This course provides advanced legal writing training in the various situations in which the practicing lawyer typically appears and in the ways in which different types of legal writing contribute to resolving client problems. Using the format of a small class and one-on-one sessions with the instructor, this course explores how practicing lawyers use writing for the different types of tasks they perform. The course challenges students to distinguish between the types of drafting lawyers use for transactions, litigation, laws, and client communications, and helps them decide how to use these four types of legal drafting in specific situations. Each lesson will examine a factual situation that requires some sort of legal writing. After each class, there is a short writing assignment in which the student is asked to address the problem in a document using the appropriate type of legal writing. Between classes, students meet with the teacher to review their comments and changes in the same way a junior lawyer might expect to meet with a supervisor at a law firm. The First-Year Legal Research and Writing (LRW) program is a series of sequenced and interconnected exercises that introduce students to the ways lawyers conduct legal research, analyze and shape legal positions, and present their work in writing and orally. Note: This rate is assessed on the basis of credit or failure. This series of lectures and discussions leads to internationally educated LL.M. Students are immersed in the fundamentals of the U.S. legal system and the fundamentals of legal research, writing, and analysis. Explore how U.S. lawyers analyze and formulate legal positions, course topics include: a comparative look at the U.S.
common law system and foreign civil law systems, the hierarchy of judicial authorities, how to read a common law case, analogization and differentiation of cases, avoiding plagiarism in U.S. legal texts, and an introduction to the basics of American legal philosophy. It will meet during the LL.M. orientation at the end of August. In addition, the course assumes that all “0L” documents posted online before the first week of August have been completed. When updates to the AY2022-2023 course catalogue are made, they will be published here. The course includes weekly meetings led by Climenko Fellows, library staff, and upper-class teaching assistants. Students actively develop research and writing skills by preparing several drafts of memos and other materials and by becoming familiar with access to printed and electronic research materials.
Note: Registration is for expatriate LL.M. students and is specially designed for those who wish to qualify for the New York State Bar Examination. This course offers additional credits in addition to the LWRA I course taken during orientation. This course teaches expatriate LL.M. students how American lawyers conduct legal research, analyze and shape legal positions, and present their work in writing. It builds on the lectures and work of the LRWA I series, which takes place during the August orientation. During the fall semester, students deepen their research, writing, and analytical skills by conducting independent legal research, preparing drafts of legal briefs, and reviewing their written work in response to faculty feedback. The First-Year Legal Writing and Research (LRW) program is a set of exercises that introduce students to how lawyers analyze and shape legal positions in litigation, conduct legal research, and present their work in writing and orally. Students actively develop research and writing skills by preparing initial and final drafts of memos and dissertations and becoming familiar with access to print and electronic research materials. In the spring, each freshman must participate in LRW`s first-year Ames Moot Advocacy Program and explain and argue a contentious appeal case in teams of two. The course meets once a week for two hours or as part of individual lectures. It has two academic credits per semester and is rated Honors/Pass/Low Pass/Fail.
First-year law students in the program are taught by fourteen Climenko Fellows — promising lawyers with high academic results and a keen interest in a career in law — as well as research librarians and upper-class teaching assistants. Note: This course is rated Credit/Fail. Attendance at all meetings is mandatory. Registration is for LL.M. internationally educated students. Prerequisites: Open to Young Girls students in grades 2 and 3. A course permit is required for LLM students.
