601:513. PERSUASION IN LEGAL WRITING (3) WI
Gotthelf, Nissen, Mallgrave, R.A. Robbins, Wallinger
Prerequisites: LAWR 1 and 2 or equivalent
Exclusions: Students who have participated in Hunter Moot Court are ineligible to take Persuasion in Legal Writing. This exclusion does not preclude a student from taking Hunter Moot Court after completing Persuasion, although those students receive only 1 credit in the fall semester of Hunter Moot Court rather than 3 credits).
Because lawyers, as advocates, must be able to understand and employ techniques of persuasion, this course examines the art of persuasion in depth using interdisciplinary approaches. Among the topics studied are
1. Classical rhetoric (the interconnections of ethos/logos/pathos);
2. Cognitive and discursive psychology theories of persuasive communication;
3. The importance of priming and enhancing supporting material, and the corollary of priming and refuting adverse material;
4. The role of “stock structures” and visual imagery in persuasion;
5. Metaphor theory and the role of literary allusions in law;
6. Narrative techniques and organization;
7. The attorney's own credibility, demonstrated through intelligence, good will and character;
8. Visual design.
The readings come from texts and articles. Examples of possible assignments include: analyzing persuasion techniques used in particular judicial opinions, and/or analyzing and rewriting aspects of previous legal writing. The final project typically involves a substantial rewrite, with heavy explanatory and analytical annotations, of a previously written piece of persuasive legal writing.
Gotthelf, Nissen, Mallgrave, R.A. Robbins, Wallinger
Prerequisites: LAWR 1 and 2 or equivalent
Exclusions: Students who have participated in Hunter Moot Court are ineligible to take Persuasion in Legal Writing. This exclusion does not preclude a student from taking Hunter Moot Court after completing Persuasion, although those students receive only 1 credit in the fall semester of Hunter Moot Court rather than 3 credits).
Because lawyers, as advocates, must be able to understand and employ techniques of persuasion, this course examines the art of persuasion in depth using interdisciplinary approaches. Among the topics studied are
1. Classical rhetoric (the interconnections of ethos/logos/pathos);
2. Cognitive and discursive psychology theories of persuasive communication;
3. The importance of priming and enhancing supporting material, and the corollary of priming and refuting adverse material;
4. The role of “stock structures” and visual imagery in persuasion;
5. Metaphor theory and the role of literary allusions in law;
6. Narrative techniques and organization;
7. The attorney's own credibility, demonstrated through intelligence, good will and character;
8. Visual design.
The readings come from texts and articles. Examples of possible assignments include: analyzing persuasion techniques used in particular judicial opinions, and/or analyzing and rewriting aspects of previous legal writing. The final project typically involves a substantial rewrite, with heavy explanatory and analytical annotations, of a previously written piece of persuasive legal writing.