Osborn, Vitiello Resume the Chase
September 18, 2007John Osborn, the author of The Paper Chase, will speak at 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, September 18 in the California Reading Room with Professor Michael Vitiello. The two law professors will discuss and debate “Professor Kingsfield and the Socratic Method: The Past, the Present and the Future.” Osborn is a member of the law faculty at the University of San Francisco. His 1970 novel spawned a movie and a short-lived TV series about the trials and tribulations of law school. Its most famous character, Professor Kingsfield, played by the late John Houseman, was an intimidating, god-like character. Professor Vitiello wrote a 2005 article, “Professor Kingsfield: The Most Misunderstood Character in Literature,” that appeared in the Hofstra Law Review and rekindled the debate over the Socratic method in 21 st century law school. The program is the 2007 Gordon D. Schaber Lecture, co-sponsored by the Witkin Legal Institute and the Sacramento County Bar Association and seating is limited. General admittance, which includes lunch, is $25 and the student fee is $10.
“The study of law is something new and unfamiliar to most of you -- unlike any other schooling you’ve ever known before. You teach yourselves the law, but I train your minds. You come in here with a skull full of mush, and, if you survive, you leave thinking like a lawyer.”
Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman)
