who are more prepared for the legal services market. Years of cooperation between Lithuanian and US professors, coordinated by the US Law Centre of Vilnius University (VU) Law Faculty, has offered a unique opportunity for Lithuanian students to learn while using the methodology of US legal education in 2023.
This year, for the first time, we taught a new course at VU Law Faculty: “Contemporary Public Law Issues in Comparative Perspective: Europe and the USA”. The subject is new not merely in terms of its content, but also in terms of its form of teaching:
– We taught remotely, with simultaneous lectures for students from the VU Law Faculty and the University of North Carolina, who had chosen this subject.
– We gave the lectures in a two-person class, together with Prof. Charles Szypszak (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
– We used the analytical dialogue method during the class – students prepared in advance by reading summaries of US and European court decisions, and the lecturers led a discussion based on the students’ statements and insights from the court decisions read at home.
Analytical dialogue – an original teaching method
In the training of law students in the USA, discussion based on pre-arranged material (usually on the basis of the texts of court decisions) has been common for many years. However, there is no uniform definition of such teaching – each teacher brings something new to it. For some, the analytical dialogue is about pushing students into relatively stressful environment, where they have to answer the lecturer’s hypothetical questions very quickly; for others, it is a conversation between the lecturer and the student, in which the material the student has read at home is gradually transformed into a new understanding, and the lecturer changes the contexts of the discussed situations, asking clarifying and thought-provoking questions.
“Learning with analytical dialogue improves engaged students’ ability to think analytically. It involves identifying the elements of questions and problems, looking for patterns in analogical situations, isolating logical flaws, and considering from perspectives beyond bias.– says Prof. Szypszak, one of the enthusiasts of analytical dialogue in the USA, – The abilities to engage in objective analysis and articulate competing perspectives are extremely valuable competencies for legal professionals. They are the essence of sound judicial thinking.”
Greta Baltikauskaitė, a student of the VU Law Faculty, who took part in the joint course with the University of North Carolina, noted that “the joint course between the Vilnius University and the University of North Carolina is an exceptional intellectual and academic experience. Studying a completely different legal system was not only interesting and challenging, but it was even more interesting to learn this system in a different way than usual. Learning new concepts through discussion is useful for lawyers because they need to be able to absorb new information but also to be able to communicate it effectively.”
Intercultural experience – a chance to see the world differently
The course taught with the USA partners also opened up a new experience of intercultural cooperation – students from VU and the University of North Carolina participated in joint discussions and prepared comparative research on important topics of state governance and human rights. Analyzing the same problem from different perspectives allowed to talk more objectively about the phenomena, and to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of a particular point of view.
During the course, it was surprising to see how differently such issues as a person’s private life or freedom of expression are regulated in the USA and Europe or Lithuania. In-depth discussions led to a better understanding of the different societal attitudes towards abortion or the concept of discrimination.
A possible response to the challenges posed by digital technologies
The use of analytical dialogue is another opportunity to adapt to the challenges posed by digital technologies. As generative artificial intelligence systems, including ChatGPT, reached a relatively high level of information accuracy, new questions are being raised about the formats in which teaching material is presented to students. In a recent VU lecture, Dr. Barbara Oakley, one of the world’s most renowned researchers, from the University of Oakland (USA), highlighted the need to combine traditional lecturing with active learning methods.
This combination is also linked to Dr. Oakley’s emphasis on the importance of retrieval, which she says is at the heart of the learning process. In the USA, the analytical dialogue used in lectures enables students to consolidate their knowledge through a framed discussion, modelling hypothetical situations based on material read at home. In this way, the lecture is never the same, and the lecturer does not know where the discussion may lead.
Therefore, I would like the joint course with the University of North Carolina to be continued in the future and perhaps also inspire other lecturers, not only in the field of law, to use the analytical dialogue method in their lectures.
Author Assoc. Prof. Donatas Murauskas