SAVANNAH LAW SCHOOL LEGAL RESEARCH, WRITING, & ANALYSIS I

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1 SAVANNAH LAW SCHOOL LEGAL RESEARCH, WRITING, & ANALYSIS I PROFESSOR: OFFICE HOURS: Elizabeth Berenguer Megale Associate Professor of Law & Director of Legal Skills & Professionalism Tuesdays/Fridays 1:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. Wednesdays 3:45 p.m. 5:45 p.m. emegale@savannahlawschool.org I. PRELIMINARIES A. Prerequisites: None. B. Sequential Course: Legal Research, Writing, & Analysis II. C. Required Texts and Technology: 1. Linda H. Edwards, Legal Writing: Process, Analysis, and Organization (5th ed. 2010). (Edwards) 2. Mark K. Osbeck, Impeccable Research: A Concise Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills (2010). (Osbeck) 3. Linda J. Barris, Understanding and Mastering the Bluebook (2007). (Barris) 4. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Columbia Law Review Ass n et al. eds., (19th ed. 2010). (Bluebook) 5. An iclicker or downloadable iclicker app are required for this course. II. COURSE DESCRIPTION Legal Research, Writing, and Advocacy I ( LRWA I ) constitutes the first three of eleven hours required in research and writing instruction. The main focus of the course will be the written expression and structure of legal analysis, and its secondary focus will be legal research; students will also learn proper citation form. LRWA I is not intended to teach basic writing skills that students should have mastered in their undergraduate writing courses, and students are expected to possess the following skills: grammar, punctuation, mechanics, sentence and paragraph structure, unity, coherence, and completeness of expression. The purpose of LRWA I is to teach students how to process and analyze a legal problem and express the solution to the problem through the written word. The method employed to teach these skills in LRWA I is the predictive office memorandum. Students will be presented with sets of facts from which they must develop rational outcomes based on their research of the law. Students will then reduce those outcomes to writing in the form of a memorandum. In addition to the written assignments, each student will also prepare and present an oral report of their research in class.

2 A. WRITING Students will complete two major writing assignments. The first assignment will provide students the opportunity to write a predictive interoffice memorandum involving the following skills: research, rule synthesis, rule-based reasoning, analogical reasoning, and counteranalogical reasoning. The second assignment will be a timed in-class assignment requiring students to analyze an unsettled rule of law within a closed universe while preparing a predictive interoffice memorandum. With regard to the first assignment, students will be offered an opportunity to submit a draft for critique, revise it, and submit a final version for grading. The students will also have opportunities in class to engage in written group work. B. RESEARCH Students will be introduced to the process of legal research during LRWA I. Materials introduced will include (1) primary and secondary sources; (2) printed resources such as reporters, digests, and statutory codes; and (3) electronic resources such as Westlaw and LexisNexis. Students will receive instruction via traditional classroom lecture as well as through the incorporation of labs conducted both in the library and classroom. During the online laboratories, students are required to bring their laptops to class; if the requirement of a laptop presents any hardship for a student, that student must notify the professor in advance of class so that arrangements may be made for the student to participate in the exercises. C. ORAL PRESENTATION During this course, students will be required to present an in-class oral research report. The purpose of this presentation is to introduce students to the practice of public speaking, and in particular the skill of clear, concise, and articulate oral communication of complex material. Students are permitted to prepare visual demonstrative aids to assist in their presentations. D. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the semester students should understand: 1. State and federal court systems 2. The common law process 3. The differences in primary, secondary, mandatory, and persuasive authority 4. Weight of Authority 5. Stare Decisis 6. The concept of jurisdiction 7. The difference in holding and dicta 8. The concept of predictive writing 9. Plagiarism 10. The organizational paradigm TREAC 11. Large-scale and small-scale structure 12. The ethics of legal writing and research 13. Professionalism in communication By the end of the semester, students should be able to perform the following tasks:

3 1. Manual legal research 2. Online legal research 3. Authority updates 4. Brief cases 5. Interpret statutes 6. Develop and formulate rules 7. Apply rules to facts 8. Synthesize a rule from multiple authorities 9. Rule-based reasoning 10. Analogical reasoning 11. Counter-analogical reasoning 12. Identify and outline a conjunctive test 13. Identify a simple declarative rule 14. Identify and outline a disjunctive test 15. Create and work with the legal syllogism 16. Draft issue statements 17. Draft brief answers 18. Draft point headings 19. Draft thesis paragraphs 20. Draft organized fact statements that include legally-relevant facts 21. Properly attribute sources of law using the Bluebook 22. Outline a rule of law and use it to organize a working draft 23. Draft an office memorandum 24. Engage in self and peer editing 25. Engage in a recursive writing process 26. Draft direct and concise sentences using plain English III. COMPLETION OF ASSIGNMENTS/GRADING To successfully complete the course, students are required to timely complete all assignments, including in-class exercises. Failure to complete any assignment may result in failure of the course. Any assignment submitted after the deadline is subject to penalty absent exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances must be documented and may include serious illness or hospitalization of the student or a close family member or the death of a family member. Please note that computer failure, printer failure, and traffic do not constitute extenuating or exceptional circumstances. The penalty for submitting an assignment late may include: verbal admonishment, reduction in the grade up to 10%, rejection of the assignment entirely, or any other sanction the professor determines is appropriate considering the circumstances surrounding the late submission. In this course, students will receive letter grades ranging from A F. Grades are based on the performance of the student on each assignment, as more fully detailed in Section IV below. A. Reading Assignments A schedule detailing the reading assignments follows at the end of this syllabus. Students are required to prepare for each class by reading the noted assignments in the syllabus. Students are also required to bring each assigned text to every class. The texts are required for student participation in exercises to be completed during class time. Additionally, students are required

4 to check their Savannah Law School and TWEN daily for updates. Students are responsible for any information distributed to the class via TWEN or . B. Writing Assignment Rules These are the general rules governing writing assignments, but they may be modified for any particular assignment. 1. Cooperation and Outside Assistance For certain assignments, your professor will permit you to work with other students in your LRWA section. The degree of collaboration that is permitted will vary by assignment, and you must obey the instructions given to you by your professor regarding collaboration for each assignment. If you fail to obey the instructions concerning collaboration, your behavior may result in a violation of the Code of Student Responsibility, the Honor Code, or both. Other than specifically authorized collaboration with certain members of your LRWA section, you are not permitted to obtain help in writing or editing an assignment from ANYONE ELSE (including parents, siblings, and spouses), except for your LRWA or P.A.S.S. professors. Despite their availability to assist you, your professors will not perform the analysis for you, edit, or pre-grade your assignment. Your LRWA professor will respond to specific questions and review limited selected portions of an assignment (such as several paragraphs) to help you develop the skills needed to complete assignments. Your P.A.S.S. professor will use some of the LRWA materials for collaborative assignments in the P.A.S.S. class, but for questions specific to LRWA and the requirements of LRWA, please consult your LRWA professor. 2. General Format Requirements Unless otherwise instructed, all work must be submitted using the TWEN page for this class. In addition, the work must be submitted in Microsoft Word format. Either.doc or.docx is an acceptable format. Assignments are to be completed in 12 point Times New Roman font and double-spaced except for block quotations, headings, and footnotes. The page size must be 8 ½ by 11 with 1 margins on all sides. The student s blind grading number, professor s name, and page number should appear in the upper right-hand corner on each page of the assignment excluding the first page. YOUR NAME SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED ANYWHERE ON THE ASSIGNMENT. 3. Plagiarism and the Savannah Law School Honor Code Plagiarism is defined as the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one s own original work. Random House Unabridged Dictionary 1479 (Stuart Berg Flexner et al. eds., 2d Ed., Random House 1993). The Savannah Law School Plagiarism Policy further explains plagiarism; it is attached to this syllabus as Exhibit A and incorporated by reference. Students are required to properly attribute all ideas to their original sources. Improper or incorrect attribution or failure to attribute altogether constitutes plagiarism and is punishable under the Honor Code. The Savannah Law School Honor Code applies to all aspects of this course. Students are referred to the Student Handbook.

5 IV. GRADING A. Timeliness of Submissions Deadlines are important. A student is expected to turn in each assignment in a timely manner via TWEN. If a student fails to submit a graded assignment on time, that student will be penalized by either verbal admonishment, reduction in grade up to 10%, or rejection of the assignment (or any other sanction appropriate under the circumstances). An assignment will be considered timely when it is submitted via TWEN on or before the date and time indicated in the syllabus below. B. Assignments Points Memoranda: Open Predictive Memorandum 500 Timed Predictive Memorandum 250 Quizzes 50 Written Research Assignments 100 Oral Research Report 100 Total 1000 V. CLASSROOM POLICIES: ATTENDANCE, LATENESS, CANCELLATIONS The Attendance Policy, as described in the Student Handbook, will apply to this course. Students must sign a Roster Sheet in order to be recorded present. Failure to sign the sheet will result in an absence regardless of whether the student is physically present in the class. Pursuant to the Handbook, a student who is counted as absent for more than twenty percent (20%) of the class hours will automatically receive a W as a grade. Day students may not miss more than five classes, and night students may not miss more than 2 classes. A. Tardiness: Students are strongly advised to attend each and every class on a minuteto-minute basis. Regardless of how late a student may be, the student should enter the classroom. B. Unprofessional Conduct: The professor may dismiss any student from the classroom for unprofessional conduct or lack of civility. Unprofessional conduct may also result in the student being marked absent for the class period. Unprofessional conduct includes failure to participate in and complete in-class exercises and assignments. C. Lack of Preparation: The professor may record an absence against any student who is unprepared for class because the student has failed to do the required reading and writing assignments. D. Canceled Classes: Any notification of class cancellation will be ed to the students and posted on TWEN.

6 E. & Electronic Communication: Students are required to use their Savannah Law School addresses and check their SLS on a daily basis. Students are responsible for any information distributed by the professor via . Additionally, students are required to check the class TWEN page on a daily basis to ensure they receive important messages and reminders. Students should access the class TWEN page upon receipt of their Westlaw passwords. VI. PROFESSIONALISM As future attorneys, students are expected to behave civilly and professionally. Thus, all cell phones must be silenced during class. If the class is disturbed by a ringing cell phone, the disruptive student will be excused from class and marked absent. Students are encouraged to use laptops to facilitate their participation in class; however, laptops are permitted only for the limited purpose of facilitating student participation in class. Thus, students may be removed from class for inappropriate laptop use and marked absent. All communications with members of the Savannah Law School community should be professional and appropriate. This includes any conferences, group work, or s. VII. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Students with documented disabilities may contact the Associate Dean s Office to arrange for reasonable accommodations. VIII. DISCLAIMER Students will note that the terms of this syllabus are subject to modification and supplementation. Students will be notified of any such changes or additions. IX. SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS This schedule applies to both day and evening students. The schedule is broken down by week and by class. Evening students should prepare for the entire week as we only meet once a week. Day students should follow the class-by-class schedule. Week 1: : Introduce Course Understand Sources of Law Introduce concept of Weight of Authority Introduce Types of Legal Tests Introduce How to Identify Rule Structure and How to Outline a Rule of Law Introduce How to Formulate a Rule of Law Class 1 Reading: Edwards pp. 1-4; 8-11; 17-22; Osbeck pp Class 2 Reading: Edwards pp Week 2:

7 : Introduce How to Identify the Legal Question Practice Identifying and Outlining Simple Declarative Rule Introduce Basic Citation and Quote Forms Discuss Proper Attribution/Plagiarism Introduce Statutory Citations Introduce TREAC Introduce Legal Syllogism Introduce Inductive/Deductive Reasoning Introduce Rule-Based Reasoning Class 3 Reading: Edwards pp ; Barris pp. 1-20; 24-35; ; Honor Code Problem Materials Class 4 Reading: Edwards pp ; Barris Week 3: Continue Lessons on TREAC Introduce Citations for Constitutions, Regulations, and Procedural and Court Rules Practice Rule Explanation and Application Introduce Statutory Interpretation Practice Organizing the Discussion Section Introduce Bluebook Rules for Capitalization, Numbers, Numerals, Ordinals, and Symbols Class 5 Reading: Edwards pp ; ; Barris Class 6 Reading: Edwards pp ; Barris Discussion Section for Honor Code Problem due Sunday, September 9, 2012 at 10:00 p.m. Week 4: Completing the Draft of the Office Memo Introduce Questions Presented Introduce Brief Answers Introduce Headings Introduce Facts Introduce Conclusions Introduce Research Strategies Introduce Citations for Secondary Sources Class 7 Reading: Edwards pp Class 8 Reading: Osbeck pp. 1-12; 17-37; Barris pp Week 5:

8 Introduce Westlaw Introduce Lexis Individual Student Conferences to Assess Skills Introduce Citations for Case Names Class 9 Reading: Osbeck pp ; 37-53; Barris Class 10 Reading: Osbeck pp ; Lisa Kinzer, The 'Next' Generation: Measuring First-Year Student Response to WestlawNext (posted on TWEN) Week 6: Student Oral and Written Research Reports Introduce Open Memo Assignment Introduce Rule Synthesis Introduce String Citations and Parentheticals Class 11 Reading: Open Memo Problem (posted on TWEN) Class 12 Reading: Edwards pp. 4-8; 39-55; 69-77; Barris Week 7: Continue Lessons on Rule Synthesis Practice Identifying and Outlining Conjunctive Rule of Law Practice Analogical/Counteranalogical Reasoning Class 13 Reading: None Class 14 Reading: Edwards pp Week 8: Organizational Options for Caselaw Practice Drafting and Critiquing Fact Statements Class 15 Reading: Edwards pp Class 16 Reading: Edwards pp Week 9: Practice Drafting and Critiquing Questions Presented Practice Drafting and Critiquing Brief Answers

9 Introduce Techniques for Editing Introduce Techniques for Proofreading Grammar Review Introduce Peer-Editing Class 17 Reading: Edwards pp Class 18 Reading: Edwards Open Memo due Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 10:00 p.m. Week 10: Assess Individual Student Skills Class 19 Class Canceled for Individual Conferences Class 20 Class Canceled for Individual Conferences Week 11: Introduce Unsettled Rules of Law Practice Identifying and Outlining Disjunctive Rules Introduce Process of Reconciling Authorities Review Syllogism Review Synthesis Review Techniques for Rule Explanation Practice Identifying and Outlining Conjunctive & Disjunctive Rules of Law Class 21 Reading: Edwards pp ; 77 Class 22 Reading: None Week 12: Review Techniques for Rule Application Review Rule-Based Reasoning Review Analogical Reasoning Review Counter-Analogical Reasoning Review Bluebook Citation Form Class 23 Reading: None Student Drafts returned by Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at noon

10 Class 24 Reading: None Week 13: Class 25: 3-Hour Timed Closed Memo Class 26: No Class Week 14: No Class Final Draft Open Memo Due Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 10:00 p.m. Total Minutes of Classroom Instruction: 2160