Lawyering Skills and Strategies
Fall 2016 ~ Professor Brem
Course Objectives. This fall you will develop essential lawyering skills: Identifying and
analyzing legal issues; conducting legal research; and writing real world legal documents. In
contrast to other 1L classes, in LSS you will not learn law in the abstract. Rather, you will learn
how to use the substantive law you are learning in your other classes in practice. This results in
several immediate benefits to you:
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you will learn skills that make you a better law student;
you will prepare writing samples necessary for judicial internship and law
firm summer clerkship applications; and
you will learn and hone the research, writing, and oral communications skills
employers demand.
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.
Grade Calculation. The ultimate purpose of this class is to teach you how to use the
doctrinal law you are learning in a real-world setting. Aspirationally, 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:
Class Participation
Interim Writing Assignment 2
Final Exam
Final Memorandum
10%
15%
25%
50%
Class participation will be based on your timely and meaningful completion of various
ungraded interim research and writing assignments, as well as completion of all citation, Core
Grammar for Lawyers, and in-class writing assignments.
I will grade this 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.
Class Web Course. I will maintain our course website on The West Education Network
(TWEN). You may access TWEN by going to http://lawschool.westlaw.com/twen/. You will
need your Westlaw password to access the website, which you will receive on the first class day.
After you register your Westlaw password, sign on to TWEN and add the webpage for this
course to your list of courses. The course webpage is named “Lawyering Skills & Strategies.”
You will be held responsible for all material and messages posted by me on TWEN.
Please register an email address that you check frequently, because I will send all class related emails to whatever e-mail address you register with TWEN.
Textbooks. The following textbooks are mandatory for this course:
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Christine Coughlin, A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis (2nd ed. 2013)
Amy E. Sloan, Researching the Law: Finding What You Need When You Need It (2014)
Tracy L. McGaugh & Christine Hurt, Interactive Citation Workbook for the Bluebook: A Uniform
System of Citation (15th ed. 2015)
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th ed. 2015)
The Greenbook: Texas Rules of Form (13th ed. 2015)
Honor Code. The UHLC Honor Code applies to this class. It is set forth in its entirety in the
Student Handbook. You are responsible for knowing the provisions of the UHLC Honor Code,
and for full compliance with all of the UHLC Honor Code provisions. Failure to do so will result
in referral to the UHLC Honor Court, and may result in you failing this class. If you have
questions about whether a certain activity constitutes a breach of the UHLC Honor Code, please
ask me.
Attendance Policy. Finally, UHLC attendance policy dictates that you may miss no more
than five schedule classes. The Law Center considers mandatory outside-of-class activities as
scheduled classes. I reserve the right to count you as absent if you 1) are not in the classroom or
other specified location at the time class is scheduled to begin, 2) are unprepared for class, or 3)
fail to put forth a good faith effort on an in-class assignment.
Proposed Course Outline. Attached is a proposed course schedule. I may, of course, modify
it as the semester progresses, to achieve course objectives. The Supplemental Reading Packet
referenced in the proposed course schedule will be available in the LSS office suite two weeks
before classes begin.
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LAWYERING SKILLS AND STRATEGIES PROPOSED COURSE OUTLINE
Fall 2016 ~ Professor Brem
CLASS PERIOD
CLASS TOPIC
CLASS READINGS
ASSIGNMENTS DUE
New Lawyer Boot Camp:
Class 1A
August 25
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Deconstructing Judicial Opinions
Analysis – A Lawyer’s Stock in Trade
Review of the U.S. Legal System and
Understanding Legal Authority
Read Packet Tab 1; Coughlin pp. 3-31;
33-35; 43-56.
Read Sloan pp. 9-17 as necessary to
complete Weight of Authority
Exercises
Class 1B
August 28
New Lawyer Boot Camp
• More on the U.S. Legal System and
Class 2A
September 1
Law School 101
• Reading and Understanding Cases
• Exam Prep and Exam Writing Skills
Class 2B
September 4
New Lawyer Boot Camp
• Identifying Legal Issues
Packet Tab 5
Issue Spotting Exercise
(Packet Tab 6)
Class 3A
September 8
Legal Analysis:
• Deriving and Understanding Rules of
Coughlin pp.57-66; 89-96
Rule Synthesis Exercise
Class 3B
September 11
Legal Analysis:
• Statutory Law
Coughlin pp. 35-43; 173-178; 181-197
Statutory Interpretation Ex.
(Packet Tab 7)
Class 4A
September 15
Legal Analysis:
• Case Law
Coughlin pp.67-79; 129-149; 178-179
Analogical Reasoning Ex.
Class 4B
September 18
Written Legal Analysis :
Review Coughlin pp. 10-13. Read
Coughlin pp. 81-88; 97-100; 167-172
Plan to be about halfway
finished with CGL exercises
Class 5A
September 22
Written Legal Analysis:
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Self Edit CR[e] Exercise
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The AC of CR[e]AC
Coughlin pp. 101-120; 151-165; 179180
CR[e] Exercise
Class 5B
September 25
Introduction to Legal Citation and Legal
Research
Bluebook pp. 1-2; ICW Ch. 16
Sloan pp. 3-7; 21-33; 49-58
ICW Exercise 16
Class 6A
September 29
Self Edit Writing Exercise I
Understanding Legal Authority
Weight of Authority Exercises
(Packet Tabs 2 and 3)
Case Brief Exercise
(Packet Tab 4)
Law
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The CR[e] of CR[e]AC
WRITING EXERCISE I
Sloan pp. 61-74; 97-105
ICW Ch. 6, 7, 8, 11
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WRITING EXERCISE I
REWRITE
Class 6B
October 2
Legal Research and Legal Citation:
Class 7A
October 6
Legal Research and Legal Citation
• Secondary Sources, Statutes, and Cases
Sloan pp. 75-86
ICW Ch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
ICW Online Exercises 6-8, 11
Class 7B
October 9
Legal Research and Legal Citation
Sloan pp. 35-49; 87-96
ICW Ch. 15
ICW Online Exercises 1-5
Class 8A
October 13
Legal Research and Legal Citation
Secondary Sources, Statutes and Cases
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Electronic Research Services
ELECTRONIC RESEARCH EX.
Electronic Research Services
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Class 8B
October 16
Writing Professional Emails
Class 9A
October 20
Writing Professional Emails
Class 9B
October 23
Bluebook Death Match
Class 10A
October 27
Coughlin pp. 295-304
ICW Exercise 15
WRITING EXERCISE II
ICW Ch. 9
ICW Exercise 9
LSS Midterm Exam
Class 10B
October 30
The Predictive Memorandum:
• Question Presented, and Brief Answer
Review Packet Tab 8
Coughlin pp. 3-9; 217-232
Class 11A
November 3
The Predictive Memorandum:
• Statement of Facts
Coughlin pp. 233-241
Class 11B
November 6
The Predictive Memorandum:
Large Scale Organization and Conclusion
Class 12A
November 10
Editing and Polishing the Memorandum
Class 12B
November 13
Ethical Use of Sources
Plan to finish CGL exercises
in the next week or two
Coughlin pp. 199-215; 243-245
Coughlin pp. 247-271
Coughlin pp. 121-128
November 10 – 20
Individual Conferences
t/b/a
t/b/a according to final class schedule
But the Graded Predictive Memorandum is due on or about 9:00 a.m., Monday, November 22, in the LSS
Office Suite.
*** The syllabus may be modified as needed to achieve course objectives. ***
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