Legal Writing and Research

The Legal Writing and Research Program includes two mandatory first year classes: Legal Writing and Research I, which the students take in the fall, and Legal Writing and Research II, which the students take in the spring. These classes focus on some of the most important skills necessary to becoming a successful lawyer: legal analysis, writing, research, advocacy, and professionalism.

The focus of the fall course is predictive writing, which is writing that predicts how a court will apply the law to the facts of the client's situation. In the spring, students focus on persuasive writing by learning how to use the law to argue their client's position. Students perform research, write a motion, write an appellate brief, and argue their side in front of a panel of attorneys serving as volunteer "judges" as a part of oral arguments.