Legal Research and Writing – 6002

This year-long course (2 credits Fall; 2 credits Spring) covers the process of communicating about the law. Our goal is to teach students the building blocks of legal communication through multiple practice exercises so that students can repeat the process on their own after successful completion of the course. In the fall, we begin at orientation with a short written exercise, then move on to email, letter, and office memorandum exercises written in an objective/predictive mode. We focus primarily on common law. In the spring, we proceed gradually to a persuasive trial court brief and delivery of formal oral arguments. We focus primarily on statutory law. The course also introduces legal research through training modules and tutorial instruction by the law library faculty and representatives from legal research databases. The course also includes individual conferences with instructors, peer review, a mock oral report, and exams.