Law Vibe

From Shelley’s Case:

A week ago, the professor asked us to write an analysis re: an inpatient hospital reimbursement appeal. S/he divided our class into two teams, one focused on procedural issue, the other focused on substantive issue.

Both teams looked at the relevant CFR the professor had provided and applied legal analysis to the facts. We each came up with an analysis and presented them to the professor over the weekend.

Today the professor chastised us. S/he was disappointed that we were thinking like law students, not attorneys. S/he advised us to stop thinking like law students and start analyzing like an attorney.

The words stung and puzzled us. Most of the students were 3L’s. We worked during summer under the supervision of attorneys. We thought we were thinking and analyzing like attorneys. What did the professor mean when s/he said we were thinking like law students?

Could it be that for this assignment, we were not digging deeper? That we were not creative in grasping little clues? Could it be that the summer experience was a superficial experience where we were told to do specific tasks but not trained to look deeper into a case?

What does it take to think like an attorney? I thought I had the answer but now I wonder if I really did.