Getting into law school, graduating from law school and finding profitable work can be a high stakes game or a game of chance. Now Harvard Law brings poker into play.
Charles R. Nesson, a Law School professor, and a group of his students formed an organization called the "Global Poker Strategic Thinking Socieity" dedicated to demonstrating that poker has educational benefits. They argue that the game, which is probability-based and requires risk assessment, situational analysis and a gift for reading people, can be an effective teaching tool, whether for middle school math or in business and law classes.
The society has been working to establish chapters at campuses nationwide. For now the argument is whether poker can produce sharper lawyers and more skilled negotiators than on its potentially harmful effects.
Professor Nesson said he was compelled to form the group last spring, when Harvard administrators said local laws prohibited the law school from running a charity poker tournament to raise money for a pro bono program. He invited several law students to his house for dinner and the society was born. You might say it was a full house.
It leaves me to ask, what every happened to moot court?
Moot Court? I know people still participate, but realistically fewer and fewer lawyers are seeing the inside of a court room. Poker, on the other hand, prepares law students for being lawyers in that calculating the odds, the situational analysis, and reading people all come into play in mediation or settlement conference, which is exactly why we should all play poker! Happy New Year!
Posted by: Joe | January 01, 2008 at 03:31 AM