A Continental Lawyer in an American Law School: Trials and Tribulations of Adjustment

MIRJAN DAMAIANous ne nous sommes pas faits, comme des notes de musique les uns pour les autres parce que diffirents?Andr4 MauroisWhen you pause to consider the problem indicated by the title, your first reaction may be that it is too general to be meaningful.Is there any justification for using the broad label "Continental lawyer"?Can we lump together European lawyers from various countries, east and west?Is the topic not inextricably bound up with the great controversies raging over the existence, distinguishing characteristics, and interrelationships of various families of law?Is there any consensus on common features of legal education here or abroad?In sum, are there not so many qualifications on anything one may choose to say on this subject that the total view is lost?Even with all these difficulties in mind, the more I reflect on the problem and exchange experiences with people who have gone through the same process of adjustment, the more I become persuaded that a number of significant points can be made on the general theme suggested in the title.Notwithstanding the great differences existing among them-and in spite of orientation programs-most lawyers trained in Continental law schools face rather similar difficulties in approaching the study of law in an American educational institution.I shall impose arbitrary limitations on my discussion.As I proceed it will become increasingly obvious that there exists a close and probably reversible relationship between the nature of a legal system and patterns of legal education.However, not all difficulties in adjustment result from problems of acclimation to an alien legal system.