SYLLABUS      

 

 Fall 2007         LEGAL RESEARCH AND WRITING     Prof. D. A. Hughes 

 

"Vita regulae applicatio."

 

A.  Required Texts  

 

 B. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (2d ed. 2006)

 R. Neumann, Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing (5th ed. 2005)   
 R. Berring & E. Edinger, Finding the Law (12d ed. 2005)

 The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005) = [BB]     

 West's Black's Law Dictionary (3d pocket ed. 2006) =  [BLD]             

 

B.  Course Description  

 

        The legal research and writing class will span two semesters but have only one final grade.  The two primary goals of the course are to teach you how to do legal research and how to write certain legal documents.   Of course, developing these two skills requires that you become proficient at legal analysis and that your work be as free as possible from solecisms of usage, syntax, and grammar.  

 

C.  Course Requirements

1. Attendance & Attention 

 

         Regular class attendance is required, and more than three unexcused absences per semester may, at the instructor's discretion, be sufficient reason to lower a student's grade.  I expect that you will pay close attention in class and be quiet.  It is not permissible for students to answer cell-phones or pagers during class, absent a medical emergency.  Nor is it permissible for students to carry on side conversations in class.  Please understand that I often require that students turn off their lap-tops to participate actively in class.  Please also note that I expressly reserve the right to eject students from my classroom for improper conduct.  Students who are asked to leave will be considered absent without an excuse for the purposes of the attendance policy.
 

2. Preparation 

 

         First, I expect each student to purchase his or her own copy of each required text listed above. Second, I expect that you will complete all assigned readings prior to class.  The assigned readings are the starting points for our class discussions, and it will not be possible for you to understand what is going on in class if you have not read the material beforehand.  As a general rule of thumb you should expect to spend 3 hours of preparation for each hour that we will spend together in class.  Students should always be prepared to discuss the first of each set of problems from the Neumann book in class.  From time to time I require some of the problems in the Neumann book to be written out and handed in.
 

3. Assignments

 

        You will be expected to complete satisfactorily periodic graded and ungraded assignments to receive credit for this course.  Students who fail assignments may be required to do them over again.   A one-hour examination on legal research will be administered during class on November 8th.  All graded assignments are due in class on the date specified, unless otherwise indicated.  Graded assignments that are turned in after the deadline will be docked 5 points for every hour they are late to a maximum of 50 points per day.  A paper that is 5 minutes late incurs the first hour's penalty, and so forth.  Extensions for medical and other emergencies will be granted only if timely made for compelling reasons.   Library exercises, however, are not graded but are normally due in class.  

 

4.  Grade Determination

 

        Grades will be calculated according to the following formula, except when any of the previously stated reasons for changing or withholding a student's grade is present:
 

 

5.  Accommodations for Disabilities 

 

        Any student who requires accommodation for a disability should advise me privately upon receipt of this syllabus. (Please note, however, that it is your responsibility to speak with the Associate Dean to request formally any accommodation for or exception to any academic procedure based on physical or mental handicap.)

 

6.  Appointments

 

        My office is room 456 in the library along the north wall; my office telephone number is
614-236-6476; my email address is dhughes@law.capital.edu; and my web page may be found at http://users.law.capital.edu/dhughes. I expect that each student will make an appointment to speak with me after each graded assignment is first returned to discuss that assignment.  (I normally do not conference with students about "rewrites," since we have already discussed the paper once before.)  Sign-up sheets for appointments are posted outside my office.  Because of the anonymous grading system, students must cover their identification numbers when they come for a conference. 

 

 

7.  Reading Schedule