School: Meet the Professors (Part 2)

This is Professor Davis, who teaches my Contracts class. He graduated from Loyola for his J.D. and the University of Michigan for his LL.M. He reminds me most of Gandalf from the Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings" films - not so much in terms of looks, but for his tendency to yell comically in the classroom to great effect.



Professor Davis uses the most traditional version of the Socratic method. Each day, we usually cover two cases and he calls someone to lead the class through each case. He uses a bingo ball roller to select his next victim.

I find Contracts to be my hardest class, since many things can be modified or nullified in the interests of fairness ("as justice allows" would be the Restatement way of saying it). It also has covered the most material - we've gone through about 800 pages of our casebook and dozens and dozens of contract principles.

Professor Davis is well-liked and popular, and he certainly knows his stuff. He has a wry humor (he uses the "average reasonable stick person" when talking of the objective standard). A recent charity auction for a dinner with him went to $200.