LS: Pre-Law: Course Syllabus

POS/PLA 381

Legal Writing and Reasoning

 

 

SUMMER TERM - MTTF @ 8:00 – 9:20 L-220
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR POLAND – KENAN 309
OFFICE HOURS: MTTF 7:30-8:00 A.M. (OR BY APPT.)

To be or not to be is not the issue. To write and to speak with clarity, style, and precision, that’s the issue. - Rick Poland. For example, see the following:

Q. Mrs. Jones, is your appearance pursuant to a deposition notice I sent your attorney?
A. No, this is how I always dress when I go to work. (Miner, Roger 34 N.Y. Law Rev. 6)

Instructor:
Judge Richard Poland, Associate Professor of Law, K-309; polandrc@flagler.edu.

Texts:
The Elements of Legal Style, 2nd Edition, Bryan A Garner; Oxford, 2002.
Making The Case, (An Argument Reader) Laurence Behrens; Prentice-Hall, 2001.
For additional resources see www.flagler.edu/prelaw/academics/index.html

Course Objectives:
The objective of this course is to afford the pre-law student an opportunity to improve his or her writing, persuasion, and research skills. Students are expected to master many of the fundamentals of legal writing. The rudiments of legal research on Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, and the internet are also explored.

Course Requirements:
Each student will be required to read the text, present and defend several papers, maintain a portfolio of writing samples, participate in class discussions, and pass the final exam. Presentations not made and papers not handed in on the assigned day will receive a zero.
Use 12-point font, have one inch margins, and double-space all papers. All the papers will require analysis.

Course Outline:
I. Research Tools at Proctor Library
II. The Elements of Legal Style
III. Writing About Law and Society
IV. Arguing Effectively in Writing
V. Writing About Legal Issues

Grading:
One-third of the student’s grade will result from writing exercises and presentations, one-third will result from the portfolio, and one-third will result from the final examination.

The grading scale is as follows:
A = 90 and above B = 80-89 C = 70-79 D = 60-69 F = Below 60

Learning Outcomes:
Students will learn how to 1) write and argue in a lawyerly manner and 2) do rudimentary research on Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, and the Internet.

Attendance:
Attendance is expected and necessary to optimize the classroom experience. More than three unexcused absences will result in a lowered grade. More than four absences will result in a “WP” or a “WF,” whichever is appropriate.

Cheating:
Cheating of any sort is not tolerated. If your desire is to flunk this course, then you should cheat just one time. See the Catalog for details.

Methods of Instruction:
The Socratic method will be employed by the instructor. Class discussions and presentations are an integral part of this course. Lecturing will be minimal, but on point.

Statement of Disabilities:
Special services and reasonable accommodations are available to those students who qualify and who are registered with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities. Your specific needs should be made known to me the first week of class. I will do my best to reasonably accommodate you.

Telephone:
My home phone is 827-1256. My office phone is 829-6481 ext. 338 or contact me by e-mail. Cell phones are very annoying. Please turn them off during class meetings.

Collaboration Policy:
It is expected that all writing assignments will be your own work. Collaboration with anyone except me is prohibited. Your legal analysis must be your own thought product.

Tentative Course Schedule:

Week 1- Introduction; Discussion of Syllabus; Review of Research Techniques. Read and Review: The Elements of Legal Style.
Behrens Text (Hereafter called Text) Chapter 1. Write four of the following
Portfolio Questions: Q-2 p.12, Q-2 p.22, Q-2 p.26, Q-2 p.32, Q-2 p.41, & Q-3
p. 56.

Week 2- Text Chapter 2. Portfolio Questions: Q-2 p.72, Q-2 p.81, Writing Exercises
1-8 pp.82-87 (Choose One), Q-2 or Q-3 pp. 94-96.

Week 3- Text Chapter 3 – Emotional Distress. Presentation/Portfolio Cases: Every
student will be assigned one case from each of the following case groups.
Review and Discuss Model Paper: Pay Up or We’ll Kill Your Dog, p.124.
Group One: The Spelling Bee, The Cat in the Casket, or Shunned by J.W.’s.
Group Two: The Abusive Motorman or A Dept. Store Billing Nightmare.
Group Three: Sexual Harassment, Covert Videotaping, or A Case of Stalking.
Group Four: Witnesses to Disaster (Choose one of the four Accident Cases).

Week 4- Text Chapter 4 – Homicide. Presentation/Portfolio Cases (1 from each group).
Review and Discuss Model Paper: Domestic Tragedy, p. 174.
Group One: Killing in a San Francisco Bar, Teenagers and Russian Poker,
Chicago Gang Shooting, and A Mercy Killing.
Group Two: Death on Highway 6, Drunk Driving, Teenage Jealousy, and
The Epileptic Driver.
Group Three: The Deluded Driver, Sexual Escapades and Murder, Two Men
And A Woman, and The Desperate Law Student.
Group Four: I Didn’t Think I Would Do It, Susan and Dwayne, The Abusive
Doctor, It Was Time To Get Out, and Hit Him Again, Kill Him.
Group Five: A Prison Breakout, Killing in a Gas Station, Murder by Heart
Attack, and Burglary and Death.

Week 5- Text Chapter 5 – Sexual Harassment. Presentation/Portfolio Cases (select one).
Review and Discuss Model Paper: Abusive Words, Offensive Pictures, p. 307.
Group Three: A Case of Male Sexual Harassment, The Abusive Cardiologist,
The Love Letters, and The Aftermath of Love.
Group Four: The Casting Couch, Harassment at a Brokerage House, Female
Manager Harasses Male Worker, Retaliatory Discharge, and
A Case of Soured Grapes.

Week 6- Text Chapter 6 – Freedom of Speech. Presentation/Portfolio Cases (select one).
Review and Discuss Model Paper: The Censored H.S. Newspaper, p. 377.
Group One: He Soaked it, Ignited it, and the Flag Burned and A Symbol of
White Supremacy on the Georgia Flag.
Group Two: The Obscene Election Speech and The Profanity Queen.
Group Three: Illegal Arm Bands, Do it to the Rhythm T-Shirts, and
Hair and the War.

Week 7- Text Chapter 7 – Search and Seizure. Presentation/Portfolio Cases (select one).
Review and Discuss Model Paper: Search The Locker, p. 461.
Group Two: Shoot To Kill, Death in the Dredge Pond, An Inflammable
Situation, You’ll Have to Kill Me, and Detained & Abandoned.
Group Three: You Lied to Me, Truancy, Athletics and Drug Testing, Illegal
Strip Search, Cocaine in the Flashlight, and Of Guns and Metal
Detectors.

Final Exam (See Registrar’s Schedule).

Now, go forth and be part of the solution to the following legal writing problem that the noted American Philosopher Will Rogers described as follows: “The minute you read something that you can’t understand, you can almost be sure it was drawn up by a lawyer.”

 

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