The Practice of Persuasion

Catalog description

The conventions of legal writing and reasoning taught in law school derive from a long tradition of argument and persuasion. The form we give our statements determines not just whether but whom they will persuade. This interdisciplinary seminar locates legal conventions in their broader intellectual history, starting with Aristotle and tracing (some of) the ruptures and continuities that have shaped our particular practices. Over the course of the quarter, we will develop a tool kit for identifying the available means of persuasion, crafting sentences and paragraphs that suit the ideas they contain, voicing those ideas with an eye to audience and purpose as well as authority; noticing the way the language we choose implies a social world in which the argument unfolds. The goal is to become both more effective and more conscious in our deployment of those conventions -- as readers, speakers and writers. Elements used in grading: Class participation, attendance, revision and writing assignments. Automatic grading penalty waived for writers. Special Instructions: This course can satisfy the Research "R" requirement. The instructor and the student must agree whether the student will receive "R" credit. For "R" credit, the paper is substantial and is based on independent research. After the term begins, students accepted into the course can transfer from section (01) into section (02), which meets the R requirement, with consent of the instructor.