Elements of Legal Argumentation II (ELA II)

ELA II continues the study and practice of legal reasoning and communication that began in ELA I. Students will have the opportunity to use their basic understanding of the core concepts and tools learned in ELA I as they complete a variety of both oral and written presentations. Focus is on argumentation and rhetoric as the means to building strong and persuasive documents and presentations. Students continue to practice the process of legal writing as they research, analyze, organize, write and revise litigation-related documents. The primary context for the work done in ELA II involves writing briefs to a specific court. Students will also give oral arguments and presentations in class. Additionally, students will begin to learn about court and ethical rules related to brief writing and client representation.

See Professor for course description.

Law Practice Clinic

Pre-requisite: Completion of first year curriculum, Pre-or-co-requisite: Ethics

Summer 2013--Prof. Steven Homer
Fall 2013--Prof. April Land
Spring 2014--Prof. Aliza Organick

The Law Practice Clinic will emphasize the development of professional skills and values by assigning students to represent clients in a variety of both civil and criminal cases.  In their casework, students will be individually and closely supervised in their representation of low-income clients.  Each student will be assigned a mix of cases typical of a general law practice in New Mexico with some opportunity for a more specialized type of practice taking into account each student's preferences and career plans, available faculty resources and client and community needs.  Among other practice areas, case matters may involve juvenile delinquency defense, family law, criminal misdemeanor defense, landlord/tenant, contract disputes, wills and immigration.  The Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters will provide more focus in the area of juvenile delinquency and criminal defense.  The emphasis on student casework is to give law students direct experience with live clients and real cases and to provide close individual and collaborative faculty supervision.  In addition to providing real world experience, students are encouraged to develop and explore the professional dimensions of client-oriented problem solving.  Students are expected to develop and assume full professional responsibility for competent, professional and ethical decision-making in helping their clients solve their legal problems.

The classroom component seeks to help prepare students to represent his or her clients competently, to promote professionalism in dealing with clients, lawyers, staff and others; and to provide experience in individual and collaborative problem solving.  Classroom sessions include discussion of pending clinic cases and assigned readings; role-play and simulation; and collaborative planning and evaluation.  The classroom component typically addresses such skills and topics as:  client interviewing and counseling, case evaluation, legal research, fact investigation, drafting documents and correspondence, motion practice, discovery, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution, procedure, case management, law office management, the use of computer technology in the law office, and professional responsibility and ethics.

Students will be required (1) to attend and actively participate in up to five classroom sessions (ten during summer’s first three weeks) during each week of the academic semester and (2) to maintain, in addition to classroom hours, a schedule of 24 (2-hours block) fixed office hours (physically present in the clinic, working on clinic matters) each week during Summer, or 16 (2-hours block) fixed office hours each week during Fall and Spring semesters.

Students having any questions about this clinic are encouraged to visit with Profs. Homer, Land, or Organick.

Elements of Legal Argumentation I (ELA I)

ELA I is the foundational legal analysis and communication course. In the context of a problem solving approach to legal writing students learn how to do the information gathering, pre-thinking and argument development that are essential to good legal communication. Students learn to identify legal issues presented by specific fact situations. They are given an overview of collecting relevant information, including an introduction to legal research. Students learn how to connect this information as they analyze a legal problem in preparation for writing both predictive and persuasive documents. Students learn how to determine relevant legal rules and apply those rules to specific facts to arrive at a reasonable conclusion in a specific case. Students practice organizing the information and their analysis into a logical and coherent structured proof of their conclusion and then effectively presenting the proof in a specific format to a specific audience. Students also learn to perfect the mechanics of their documents as they learn techniques for effective revising and editing.

Williams Institute Moot Court

The Sexual Orientation Law Moot Court Competition is the only national competition dedicated exclusively to the area of sexual orientation law. This year’s competition will provide an opportunity for competitors to write an appellate-level brief on a current topic in sexual orientation law and to argue the case before a panel of judges. The competition is designed to promote and recognize the finest oral and written advocacy on a significant problem in sexual orientation law.

Website
The Williams Institute Moot Court Competition

Coach
Professor Scott England

Students who are eligible
2L and 3L students only

Dates and timeline overview
Application packets will come out in late November.
During Winter Break teams will draft a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court (NO faculty or coach input is allowed until the brief is turned in).
The brief is due in mid-January. Oral argument practice and coaching will take place four to five nights a week throughout January, until the competition at the end of the month at the UCLA School of Law.

Tryout details:  Students will be asked to write a short legal argument based on last year’s problem, as well as a short personal statement explaining their interest in the competition. Students will also be asked to provide their ELA II grade and any other moot court experience/commitments. Students who are interested should contact Professor Scott England by the end of September. Selection will begin immediately thereafter.

What to expect
Competitors should expect to dedicate significant time during Winter Break to meet with their teammates and prepare a brief. Self-starters who can complete the research and analysis before classes start in January are especially encouraged to participate.
Teams will meet several evenings a week during January to practice their oral arguments; the time commitment is equivalent to attending an additional class. Participants should be prepared to keep their evening schedules free of conflicts during January.
Because the competition is part of the Williams Institute’s judicial education program, teams will have the opportunity to practice their arguments in front of several members of the bench.
Note that the final round of this competition will take place a month after the preliminary rounds, and funding to attend the final round is not guaranteed.