This recovering law fag (JD 1988) studied under one of the original CRITs, Jamie Boyle, whose approach to CLS was refreshingly honest. He taught us the biographies of the leading Supreme Court justices of the 1800s and that most high court judges were from the landed, property class and that their socio-economic backgrounds would often telegraph their eventual rulings on cases.
For example, as Westward expansion and Railroads were considered to be important policy issues, the Railroad owners could not be allowed to be bogged down with any type of personal injuries claims nor could they be held liable for the hundreds of thousands of acres, lives, livestock, farms and homes lost to wildfires cause by the tinderbox sparks from engine boilers and brakes. The two coasts would never have been connected if it were any different.
Boyle then taught us 25 legal arguments in the abstract which could be easily "flipped" by a judge to "back into" any desired legal decision in a case. Boyle schooled us in using these arguments both ways during law school classes and exams. In short, he taught us that law and the courts were a racket to protect the status quo in any society.
That was close to 35 years ago and I found it to be the most important part of my kegal education.
Law, with all its latin legal jargon, black robes and pomp and circumstance, is just another Rich Man's Trick. As is Medicine.