601:522. ADVANCED LEGAL RESEARCH (2 or 3) Various Topics
Intensive courses are 1 credit
Butler
Prerequisites: None beyond 1L requirements
This course is intended to develop a mastery of legal research beyond the level of the standard first year curriculum. The course will cover several major areas of legal research, including, but not limited to, cases, statutes, legislation, regulation, and special subject areas such as tax.
Students will be graded on a series of short papers, in the form of briefs or memoranda, that will answer a substantive legal question drawn from the topic areas covered. The papers will be evaluated based on both the quality of the writing and the quality of the research used to answer the questions.
The main intent of the course is to develop effective search strategies, useful in any research area. Students will be required to apply lessons learned in one topic area in each subsequent area. The writing assignments will reinforce these lessons by requiring the student to apply these strategies in the context of a practical legal question.
The frequency of writing assignments serves several goals: it will stress the importance of efficiency in both research and writing style; allow the improvement of both research and writing by providing frequent opportunities for improvement; and will provide the student with the kind of writing and research experience that will approximate that of a practicing attorney.
Feedback on research strategies will be in the form of class discussion as well as individual comments on assignments. Writing will be given individual feedback in the form of comments and with the instructor.
Intensive courses are 1 credit
Butler
Prerequisites: None beyond 1L requirements
This course is intended to develop a mastery of legal research beyond the level of the standard first year curriculum. The course will cover several major areas of legal research, including, but not limited to, cases, statutes, legislation, regulation, and special subject areas such as tax.
Students will be graded on a series of short papers, in the form of briefs or memoranda, that will answer a substantive legal question drawn from the topic areas covered. The papers will be evaluated based on both the quality of the writing and the quality of the research used to answer the questions.
The main intent of the course is to develop effective search strategies, useful in any research area. Students will be required to apply lessons learned in one topic area in each subsequent area. The writing assignments will reinforce these lessons by requiring the student to apply these strategies in the context of a practical legal question.
The frequency of writing assignments serves several goals: it will stress the importance of efficiency in both research and writing style; allow the improvement of both research and writing by providing frequent opportunities for improvement; and will provide the student with the kind of writing and research experience that will approximate that of a practicing attorney.
Feedback on research strategies will be in the form of class discussion as well as individual comments on assignments. Writing will be given individual feedback in the form of comments and with the instructor.