SyllabusforSEM:AdvancedTorts
ProfessorMeredithJ.Duncan
Fall2016
mduncan@uh.edu
www.law.uh.edu/faculty/mduncan
I.
CourseDescription:
Thisseminarprovidesanopportunityforexplorationoftortactionswhere
lawyersarelitigants.
II.
RequiredMaterials:
A.
AlexB.LongandMeredithJ.Duncan,ADVANCEDTORTS:ACONTEXTAND
PRACTICECASEBOOK(CarolinaAcademicPress2014)
B.
EugeneVolokh,ACADEMICLEGALWRITING:LAWREVIEWARTICLES,STUDENT
NOTES,SEMINARPAPERS,ANDGETTINGONLAWREVIEW(2005);
C.
THEBLUEBOOK:AUNIFORMSYSTEMOFCITATION(mostrecentedition).
III.
SuggestedMaterials:
MANUALONUSAGE&STYLEbytheTexasLawReview.
IV.
InstructorInformation:
Myofficeislocatedat230BLB.Myofficephonenumberis713-743-2019,
andIcanmosteasilybereachedviaemailatmduncan@uh.edu.
V.
Documentsavailablefrommywebpage:
A.
ScheduleofClassMeetings,ReadingAssignments,andDeadlines
B.
Weeklyassignedmaterialsforclassdiscussion
C.
StatementonPlagiarism
VI.
Attendance:
TheLawCenter’sattendancepolicyrequiresthatstudentsattendatleast
eightypercentoftheclasssessionsthatmeet.Becauseweareasmallgroup,we
benefitwheneveryoneispresent.Pleasemakeeveryefforttoattendeverysession.
Studentswhofailtocomplywiththispolicywillbedroppedfromtheseminar.
VII. ClassMeetingsandSpecifics:
ClassDiscussions–Aseminarprovidesauniqueopportunitytostudyanddiscuss
challengingandthought-provokingmaterial.Thisseminar’ssuccessislargely
dependentuponyourpreparationandparticipation.Allmembersoftheseminar
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arerequiredtoreadandbepreparedtodiscusstheassignedmaterialsand
participatefullyintheclassdiscussion.
Co-Teaching–Duringthefirstpartofthesemester,twoorthreestudentswilllead
theclassdiscussionduringeachclassmeeting.Everystudentisrequiredtocoteachoneortwoclassmeetingsthissemester,dependingonclassenrollment
numbers.Yourco-teachingeffortsaswellasclassparticipationthroughoutthe
semesterwillcomprise10%ofyourfinalgrade.
ComputerPolicy–Theuseofcomputersorotherelectronicsduringclasstimeis
prohibited.
VIII. AssignmentInformation:
Deadlines–Inordertoprovideyouwithhelpfulfeedbackregardingthescopeof
yourresearchandshapingofyourtopic,Imustadheretoafairlyrigidschedule.
Therefore,Iaskthatyoubeparticularlycarefultoturnassignmentsinontime.The
scheduleofthevariousdeadlinesforthisseminarisattached.Failuretosubmit
assignmentsontimewillbetakenintoaccountindeterminingyourgradeforthat
particularassignment.
AssignmentsToBeSubmittedtoMeviaemailinWordformat–Allassignments
aretobesubmittedtomeviaemailinWordformat.YouaretohaveWord’strack
changesfunctionenabledasyouwriteyourpaper.Itismyintentiontoprovide
feedbacktoyoubyusingWord’sTrackChangesFunction.Submittingyour
assignmentstomeinWordwillfacilitatemyeffortstoprovideyouwithusefuland
efficientfeedback.
PickingaTopicForYourPaper–Youmaywriteaboutanysubjectrelatingthelaw
oftorts,subjecttomyapproval.Istronglyencourageyouinitiallytopicktwotopics
thatinterestyouatthebeginningofthesemester.Youwillonlywriteapaperon
onetopic,butinmyexperience,itisusefulforstudentstostartoutwithtwotopics
inmindintheeventthatthefirsttopicdoesnotworkoutforwhateverreason.Iam
happytohelpyoudevelopatopicifyouarehavingdifficulty.Wewillalsodiscussas
aclasseachclassmember’spapertopictowardthebeginningofthesemester.
ThesisStatementandBibliography–Earlyinthesemester,youarerequiredto
turninathesisstatementandbibliographyofyourtopic.Doingsowillhelpyou
preparethecontextofyourpaperandorganizeyourresearchandwriting.The
morethoughtyoucangivetothisassignment,themorelikelyitisthatyour
researchandwritingwillproceedsmoothly.
Yourthesisandbibliographywillcomprise10%ofyourfinalgrade.Your
thesisstatementissimplyastatementofwhatyouthinkyouwillconcludeandwhy.
Youshouldaimtoconfineyourthesistothreesentences.
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Yourbibliographyshouldbeasimplelistofcasesandalistoflawreview
articles.Asitwillbemorehelpfultoyouinthelongrunifyouincorporateyour
researchintoanoutline,yourbibliographyshouldbeorganizedinoutlineform.
IntroductionandOutline–Earlyinthesemester,youarerequiredtoturnadraft
oftheintroductionandanoutlineofyourpaper.Theintroductionshouldbeatleast
twoparagraphslongandmustprovidearoadmaptoyourpaperbasedonthe
outlineofyourpaper.Thisassignmentwillcomprise10%ofyourfinalgrade.
FirstDraft–TheLawCenterrequiresallseminarstudentstosubmitatleastone
draftoftheseminarpaper.Failuretoprepareadraftpaperwillresultinafailing
grade.Thefirstdraftofyourpapermustbeatleastten(10)pageslongandbeat
leastpartiallyfootnoted.Thefirstdraftofyourpaperwillcomprise10%ofyour
finalgrade.
PechaKuchaPresentationofYourTopic–Duringthelatterpartofthesemester,
youarerequiredtomakeanoralpresentationofyourtopictotheclassinPecha
Kuchaformat.Adraftofyourseminarpapermustbedistributedtoyourclass
membersandmebyemailorothermethodnolaterthanthecloseofbusinesson
theFridayprecedingthescheduledoralpresentationofyourpaper.Failureto
circulatethepaperinatimelyfashionwillresultinaloweringofthiscomponentof
yourgrade.
CritiquesofDrafts–Allstudentsnotpresentingonaparticularweekwillbe
requiredtoprepareawrittencritiqueofthedistributeddraftsofpapersthattheir
colleagueswillbepresentingorallytotheclass.Allcritiquesmustbeatleastone
pageinlength(double-spaced)andmustbepresentedtothespeakerduringthe
classinwhichthetopicispresented.Youmustbringtwohardcopiesofthecritique
toclass:onecopywillbepresentedtothepersonpresentinghisorhertopicand
anothercopywillbeturnedintomeatthattime.Yourcritiquesofyourcolleagues’
draftswillcomprise10%ofyourfinalgrade.
FinalPapers–ThiscourseisaWRSclass(a“WritingSeminar”).PursuanttoLaw
Centerguidelines,studentsinthisWritingSeminarmustcompleteapaperthatis
originalanddemonstratesthestudent’sresearchandwritingskills.Thefinal
versionofthepapermustbeatleast10,000words,includingfootnotes.Allpapers
mustbethoroughlyresearched,blue-booked,andspell-checked.Iexpectyouto
writewell,andIwilldeductpointsforerrorsinsyntax,spelling,andgrammar.
Thepapermustbeanoriginalwork,groundedinthoroughlegalresearch.
Thepapermaynotpreviouslyhavebeensubmittedtoanyotherinstructorin
connectionwithanyothercourseattheLawCenterorelsewhere,andtheresearch
maynothavebeendoneinwholeorinsubstantialpartinconnectionwitha
student’soutsideemploymentorworkonalawjournal.
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Finalpapersmustbee/mailedtomeinWordformatnolaterthan5:00p.m.
onMay10,2013.Latepaperswillnotbeaccepted,andfailuretoturninafinal
paperwillresultinafailinggradefortheseminar.
IX.
Professionalism:
Yourparticipationinthisseminarrequiresthatyoumakeaprofessional
effort.Makingaprofessionaleffortrequiresthatyousubmitallassignmentsina
timelyfashionandthatyoumakeagoodfaitheffortthroughouttheseminar.For
instance,notshowingupforanappointmentwithmeorsubmittingadraftthathas
notbeenspell-checkedisnotconsideredprofessionalbehavior.Ifyouunexpectedly
encounterdifficultyincompletinganassignmentinatimelyfashion,aprofessional
effortalsorequiresthatyoucommunicateyourdifficultytomeassoonaspossible.
X.
FinalGrade:
Yourfinalgradefortheseminarwillbecalculatedasfollows:
A.
ThesisandBibliography–10%
B.
Introduction–10%
C.
FirstDraft–10%
D.
ClassParticipation(co-teachingandclassdiscussions)–10%
E.
PechaKuchaPresentationofYourTopic–10%
F.
Critiques–10%
G.
FinalPaper–40%
Failuretoturninyourfinalpaperbeforethedeadlinewillresultinafailing
gradeforthecourse.
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