Michael P. Maslanka, the managing partner of Ford & Harrison in Dallas, has this article on Law.com about why lawyers should read Shakespeare. The article begins:The article goes on to discuss Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure.Why do students still read Shakespeare? A conspiracy of finger-wagging, we-know-what's-best-for-you high school English teachers? No. It's his empathetic powers, making people see ourselves as we are -- rationalizations not permitted.
Shakespeare has much to teach lawyers. Eschewing Judge Judy, his questions are penetrating: How should judges go about judging? Does the rule of law matter? Are mercy and justice mutually exclusive, or are they complementary?
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1 comment:
The article you refer to (which does not allow comments) does have one flaw: it twice mentions Venice as the play's setting - but according to Shakespeare the play is set in Vienna (Austria). Possibly the author mixed it up with the Merchant of Venice, another Shakespeare play where a (fake) judge is of importance (remember: "Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest"). Being a judge myself, living in Vienna, and
quoting Shakespeare extensively in a blog on electronic communications law, I thought I should set the record straight
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