DWS Pretrial Advocacy

Catalog description

Pretrial Advocacy is a 2-L simulation course. Each of the two sections is a law firm. Each firm has an experienced litigator/professor in the role of "senior partner," and the 2L scholars are "junior associates." There are also two 3L scholars in each firm who serve as "senior associates". Actors play the roles of the parties and various witnesses. Working both in small groups and alone, the junior associates: interview clients and witnesses; prepare or answer a complaint; prepare and answer interrogatories; take and defend a deposition with an actual court reporter who takes it in "real time" and provides a transcript; prepare a motion or an objection to a motion for summary judgment which is then argued before a real judge in the judge's courtroom; and prepare a final pretrial statement for submission to the court. Throughout the semester, the "junior associates" also submit time sheets to their "senior partners." "Junior associates" receive constructive feedback from their "senior partners," "senior associates," and each other, as well as from court reporters, judges, attorneys, standardized clients and witnesses. They also observe and critique their taped deposition and oral argument performances. At the end of the course, each scholar prepares a reflective paper in which, using the MacCrate skills and values as a guide, the student identifies those skills and values that were addressed in the course, reflects upon the student's own perceived strengths and weaknesses, and discusses how the student plans to cultivate strengths and improve weaknesses. This course cannot be taken for an S/U grade.