It's to enable them to have the right conversation with economists, to know what questions to ask. Hovenkamp, the Ben V. and Dorothy Willie Professor of Law, and Solow have taught the course at least seven times. The practice of law requires a much broader set of skills and knowledge, he adds. It's a policy-driven profession, and the study of sociology, history, and economics is important to law and its practice. To defend a death penalty case, a lawyer must know sociology, psychology, and statistics.
Some interdisciplinary courses delve beyond policy and practices into the human condition.
Readings such as Ibsen's Enemy of the People and Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Illych raise significant societal questions for students and lead to discussions about death and dying, living a meaningful personal and professional life, and the ways that law, medicine, and society interrelate. A lawyer has to interview a client and know what is behind their words. It's the same with literature-a reader must determine what is behind the author's words. The chosen literature also presents a variety of options available to people with dilemmas, which is useful for lawyers and doctors who regularly confront people with problems. As a law professor, Knight taught two interdisciplinary courses through Literature, Science, and the Arts, an undergraduate interdisciplinary program.