LES 371 Legal Reasoning & Advocacy II

A study of how Common Law methodology is applied to the resolution of major fundamental rights disputes in American Law. Students in this course will explore a complex case problem designed to simulate the appeal of a proceeding via a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). As in real arguments before the SCOTUS, students will learn the case law spanning a large number of real-world earlier written opinions issued by both the SCOTUS and other federal circuit courts of appeal and state supreme courts in the US legal system. As part of learning this legal foundation, students will have to draft and submit formal case summaries in preparation for presenting their cases. In addition, students will have to argue orally as both petitioner’s counsel and then alternatively as respondent’s counsel in various "practice panel" simulations of SCOTUS proceedings. NOTE: students must first take LES 370 as "Legal Reasoning and Advocacy I" for one full credit before taking LES 371 as "Legal Reasoning and Advocacy II" for one additional full credit. Noncredit for LES 370 for students who completed this course of study as LES 286, and noncredit for students who twice completed this course of study as both LES 286 and LES 386.

Credits

1 Course Credit