Lawyering Skills Class

In your Lawyering Skills Class, first-year students master critical research and writing skills, receiving intensive, hands-on instruction from experienced faculty in small classes of no more than twenty students. Because of the small class size, you’ll receive substantial feedback and individual attention from your instructor. You’ll learn first-hand how to analyze complex legal questions at a professional level, while developing a variety of professional skills to help make you practice-ready. In the first semester, you will concentrate on legal research, client counseling, and objective memos, while in the second semester, you will focus on persuasive writing, oral advocacy, and transactional skills. Lawyering Fellows are also available to help you with your Lawyering assignments and exercises.

Instructors

Esdaile Appellate Moot Court

As part of the Lawyering Skill Class, you will participate in the J. Newton Esdaile Appellate Moot Court Program in the spring semester. Here you will research and draft a brief, and present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot court judges. The process of brief writing is a critical component of the program because it teaches you to research an issue thoroughly and write a persuasive document, skills that all lawyers use in practice.