'A Self-Ordained Professor’s Tongue': Therapeutic Jurisprudence in the Classroom

Abstract

This short paper is the first in the Occasional Papers Series just inaugurated by the International Society for Therapeutic Jurisprudence (ISTJ) (see intltj.com). In it, I report on results of surveys I have done via the TJ LISTSERV, seeking information about what therapeutic jurisprudence courses are being offered (and have been offered in the past). The survey shows (1) that there is a remarkably wide range of such courses, (2) that these courses are being offered not just in law schools, but also in graduate schools and, on some cases, to undergraduates, and (3) that these course are being offered all over the world. The courses include ones in which therapeutic jurisprudence is in the title, where it is the focus of the course, where it is a specific module in the course, and where it is mentioned regularly in the course.

To some extent, this survey should speak to a topic that Professor David Yamada has recently discussed: that TJ “needs to expand and deepen its work in relevant categories of civil law and procedure, as well as in the realm of legal institutions.” I believe that it is also essential that professors - -both in law and elsewhere --- begin to focus more on TJ in the classroom. It also is meant to aid in what Professor David Wexler has characterized as “the struggle of injecting TJ into a law curriculum,” even if it is discussed only in a brief and basic way.

Keywords: therapeutic jurisprudence; legal education; clinical education; mental disability law; law and psychology; problem-solving courts