The John Marshall Law School
Lawyering Skills I
Professor David E. Sorkin
Fall 1998
Syllabus
Schedule of class meetings and assignments:
Week 1 -- Wednesday, August 26
Topics: Introduction; analyzing cases. First memorandum assignment distributed. Read chapters 1, 2, and 4 and Appendices C and D in Writing and Analysis in the Law.
Week 2 -- Wednesday, September 2
Topics: The writing process; legal memorandum format; large- and small-scale organization; legal writing style. Read chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 in Writing and Analysis in the Law.
Week 3 -- Wednesday, September 9
Research assignment #1 due.
Topics: Sentence structure; plagiarism; citation form. Read materials on plagiarism and citation form (handed out in class), along with chapter 10 in Writing and Analysis in the Law and chapter 1 in The Process of Legal Research. Also, read pages 3-11 in The Bluebook; skim through the entire Bluebook, and bring it to class.
Week 4 -- Wednesday, September 16
First memorandum due.
Topics: Citation form (continued); grammar and mechanics in legal writing. Read Appendix A in Writing and Analysis in the Law.
Week 5 -- Wednesday, September 23
Research assignment #2 due.
Topics: Introduction to legal research; using secondary legal materials (encyclopedias, periodicals, treatises, etc.). Second memorandum assignment distributed. Read chapters 2 and 4 in The Process of Legal Research, and chapter 12 in Writing and Analysis in the Law. Optional reading: chapter 3 in The Process of Legal Research.
Week 6 -- Wednesday, September 30
Research assignment #3 due.
Topics: Rewriting and revising; legal writing style. First memorandum returned with critique. Read chapter 9 in Writing and Analysis in the Law.
Week 7 -- Wednesday, October 7
Tutorial conferences scheduled; no regular class meeting or office hours will be held this week.
Week 8 -- Wednesday, October 14
Research assignment #4 and rewrite of first memorandum due.
Topics: Common-law research; case reporters, digests and Shepard's citators. Read chapters 5 and 6 in The Process of Legal Research.
Week 9 -- Wednesday, October 21
Research assignment #5 due.
Topic: Research strategies; constitutions and statutes. Read chapter 3 in Writing and Analysis in the Law; chapter 7 in The Process of Legal Research; and materials on statutory construction (to be handed out in class).
Week 10 -- Wednesday, October 28
Research assignment #6 due.
Rewrite of first memorandum returned with critique. Tutorial conferences scheduled.
Week 11 -- Wednesday, November 4
Second memorandum due.
Topic: Analysis of complex legal problems. Third memorandum assignment distributed. Read chapter 11 in Writing and Analysis in the Law.
Week 12 -- Wednesday, November 11
Topic: Research strategies. Read chapter 12 in The Process of Legal Research.
Week 13 -- Wednesday, November 18
Final class meeting. Second memorandum returned with critique. Discuss third memorandum assignment. Introduction to Lawyering Skills II.
Week 14 -- Wednesday, November 25
Tutorial conferences scheduled; no regular class meeting or office hours will be held this week.
Third memorandum due Monday, November 30, 6:00 pm. Submit at Records Office (room 301).
Recommended texts:
In order to pass this course, you must complete four graded writing assignments and a series of research assignments. Failure to complete any of these assignments will result in a grade of "F" for the course. Late submission of assignments will also affect your grade; the late policy will be distributed separately.
Your final grade for the course will be a weighted average of the grades that you receive on the four writing assignments:
First memorandum . . . . . . 10%
Rewrite of first memo . . . . 20%
Second memorandum . . . . 30%
Third memorandum . . . . . . 40%
It is possible that some or all students' final grades will be adjusted upwards if the overall distribution of grades for the class ends up below the law school's curve. This is the first semester that the school's curve will apply to Lawyering Skills courses. Although I normally try to grade based on an absolute scale rather than a curve, I will consider the school's curve when assigning grades to individual assignments in order to avoid the need to make any downward adjustments at the end of the semester; however, it is possible that downward adjustments may be necessary.
1998/08/15