The Spirit of Regina Austin’s Contextual Analysis: Exploring Racial Context in Legal Method and Writing Assignments and Scholarship

Journal of Marshall Law Review, Vol. 34, p. 281, 2000

17 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2009

See all articles by Charles R. Calleros

Charles R. Calleros

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

Abstract

In Professor Regina Austin’s article, Bad for Business: Contextual Analysis, Race Discrimination, and Fast Food,” 34 J. Marshall L. Rev. 207 (2000-2001), the central thesis is that many legal issues can be fully appreciated only in their social context, and specifically, in their racial context. Thus, data about an ethnic group's distinctive experiences in, or relationship to, a larger community-perhaps through formal ethnographic studies, or perhaps through other means-often can inform teaching, scholarship, and representation of clients in a meaningful way.

Professor Austin's thesis is supported by the teaching and scholarship of teachers of legal method of writing. This essay shares some examples from that field to illustrate both the benefits and the minefields of exploring issues of difference, of "otherness," in the classroom and particularly in legal writing courses or in seminars with writing components. This essay also suggests different ways that race or other facets of "otherness" can be acknowledged and confronted, rather than ignored, in the law school classroom.

Keywords: legal education, race, diversity

Suggested Citation

Calleros, Charles R., The Spirit of Regina Austin’s Contextual Analysis: Exploring Racial Context in Legal Method and Writing Assignments and Scholarship. Journal of Marshall Law Review, Vol. 34, p. 281, 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1430587

Charles R. Calleros (Contact Author)

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law ( email )

Box 877906
Tempe, AZ 85287-7906
United States

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