Federal Civil Legal Writing and Motion Practice

Transcription

1 Federal Civil Legal Writing and Motion Practice Virna L. Santos, Lecturer Course dates and hours: June 27-July 1 6:00-8:30 p.m. Classroom: Course objectives: Impart a suggested writing process for federal civil motion litigation with practice pointers. At the end of the course, students will have learned how to organize research, outline, write and edit two major writing projects: a persuasive motion for summary judgment and authoritative written assignment in the form of a judicial opinion. Teaching method: Lecture with expected extensive class participation. Materials: Required: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 Federal Judicial Center, The Analysis and Decisions of Summary Judgment Motions, A Monograph on Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. By William W. Schwarzer, Alan Hirsh, and David J. Barrans, Washington, DC., (to be provided) Sample Judicial Opinions (to be provided) A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005) (Harvard Blue Book) or A Uniform System of Citation (19th ed. 2010) (Harvard Blue Book). Suggested: The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, 5th Edition Strunk and White, The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition 4th Edition Wordflex Touch Dictionary by Robert Scheiner (app for ipad) Assignments: There will be two written assignments: 1) a summary judgment motion and 2) a judicial opinion. Both assignments will be based on a federal civil rights case relating to an arrest 1

2 without alleged probable cause. Along with this syllabus, students will receive the relevant facts and evidence to complete both assignments. Students will be expected to research and cite relevant case law to resolve the issue presented and ultimately decide the case. Half of the class will be assigned to write a judicial opinion deciding the case for the plaintiff. The other half of the group will decide the case for the defendant. These group designations will be made in class. Assignment First draft due Final versions due Summary judgment June 29, 2016 by July 11, 2016 by Judicial opinion July 1, 2016 by July 11, 2016 by Required Format: Summary Judgment Judicial Opinion 28-line pleading paper, Times New Roman, 12 point Regular paper, double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point The assignments should be in both Word and.pdf formats and shall be turned in via e- mail. address: virnasantosdc@gmail.com Grading: Written materials will be graded pursuant to the attached rubrics and weighted as follows: 50% First draft and final version motion for summary judgment. 30% First draft and final version of judicial opinion 20% attendance and class participation A= C= F= 59 and below B= D= Feedback: Written work assignments will be subject to in-class critique of anonymous examples of first drafts. Instructor and fellow students will provide guidance to improve drafts for final work product. 2

3 Lesson Plan: Day 1 Introduction to Writing Process IRAC Introduction to Motion Practice Required reading: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, Federal Judiciary Monograph on Rule 56 and sample opinions Hand out written assignment documents. Day 2 Motion writing Persuasive and argument writing Document Design, Citations and Footnotes Drafting motion for summary judgment Motion for Summary Judgment due Wednesday, June 29 by noon. Day 3 Review samples of students draft motions Editing process-6 steps Judicial opinion writing-objective authoritative Elements of judicial opinion Practice points Assignment: Begin drafting judicial opinion due by noon on July 1, Recommended reading: Sample judicial opinions. Day 4 Discuss additional examples of motion for summary judgment. Review sentence structure, syntax punctuation Succinct writing Dangers with using samples Judicial opinion assignment due by noon on July 1, Day 5 Class critique of draft judicial opinions Practice pointers Final discussion Final revised papers due by noon on July 11,

4 Judicial Opinion Grading Rubric

5 print rubric: RCampus Open Tools for Open Minds 6/5/16, 10:27 PM Virna Santos Student: Grade: Rubric: Judicial Opinion Rubric Assignment is to draft a two-page judicial opinion resolving summary judgment issue. Judicial Opinion Anchor paragraph 2 Succinctly describes factual and legal issue and ruling. Sets forth issue and ruling. Does not describe legal issue and ruling or is meandering. Relevant facts 10 % Correctly identifies facts relevant facts. Identifies relevant facts but includes irrelevant facts. Mostly recites irrelevant facts. Application/Action 10 % Analysis is focused and succinct. Analysis is correct but belabored. Analysis is unfocused and incorrect. Conclusion/Summary Succinct summary of ruling with proper format. Correct format is used. Summation lacks clarity and/or does not follow formant Writing 50 % Professional language. No grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors. Some mistakes. Does not detract from understanding. Many mistakes. Detracts from understanding. Sloppy. Reflects No real effort. Build free rubrics at Rubric Code: RX6W98A Page 1 of 2

6 Legal Writing Grading Rubric

7 print rubric: RCampus Open Tools for Open Minds 5/30/16, 2:10 PM Virna Santos Student: Grade: Rubric: Case Brief Using IRAC Method Federal Legal Writing Identification - Heading 10 % Identifies case name and citation in the correct format Identifies case name and citation in incorrect format Does not include one of either the name or citation, or citation is not in the correct format. Issue/Legal Question Issue correctly identified and is stated in the form of a question. Issue correctly identified, but may contain extraneous information and is not stated in the form of a question. Issue is not completely identified. Incorrect issue is identified Rule/Relevant Law Rule is correctly identified and is in the form of a statement. Rule correctly identified, but may contain extraneous info and is not in the form of a statement. Rule is not completely identified. Incorrect rule is identified Application/Action 2 Correctly identifies facts. Well reasoned discussion relating facts to rule. Correctly identifies facts. Not well reasoned. Facts not correctly identified. Analysis incoherent. No analysis. Conclusion/Summary Summation complete with correct restatement of the issue and rule. Summation mainly complete and correct. Summation incomplete or incorrect. Summation lacks clarity and was not consistant with the case. Writing 50 % Professional language. No grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors. Some mistakes. Does not detract from understanding. Many mistakes. Detracts from understanding. Sloppy. Reflects No real effort. Page 1 of 2