Classical rhetoric and the western legal tradition were born together in the Greek city-states of the 5th century BCE. Yet little is said about Isocrates, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian (for example) in contemporary law schools, and lawyers know little about the classical rhetorical foundations of their practice. Beginning in 2017, a group of two dozen scholars (mostly teachers of communication and legal theory in law schools) began a distance reading-group to examine the intersections between classical rhetorical theory and contemporary legal theory, practice, and education. This special-format session will present some of the group’s findings in the form of a moot court. The group will “moot” three propositions: For two of the propositions, a member of the group will argue for and another against it, and the audience will judge–offering their own perspectives to boot. (For the third, a member of the group will argue for the proposition and leave the audience to argue against it.)

The session will make visible the enduring connections between classical rhetoric and contemporary law practice and look to the future of legal education in the west. The propositions explore the utility of the classical texts directly in the classroom, theoretical implications of classical rhetorical and logical theory to contemporary legal argumentation, and the possibility that principles of the classical rhetorical tradition can shape legal education and practice.