Lawyering Skills and Strategies Syllabus
Spring 2016 ~ Professor Piller
This spring you will continue to develop the essential lawyering skills you learned
last semester: Identifying and analyzing legal issues; conducting legal research; and writing
real-world legal documents.
Specifically, this semester you will develop these skills through practical application
in a litigation setting. We will prepare a motion for summary judgment and an appellate
brief. Some writing and revising we will do in class. I will assign limited outside reading so
that you can complete other writing and revising outside of class. I will be mindful of your
time.
The ultimate purpose of this class is to teach you how to use the doctrinal law you
are learning in a real-world setting. Ideallly, your efforts in this class will enable you to
become a better law student and prepare you for work outside the Law Center, either in a
clinic setting, a judicial internship, or a clerkship. I will calculate your grade as follows:
Texas Citation Exam
Motion for Summary Judgment
Appellate Brief
Class Participation
15%
20% (including associated rewrite)
60%
5%
I will grade the course anonymously, and the Law Center mandates that the course
be graded on a 2.8 to 3.2 curve. You must turn in all assignments on time. If you are ill or
otherwise unable to turn in a graded assignment on time, please notify me via e-mail prior
to the time the assignment is due to seek an accommodation. If your assignment is late, and
you have not received a prior extension from me, I reserve the right to reduce your grade
on the assignment by one grade level for the first hour (or part of an hour) the assignment
is late. After the first hour, I will impose one additional grade reduction for each hour the
assignment is late.
I will continue to maintain our course website on The West Education Network
(TWEN). Please be sure you have provided an email address that you check
frequently, because I will send all class related e-mails to the e-mail address you
register with TWEN.
I will not assign any additional textbooks for the class this spring. I will distribute
handouts on occasion. As before, the UHLC Honor Code and attendance policy apply to this
class.
Attached is a proposed course schedule. I may, of course, modify it as the semester
progresses, to achieve course objectives and to accommodate the schedules of guest
speakers (attorneys who practice in various settings).
Proposed LSS Course Schedule ~ Spring 2016 ~ Professor Piller
Class
1
Jan 19
2
Jan 21
3
Jan 26
4
Jan 28
5
Feb 2
6
Feb 4
7
Feb 9
8
Feb 11
9
Feb 16
10
Feb 18
11
Feb 23
12
Feb 25
13
Mar 1
14
Mar 3
15
Mar 15
16
Mar 17
17
Mar 22
18
Mar 24
19
Mar 29
20
Mar 31
21
Apr 5
22
Apr 7
Lecture Material and Reading
Introduction to Advocacy/Citation Review
Assignments Due
Signals and Parentheticals
Texas Citation
Legislative History
Oral and Written Legal Persuasion
Texas Citation ICW
Citation Exam
Citation Exam (15%)
Pretrial Motion and Argument
Introduction
Pretrial Motion and Argument
Argument
Pretrial Motion and Argument
Counter Argument and Rebuttal
Pretrial Motion and Argument
Other Persuasion Strategies
Affidavits and other Summary Judgment Evidence
Drafting a Persuasive Statement of Facts
Self-Guided Edit and Revision of Motion for Summary
Judgment
Standard of Review
SPRING BREAK
Motion
for
Summary
Judgment
Motion
for
Summary
Judgment Rewrite (20%)
SPRING BREAK
Introduction to Appellate Practice
Relationship Between Trial and Appeal
Issue Presented; Statement of Case; Conclusion
Translating Trial Argument to Appellate Argument
Writing the Argument
Translating Trial Argument to Appellate Argument
Arguing the Appeal
No Class
Student Conferences
No Class
Student Conferences
Monday
Apr 11
23
Apr 12
24
Apr 14
25
Apr 19
26
Apr 21
27
Apr 26
28
Apr 28
Appellate Brief
Assignment Due (60%)
Settling a Claim Through Mediation
Texas Citation Review
Judicial Opinion Writing
Scholarly Writing
Settlement Agreements/Rule 11 Agreements
Review