Contract Drafting

Catalog description

This course will provide hands-on training in the art of drafting, reviewing and marking up contracts - the heart of many transactional law practices. The goal is to make students more practice-ready by teaching skills that will enable them to draft contractual language to effectuate their clients' needs, and to anticipate and avoid potential legal disputes. Students will learn the basic principles of contract drafting by working through drafting exercises - in class, on their own, and in teams. Taught in small sections, the course will meet once a week for 2 hours, and will be co-taught to maximize opportunities for individual written feedback on student work. Classroom time will focus both on reviewing weekly drafting assignments and on developing drafting strategies. The course will use Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do, (2nd ed.) by Tina Stark. There is no final exam, though some sections may assign a final exercise. Class attendance is required. To account for interviews or other emergencies, no sanction will be imposed for the following: 1. absence from one class and partial absence (lateness or early departure that exceeds 10 minutes in length) from a second class; or 2. partial absence from three separate classes. The sanctions will be as follows: 1. For two absences, or four partial absences, or one absence and two partial absences, reduction in grade (e.g. from B+ to B). 2. For absences or partial absences beyond those listed in (1), failure in the course. 3. Lateness or early departure shall not constitute a partial absence if the lateness or early departure does not exceed 10 minutes in length, but persistent lateness may be considered in assessing a final grade.