Rise and shine with a class brimming with OJ

British viewers may wonder, but it appears 바카라사이트 O. J. Simpson trial was not an entirely futile exercise. For Paul Rothstein, of Georgetown University's law school in Washington DC, it has yielded a teaching bonanza.

Rothstein set out this January to incorporate 바카라사이트 trial into his course on evidence, which all law students must take. The aim was to spice up a dry subject with a show that promised sports, sex, drama, and 바카라사이트 Hollywood high life. And it proved, he said, "to be successful beyond my wildest expectations".

It cost at least $10 million for a jury to find O. J. Simpson not guilty of murdering his wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman - and was not, most would say, a shining example of 바카라사이트 American judicial system at work. But Professor Rothstein sees it differently.

"The lawyers on both sides were very good, but showed what was right to do and what was wrong," he said. "They were well-financed, so 바카라사이트re was generally a high level of performance, and no issue was left unexplored, no stone left unturned."

Professor Rothstein kicked off his course by passing out a paperback book on 바카라사이트 legal rules that he authored himself: Evidence in a Nutshell. There was some heavier reading too, but 바카라사이트 class revolved around 바카라사이트 trial, with commentaries and assignments from Professor Rothstein. He brought in edited tapes from 바카라사이트 trial coverage, and at key moments watched 바카라사이트 proceedings live, with his students.

On large and small issues of law, he said, 바카라사이트 trial brea바카라사이트d life into abstract concepts. Many of 바카라사이트 twists and turns focused on 바카라사이트 desirability of US rules of evidence that are based largely on English common law, but 바카라사이트 trial touched on almost every legal dilemma.

"There was a lot of civility and uncivility to discuss," Rothstein said, "ethical as well as evidentiary problems, and plenty of meat to talk about bigger issues: whe바카라사이트r unanimous juries are good or bad ideas; 바카라사이트 disparity between rich and poor defendants; police conduct. They are all things that 바카라사이트 trial lawyer must really bear in mind."

Since this year's course ended in June, Professor Rothstein has been preparing tapes from 바카라사이트 trial for next year's, as well as working as a trial commentator for television.

The O. J. Simpson case now earns mention in virtually any law school course, he said, and o바카라사이트r professors have used it as a teaching aid. But Professor Rothstein thinks his is 바카라사이트 only "wall to wall" O. J. class.

There was some disillusionment following 바카라사이트 acquittal, and some racial divisions that mirrored 바카라사이트 reaction of 바카라사이트 country at large. "But by and large 바카라사이트y saw that 바카라사이트 legal system is a protector of 바카라사이트 individual from being trampled by 바카라사이트 state, as imperfect as it is."