Course Catalog

Legal Practice: Fundamentals of Legal Writing and Analysis is the first component of a yearlong set of courses taken by all first-year students, in which students begin to develop the skills that are necessary to practicing law. This course, comprising the first half of the first semester, introduces students to the fundamental analytical and writing skills that they’ll continue developing over the rest of the Legal Practice course sequence. The timing and range of specific skills covered in LP Writing & Analysis differs from professor to professor, but students will be expected to prepare at least one extensive written assignment, learning to present objective written analysis of a legal problem to a client or a fellow attorney, and to persuade their reader that their analysis is complete and accurate. In doing so, students come to appreciate how a commitment to scrupulously thorough writing promotes analytic rigor. Via intensive critiques from their professors, students learn how constantly revising their work product makes their analysis more precise.

• Type: First Year Required

This course is restricted to foreign students in the advanced degree program. Its purpose is to acquaint students from civil law countries with American legal analysis, research, and writing.

• Type: Upper Class

In this practice/simulation course, students will begin to develop the legal skills needed to represent clients in business transactions. Among other things, the seminar covers translating the client’s business objectives into legal concepts, and then incorporating those concepts into the actual language of an agreement in clear, consistent, and concise manner. Students will learn how to analyze a contract from the client’s perspective, with an eye to advancing the client’s interests and protecting the client as much as possible from risk. The practice/simulation course also identifies how attorneys can use drafting techniques to solve problems that arise while a deal is being done. Students will engage in simulations and exercises in class, and undertake drafting assignments outside of class.

• Type: Practice Simulation

The ability to give and receive quality feedback plays a major role in every lawyer’s career trajectory. Yet few of us are ever taught how to develop this important skill.
“Feedback Loops” is designed to help change that. We’ll learn better ways to deliver feedback, better ways to receive feedback, and better ways to solicit feedback. We’ll also get to practice a crucial and often overlooked kind of feedback: self-feedback.

• Type: Practice Simulation

Winter 2021, Fall 2021 & Winter 2022:
Good with Words: Self-Advocacy and Institutional Change
Black Lives Matter, Me Too, the push for marriage equality, and the creation of the Special Olympics. These and other social movements often involve a powerful mix of self-advocacy and institutional change. This course will give you the chance to study and practice that mix. You’ll experiment with a number of techniques. Some will involve writing. Some will involve speaking. All will be designed to help you better champion a cause you care about.
Fall 2020:
Good with Words: Storytelling
Lawyers are storytellers. We tell stories in court. We tell stories in briefs. We tell stories in interviews and meetings and boardroom pitches. This course will give you a chance to improve the way you tell your own stories, in a wide range of situations. Some will involve speaking. Some will involve writing. Some will involve a bit of both.
There are no prerequisites for taking the course, and students from programs other than law are certainly welcome to enroll (space permitting).

• Type: Practice Simulation

In this practice/simulation course, students will begin to develop the legal skills needed to represent clients in business transactions. Among other things, the seminar covers translating the client’s business objectives into legal concepts, and then incorporating those concepts into the actual language of an agreement in clear, consistent, and concise manner. Students will learn how to analyze a contract from the client’s perspective, with an eye to advancing the client’s interests and protecting the client as much as possible from risk. The practice/simulation course also identifies how attorneys can use drafting techniques to solve problems that arise while a deal is being done. Students will engage in simulations and exercises in class, and undertake drafting assignments outside of class.

• Type: Practice Simulation