【Research Center for the Legal System of Intellectual Property】

Activities

Things at Law School in America

RC Kazuhiro Ando

Since this August, I have studied at a law school specialized in Intellectual Property, named Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire, the U.S. This law school is located on the outskirts of Concord, a small town with a population of 40,000. It is the best place for studying (that is, there is no amusement at all). Especially in winter, it is said that the town sinks down into the deep snow, which makes people lose their vigor to go out. In short, the town is the best home for bookworm and a prison for a pleasure-seeker.

When I came here, I was surprised at the big difference of the teaching system between Japan and the U.S. A three-credit course has two 90-minute lectures per week and a two-credit course has a 180-minute lecture per week. Important subjects like requirements, Patent Law, Copyright Law, or Trademark Law are three-credit courses with two lectures per week. All students are struggling to finish their assignments because the next lecture comes very quickly and there is no enough time for preparing.

A so-called Socratic method is introduced into the Contract Law class. Every student called on by the professor has to have a tough time just like the hero in a movie, "The Paper Chase." The student must keep answering in a cold sweat until the professor stops his so many "Why?" At first, this class was a miserable pain for me, but recently I am enjoying it because I like the dialogues. In addition, Professor Dickinson has a sense of humor and a pleasant personality. The 90-minute class passes like a flash to me.

Professors at law schools give their students a lot of assignments. I believe anyone who studied at law schools must have had the same experience. They assign 20 to 30 pages to read on the average and sometimes 50 pages. The students must read the assigned part until they understand it. Obviously, foreign students must spend much time for reading these precedents. No wonder many students are studying in the library until midnight. Preparing for the professor's call, I am making a summary of a precedent. Making one summary takes me about thirty minutes to finish. It is hard, but I have been doing so desperately for two months because it is also good to improve my writing skill.

Accordingly, this fall, at the age of 42, I have never been studying so hard before in my life.