Note on the Socratic Method

(by Prof. Richard Primus)

Many law school teachers use some form of the Socratic method. Different teachers do
so for somewhat different purposes. In this class, the use of the Socratic method aims to teach
three important habits of lawyerly thought. Here they are:

1) The habit of fleshing out the picture. Legal issues are regularly presented to lawyers in ways
that do not clearly lay out everything that the lawyers need to understand. Clients tell lawyers
their view of a problem, and the lawyers need to figure out how that problem is situated in a web
of legal authorities. Judicial opinions articulate doctrines, and lawyers need to figure out both
how those doctrines fit into larger legal contexts and also what the practical stakes of the
doctrines are. Socratic questioning can teach the habit of making sure that a lawyer understands
not just the things he or she is being told directly but also the set of important things around it.

2) The habit of comparing authorities. Good lawyers constantly ask how existing authorities
bear on new situations, whether different authorities are compatible with one another, and how
changing this or that fact would change the answer to the foregoing questions. You should learn
to do this all the time, as a matter of reflex.

3) The habit of interrogating one’s own positions. Most of the time, people have a better grasp
of the strengths of their own arguments than of the weaknesses of their own arguments. Good
lawyers know that opposing counsel (or the judges before whom they argue) will find the
weaknesses in their arguments, so they strive to know (and if possible correct) those weaknesses
before their adversaries can exploit them. The Socratic method can help people learn the habit of
looking for the weaknesses in their own arguments and working to decide whether those
weaknesses can be overcome.

One good way for you to develop these habits is to learn to conduct both parts of the
Socratic conversation by yourself. When you read or think about legal problems, ask yourself
the kinds of questions that a good Socratic teacher would ask. My job, of course, is to show you
what a bunch of those questions are as applied to the materials we read. Part of your job is to
answer the questions I ask. But a bigger part of your job is to learn to see the questions coming
as soon as you read the material. When you can conduct both parts of the conversation by
yourself, you will have developed an enormously important lawyerly skill. Or, to put the point
another way, a major goal of the Socratic method as I practice it is to make me, the teacher,
unnecessary. For the length of your career, you will do it on your own, or with the other lawyers
who are on your team.

If learning to conduct both sides of the conversation yourself does not come naturally to
you, take practical steps to develop the ability. When you read cases or other source materials,
write down questions that a good Socratic teacher would ask in order to get you to flesh out the
picture, to compare authorities, and to interrogate your own positions. Do it mechanically until
you develop the habits. And find a partner with whom to discuss the questions you both identify
before we discuss them as a class.