I’m teaching e-discovery at the University of Texas Law School this semester, and though it’s been a lot of work, and challenging to conform my peripatetic practice to a fixed routine, I love being back in the classroom with bright students.  So far, I’m pretty sure no one in the class has learned more than I have.

I’ve learned that however witty I imagine I might be in front of a lawyer audience, I’m not funny in the slightest to a bunch of stressed out 2Ls.  And, I’ve discovered that I need fresh technology metaphors because references to pre-1990 devices draw blank stares.  Despite the resurgent coolness of vinyl, twenty-somethings have never heard of a “tone arm” nor experienced an “auto reverse” cassette deck.  Of course, what were you thinking, old timer?!?!

Unlike practicing lawyers, law students don’t devote all their creative ingenuity to fashioning arguments why they can’t (or shouldn’t have to) learn the nuts and bolts of information technology.  I tell the class it will be on the midterm, and they have all the motivation they need to wrap their nimble noggins around sectors and clusters, hashing and hex.  The power to test those you teach is awesome, and may be what’s missing from CLE.  You can bet you’d see better speakers and more attentive listeners if attendees had to pass a test on the material to get their CLE credit.  But I digress. Continue reading →