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method (except in a seminar). But all of the cases that are in casebooks had somehow gotten to appellate courts—and they had gotten there for a reason: they were not settled (as the overwhelming percentage of con- troversies are). Inasmuch as litigation is very expensive, the question that naturally arises is, “Why wasn’t this case settled?” The other, more important questions, especially in a transactional course, are, “Why did this case arise? What could have been done in negotiations or drafting to prevent the controversy from occurring in the first place?” I don’t recall hearing those questions posed when I was in law school. And I think that they are questions best answered by a practitioner or former practitio- ner, not by a theoretician.
Moreover, to the students who were without rudimentary business knowledge, the professors often failed to explain why the rules that would be investigated mattered at all. Secured Transactions is a course that is nothing but an exercise in memorizing obscure rules relating to “priorities,” as they are placed in a hierarchy of entitlement by a statute called the Uniform Commercial Code, which has been enacted in each of the states. The concept of “priorities,” which deals with the compet- ing rights of creditors, means virtually nothing unless you understand that there is something called “bankruptcy,” the possibility of which is virtually the only reason to know all of the rules. Why? Because, the rules determine which “secured” creditors (creditors with mortgages or similar instruments) get money or property that “secures” a debt when a person or company can’t pay its debts, as opposed to “unsecured” or “general” creditors, those without mortgages or similar instruments, who get what’s left, if anything—and they do so in accordance with a hierarchy that should be understood in order to be learned. So, how about talking about that on the first day of class (or on any other day, for that matter)?
In my first semester, where the core subjects were Legal Method, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Torts, and Development of Legal Institu- tions (or DLI), I did learn basic ideas that were of value. Legal Method gave you a good background on the structure of the state and federal court systems, explained the difference between the common law and
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