Week Two, Part 6 - Contracts: Promises Gone Bad

On Thursday, Professor Cathy Kaveny adjusts the scarf around her neck, then begins Contracts by saying, “You need to figure out a way to have a life during your first year. Because you know what? It's not going to get any easier when you're in a law firm!”

We must look tired. I know I am. So far this week we’ve had to read and brief 21 appellate cases. Friday will add another three or four. That’s a lot of heavy lifting.

Kaveny continues. “You can't just keep saying, ‘I'll defer life until I make partner.’ A law firm will expect you to behave as if you've got nothing but eternity to devote to them.”

We turn our attention to the cases. In Contracts, it seems that once I wade through the legalese, I can understand the general concepts.

To my surprise, the case law is colorful and often amusing. As we work through the section on damages, the common theme is promises gone bad.

• A woman sues her plastic surgeon because he failed on his promise to make her beautiful.
• An aunt promises her eight-year-old nephew $3,000 but never gives him the money.
• An auctioneer promises a “New Model Ford Free” but then refuses to hand it over.
• An uncle promises to pay his nephew $5,000 to refrain from smoking, drinking, and gambling until he turns twenty-one.

“Once you’re in a practice, you’ll need to be able to brief a case in five minutes,” Kaveny says.

Wow. That’s like telling a driver’s ed student he’ll someday be racing at the Indy 500.

Kaveny of course takes quite a bit longer than five minutes to unpack each decision. There’s plenty of nuance in a simple doctrine such as “pure gift promises are not legally enforceable.”

What’s most unusual about Contracts, though, is Kaveny’s approach to the Socratic method. Instead of singling out students at random, a la Bauer-Rice-Dutile, she asks for volunteers. “It’s painful for me to call on you,” Kaveny says. “It stops me from being affirming.”

I’m glad for a break. Maybe in the resulting calm I’ll “figure out a way to have a life.”

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