Legal Writing

Catalog description

After examining the sources of law and the structure of the federal and state court systems, students will be introduced to case and statutory analysis and to an understanding of the role of the paralegal in performing substantive legal analysis and writing tasks. They will learn how to analyze and synthesize written opinions. Students will use the results of their research from the Legal Research course in connection with at least three (3) significant writing projects, including memoranda of law. High-level communication skills will be developed to effectively communicate in writing to different potential readers, including clients, attorneys in an office, trial court judges, and appellate panel judges. Analysis and preparation of high-level legal content as well as formatting, citation rules, and other items needed for writing in this field will be developed. Students will organize an appellate brief, which requires specific, rule-based formatting and structural content. This content includes items such as tables of cases and other authorities, a table of contents, statement of the case, argument, and conclusion.