THE FIRST YEAR
Legal Writing I
Legal Writing II
During the first year, every
student takes both Legal Writing I and Legal Writing II, for a total
of five credit hours - more hours than are allocated to any other course.
In the first semester, students develop the basic skills needed to analyze
and explain the law objectively. The semester begins with an intensive
series of lectures on the sources of law - including constitutions,
statutes, cases, and regulations, and the significance of each in the
American system of justice. Second, students examine individual cases
to strengthen their ability to analyze decisions and understand both
the precedent established by an individual case, and the reasoning behind
it. Third, students focus on synthesizing the results of several cases
in order to understand larger principles and use a body of precedent
to predict how the law will apply in an individual case. These same
analytical skills become the foundation of the student's training both
in legal writing, and in other courses throughout the curriculum.
The remaining portion of
the first semester is devoted to research and writing. Effective legal
research is both thorough and efficient. At Chicago-Kent, students
learn to use all the tools of legal research, including both standard
print texts and computer assisted legal research. In addition, students
are encouraged to think of legal research not merely as the use of
particular sources, but as a process that requires strategy and planning.
Substantial time is devoted to exploring which type of research tasks
are most efficient when done in print sources, and which tasks can
best be accomplished using computerized sources. Large-group research
lectures are conducted by the school's exemplary and well-credentialed
library research staff, and are followed up with small-group sessions
led by the legal writing professors to focus on specific research
strategies.
The writing component of
the first semester teaches students to explain their analysis of legal
problems in an objective and well organized memorandum which defines
the legal issues raised by a client's problems, explains which legal
rules will govern the problem, and finally, discusses how those rules
will apply to the facts of the client's case. During the first semester,
students write three legal memoranda. Following a written evaluation
of the first draft and an individual conference, students will re-write
each of the first two memos to reflect the critique of the professor.
During the second semester
of the first year, students learn advocacy through persuasive legal
writing and oral argument. Students write a trial brief and an appellate
brief; following a written evaluation of the appellate brief, students
re-write the brief. In the same semester, students also participate
in the Charles-Evans Hughes Moot Court Competition, in which students
make an oral argument based upon their appellate brief.
A variety of teaching methods
are used in the first-year legal writing classes, including lecture
(which is particularly important during the first several weeks of
class, when students must digest a huge amount of information), discussion
of exercises or samples of student work, collaborative learning exercises
to master and practice legal writing skills, and computer presentations
(either of prepared topics or in whole-class drafting or rewriting
exercises). Although occasionally useful, traditional socratic dialogue
as practiced in doctrinal law courses is generally not appropriate
for legal writing classes. Individual student conferences and an invaluable
part of the legal writing program, and are often the most effective
way of answering student's questions and reinforcing topics covered
in class (students are expected to come to individual conferences
prepared with specific questions or work samples for the professor
to discuss). The ubiquitous use of e-mail at the school further enhances
students' access to professors for these purposes.
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