Legal Fiction

I'm teaching two classes this fall. One will be a legal writing class for young lawyers in Baku. Today I've been compiling a "case file" filled with deposition testimony and evidence which the students will receive. They will then be tasked with culling out the relevant facts, writing a "statement of facts," and engaging in objective legal analysis.

My fictional case deals with a young law student who blogs about Azerbaijan political life. She get sued for defamation when she writes about a member of parliament who is suspected of engaging in some unsavory acts. I wrote some deposition testimony today and realized I'm having way more fun with this than is probably appropriate. I'm catching the plaintiff in lies, pulling a Perry Mason here or there, with a little splash of John Grisham just to be safe.

It will be fun to see how the students react to the fact pattern -- what they find particularly relevant or important is often framed by our cultural moorings. But for now I've got to get back to manufacturing some evidence.