Skills Workshop: Law[yering] & Science

This course introduces students to the relationship between law and science, providing the opportunity to develop the lawyering skills necessary for effective use of science in litigation, legislation, regulatory, and transactional work. Science and the law intersect at many levels. For example, science helps lawyers prove the effects of climate change in order to formulate or comply with environmental regulation. to determine the legal liability of manufacturers of drugs and vaccines, to regulate potentially dangerous instruments like e-cigarettes, and to establish mens rea and degrees of culpability in criminal cases. In short, lawyers, whether civil or criminal, look to science for certainty in the face of difficult legal questions. But science and the law are an uneasy fit. Each approaches the world differently, with different standards, methods, and vocabularies used by scientists and lawyers who are rarely trained beyond their own discipline. This course explores the dilemmas lawyers face in using science and helps students develop the skills needed to make effective use of scientific proof.