Lisa A. Mazzie – Page 51 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Learning to Learn the Law: Becoming Legal Readers

Post author:Lisa A. Mazzie
Post published:August 31, 2011
Post category:Legal Education Public

Ah, the start of another academic year. Each fall brings a new group of incoming law students, eager to embark on the adventure called law school. But what is it we actually do here in law school?

Professors Tracey E. George and Suzanna Sherry from Vanderbilt Law School have said that law school has three purposes: 1) to teach basic legal doctrine; 2) to help students learn how to use that doctrine; and 3) to teach students how to teach themselves the law.

The Constitutional Equality of Women

Post author:Lisa A. Mazzie
Post published:August 18, 2011
Post category:Constitutional Interpretation Feminism International Law & Diplomacy Public

For young women coming of age today, their equality with men seems assured. As youngsters they’ve played on co-ed sports teams; they’ve often been more successful than boys in school; they’ve pursued careers in previously male-dominated fields like math and science, medicine and law. For them, women have always been able to vote, abortion has always been legal, and women have reached high places in politics. Many probably have mothers (and fathers) who came of age during and after the second wave of feminism, believing they would raise their daughters to believe in their capacity to be equal citizens.

It might surprise some women, then, to learn that women’s equality is not guaranteed, at least not constitutionally.

Ponderings of a Law Professor: Moving from Law School to Law Practice

Post author:Lisa A. Mazzie
Post published:July 13, 2011
Post category:Public

(Editor’s note: Professor Mazzie’s June post for the Ms. JD blog remains relevant, as last year’s law graduates make their transitions from school to work, and current students contemplate their future paths.)

[T]housands of law students have graduated from their respective law schools [in May and June]. They will spend this summer studying for bar exams and possibly looking for work. Most are probably ecstatic that law school is behind them and “real” legal work is ahead. Perhaps, though, in August when their classmates begin to gear up for classes these graduates will have a moment of feeling left out – a sense of emptiness because for years their lives have run on an academic calendar that will no longer apply to them.