Put the American Hat On

The Importance for Foreign Students to Adopt the American Perspective

While preparing for the bar exam, I realized I needed to put the American hat on to succeed. Although the Italian and U.S. systems are based on similar values and principles, some differences are tricky, and my only way to win was by memorizing them, after understanding their rationale. On more than one occasion, my Italian legal background as well as my layperson’s common knowledge could have led me astray. For instance, in Italy, a witness can testify about anything he has directly perceived or experienced. Hence, a witness can testify about someone else’s statements, regardless of their nature, if he has heard them personally. There is no hearsay. The Italian indirect testimony (i.e., a witness reporting someone else’s first-hand knowledge) is also quite different than hearsay; it is admissible if the witness provides the declarant’s identity (Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 195, paragraphs 3 and 7). Based on these differences, answering hearsay questions by using the Italian mindset would have resulted in sure failure. The same is true for adverse possession. In Italy, usucapione doesn’t need to be adverse to generate the same result. In Italy, the trespasser acquires ownership even if the owner knows about his possession. The owner just needs to show indifference (not based on friendship or tolerance for good neighborhood policy) towards the property and the trespasser’s actions to lose his right. So, for the U.S. bar exam, I had to remember the importance of the hostile nature of possession to be able to properly tackle questions about this topic. Attempted murder, present and future estates, the rule against perpetuities, and several other concepts needed particular attention because they differ from what I was used to. The bottom line is: I could rely on neither everyday knowledge nor specific knowledge of the Italian system to answer questions. I had to remove the Italian hat and put the American one on.

The American hat included the language as well. During the bar exam, time is tight for native speakers, let alone for foreigners. There is no time for translation; this is why memorizing in English was so useful. Thanks to that, legal terms, definitions, and rules came to mind much faster, and I was able to win the race against time. Yet, this was not an easy process. While I was studying, my mind was automatically translating concepts into Italian. How did I realize that? I could explain a rule in Italian, but I couldn’t remember the proper terminology in English. I knew it was a common step in the learning process, but it was frustrating, nonetheless. At the beginning, forcing myself to stay on the same topic up to the point I could define it without hesitation in English was tough. The temptation to move on to the next one was strong. Unfortunately, understanding and recognizing principles and rules was not enough: I was too slow and insecure when answering practice questions. Speed and confidence only came when I could manage all topics with a closed book and exclusively in English.

On a lighter note, while preparing for the bar, Firefox, an old movie produced, directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood kept coming to my mind. In the 1982 film, Major Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood) is tasked to steal a MiG-31 “Firefox” from the Soviet Union. When I watched the movie, I was around 10 years old, and what captivated my attention wasn’t much the rivalry between the two superpower nations, in the middle of the cold war, but the fact that the American pilot had to think in Russian to operate a sophisticated, cutting-edge thought-controlled weapon system. I was mesmerized … so much so that, still today, that’s what I remember most about the movie.

Here, the memorable scene,

“You must think … in Russian”,

which has stuck in my mind.

Well, in the end, I was on a mission too, passing the bar exam, and couldn’t “transpose” either. “You have to think … in ENGLISH”, I kept repeating to myself. As in the movie … it worked!