Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2022
Abstract
Spring 2019 was my first semester as a tenure-stream law professor. That semester I taught Legal Remedies and Contracts II—two subjects that overlap in their coverage of contract damages. I felt very comfortable teaching contracts, given my nearly twenty years of experience on contractual matters in both the private and public sectors. My first few classes went well, which validated my initial confidence. However, my optimism about the semester evaporated when I attempted to teach the parol evidence rule (“PER”).1 It was a Monday, and before starting my Contracts II class I asked the students, “How was the weekend?” followed by “Did you breach any contracts?” My kind students smiled, I felt, more at my attempt to be funny than at the nerdy joke itself. The previous week I had taught the “battle of the forms” under the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”). It is a challenging topic, but despite the faulty writing of UCC Section 2-207,2 students seemed to enjoy learning the rules that apply to conflicting terms in boilerplate forms. Based on that experience, I came to class motivated and energized to teach the PER.
Publication Title
Journal of Legal Education
Volume
71
Issue
3
First Page
468
Last Page
493
Recommended Citation
Paul Figueroa,
If You Draw It, Students Learn It: An Approach to Teaching Contracts and Other Doctrinal Courses,
71
Journal of Legal Education
468
(2022).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/941
