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Professor Jim Maule at the Mauled Again blog continues to make me wish that I could have taken a class with him. That might be the highest compliment I can give a law professor blog.

There's been a recent brouhaha in legal education after a law professor banned the use of laptop computers in her classes. It should surprise no one to find that I think this action is preposterous.

However, Professor Maule, in his post called "To Allow Laptops or Not to Allow Laptops: That is the Question," offers a thorough analysis of the issue that most people will find much more convincing that me just saying "Preposterous!"

The money quote:

One goal of legal education is to teach future lawyers that professionals need to be responsible. Teaching law students to be responsible requires more than denying them the opportunity to be irresponsible. It requires guiding them around the tempting distractions. If law faculty become too controlling, how are the students going to fend for themselves after graduation when the faculty isn’t there to control things for them?

The snarky ones out there might say, "Taking away laptops in law school will prepare students to work in those law firms that are busily trying to take laptops away from lawyers and have them only work on desktop computers." Some might think that I would be one of the snarky ones, but that's probably not the case.

Professor Maule, however, is a welcome voice of reason in this discussion. Highly recommended.

Let's discuss.