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Course Information
OFFICE & PHONE
My
office is Room 743. My telephone
number is 312-906-5326 and my
e-mail address is rstaudt@kentlaw.edu.
My computer is always on while
I am in the law school and I
encourage you to send messages
to me by electronic mail.
SOME NEW TECHNIQUES FOR LEARNING THE LAW
I
plan to take advantage of
the technological support
that the law school
has available to help us
study the problems of access
to justice and technology.
Everyone should have 24 hour
access to LEXIS and to the
Internet so that
we can read the newest material
available. If you need more
training in
the use of the computer databases,
let me know. In addition,
I consider
e-mail to be an extension
of class. I will establish
a web site for our
class with this document
and other pertinent information.
The class web
site URL will be http://www.kentlaw.edu/faculty/rstaudt/classes/accesstojustSpring2007/index.htm
SEMINAR REQUIREMENTS, GRADING AND CLASS ATTENDANCE
In order to satisfy the Chicago-Kent seminar requirement for graduation, you must have completed at least 54 hours of credit, and Advanced Research, prior to beginning the seminar. You may take a seminar before you have earned 54 hours, but it will not satisfy the senior seminar graduation requirement.
Your grade for this seminar will be based on the following performances:
80% — the paper, including the topic
proposal, outline, first draft and final rewritten paper. The paper is
the centerpiece of the seminar and needs to be at least 25 pages long
and annotated according to blue book citation form.
10% — the web exercise together with the oral and
written report delivered in class and
the site visit together with the oral and written report delivered in
class.
10% — paper presentation to the class, together with PowerPoint as appropriate.
To encourage your active involvement during the semester, one-half of a grade differential may be based on general class preparation and participation. In other words, I will grade the papers and other course performances and assign a grade. If you are a conscientious, insightful and effective member of the class, your grade may be raised to one-half letter grade higher. If you are frequently unprepared and fail to participate, I will consider that performance in lowering marginal examination grades by one-half of a grade.
I consider electronic mail to be an opportunity to extend the class beyond its usual form and time limits. E-mail to me (which I will forward to all class members, unless you specifically ask me to keep a message private) are counted as part of your class participation in the course.
All students should plan to attend all the class meetings. The group is small and your participation is essential for a successful seminar. At a minimum you must attend at least 80% of the classes in this seminar. There are 14 classes. You must be present for at least 11 of these classes.
Any student who does not attend the minimum number of classes has not met a requirement for getting credit for the seminar. Keep your own count. This is not an "excuse" system; a student's reason for non attendance is not of interest.
SEMINAR STRUCTURE AND PRELIMINARY ASSIGNMENTS
The assignments page is a dynamic statement
of the class topics, assignments and required student performances. The
assignments will change as the semester progresses. Check this page before
you start your reading for each class.
In addition to class attendance and readings, there are seven performances that are required to complete this seminar:
- Web
Exercise (with
the site
visit-10%): during
the first class
on Thursday, January
25
we will discuss
the various assignments
for the semester
and review
the details for
the Web Exercise
that will be due
on TBA. You
can link to the team
and topic assignments
for
the web exercise here.
- Paper topics are due TBA.
- Site
Visits (with the web
exercise-10%): in
addition
to the Web Exercise,
each student must
make at least one site
visit
to observe a legal
services office, the
Self Help Web Center
or court
calls that are frequently
attended by pro se
litigants. You can
do this
site visit at any
time after January
25. A short written
report on the
visit is due February
22.
We
will discuss these
reports during the
class
on March 1.
- Paper
outlines will
be due on March 8.
The
outline
must describe all
the major topic areas
and subparts of each
area and
must include a preliminary
bibliography.
- First
draft of
the seminar paper
will be due on March
29.
- Student
presentations (10%) of
paper topics will
be delivered on April
19, 26th and May 3.
- Rewrites,
(final) papers are due
on May 3rd.
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Professor
Ronald W. Staudt