Instructor Rida Jamal Room No. 1-18B Office Hours Email rida.jamal@lums.edu.pk Telephone Ext: 5614 Secretary/TA TA Office Hours - Course URL (if any) Lahore University of Management Sciences Legal Writing & Research Methods Law 200 Spring 2018 COURSE BASICS Credit Hours 2 Lecture(s) No. Lectures per week 1 Duration 1 hour 50 minutes Recitation/Lab (per No. Lectures per week - Duration - week) Tutorial (per week) No. Lectures per week - Duration - COURSE DISTRIBUTION Core B.A./LL.B Page 1 of 9
Elective Open for Student Category Close for Student Category No Open to All None COURSE DESCRIPTION AND LEARNING OUTCOMES This Course is an introduction to legal writing and research methods and has been designed to familiarize the students with the following: (a) Online and offline legal research tools and methods; (b) Reading laws including inter alio cases and legislative enactments; (c) Understanding rules of statutory and contractual interpretation; (d) Researching, analyzing and applying legal provisions to specific fact patterns as a problem solving exercise; and (e) Formatting, structuring and drafting a variety of legal documents. COURSE PREREQUISITES Law 101 Introduction to Legal Reasoning and Law 102 Introduction to Pakistan Legal System. Page 2 of 9
DISABILITY POLICY Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet the course requirements should contact the instructor or the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) as soon as possible so that requisite arrangements can be made. Assignment I: 10% Assignment II: 10% Assignment III: 10% Assignment IV: 15% Assignment V: 40% Class Participation: 10% Attendance: 10% GRADING BREAKUP AND POLICY EXAMINATION DETAIL Midterm Exam Final Exam No No COURSE OVERVIEW Page 3 of 9
LECTURE TOPICS RECOMMENDED READING OBJECTIVES 1 Introduction to Legal Writing and Research Methods 2 Legal Research Methods (Offline) 3 Legal Research Methods (Online) To be assigned To be assigned To be assigned (a) Introduction to the course, instructor and the students. (b) Introduction to drafting basic legal correspondence followed by a practice exercise (ungraded). (a) Introduction to manual offline research tools including: Legal Dictionaries Pakistani and International Law Journals. Gazette Notifications (a) Introduction to online research tools including: Pakistan Law Site (Pakistani Law) Manupatra (Indian Law) Lexis Nexis/West Law/Justis Online (International Law) Accessing Statutes and Delegated Legislation online (b) Practice exercise (ungraded). 4 Understanding Cases To be assigned (a) Understanding the following for reading a case: Parties to a case Citation Adjudicating Court Stage of litigation Precedent and Stare Decisis Headnotes Page 4 of 9
Reasoning and ratio decidendi Obiter dicta Majority, concurring and dissenting opinions 5 Case Law: Reading Exercise To be assigned (a) Reading and discussing a sample case. (b) Practice exercise (ungraded). ASSIGNMENT I: RESEARCH MEMO 6 & 7 Understanding Statutes Bindra, Interpretation of Statutes General Clauses Act, 1897 Rules of Business, 1973 and Provincial Rules of Business (a) Understanding the following parts of a statute and their significance in interpretation: Title Preamble/recitals Effective Date Retrospective/prospective legislation Territorial and subject matter scope of legislation Definitions Headings Standard Provisions (non-obstante and overriding provisions, repeals and savings etc) Amendments (b) Understanding the following tools of statutory interpretation: Rules of interpretation Internal Aids of Interpretation External Aids of Interpretation\ Maxims of Interpretation Page 5 of 9
Directory and Mandatory words and provisions Departure from general rules of interpretation Conflicting provisions and legislations General and Special Statutes Special rules for penal and fiscal statutes (c) Understanding delegated legislation: Forms of delegated legislation Differences between and hierarchy of delegated legislation Parent/enabling statute and scope of delegated legislation Validity of delegated legislation 8 Legislative Enactments and Delegated Legislation: Reading Exercise To be assigned (a) Reading and discussing a sample statute, an amendment statute and each type of delegated legislation. (b) Practice exercise (ungraded). ASSIGNMENT II: LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING 9 Understanding Pleadings To be assigned (a) Acquiring a basic understanding of the following documents and the content to be covered therein: Civil Suit, Appeal, Review and Revision Constitutional petitions (b) Introduction to the following concepts: Pleadings (plaint and written statement) Maintainability before Court (issues of jurisdiction and limitation) Page 6 of 9
Fact Pattern Cause of Action Grounds for petition Prayer 10 Pleadings: Reading Exercise (a) Reading and discussing a sample pleading. (b) Practice exercise (ungraded). ASSIGNMENT III: DRAFTING PLAINT AND WRITTEN STATEMENT 11 Formatting and Referencing Legal Documents To be assigned (a) Introduction to conventional use of Microsoft Word in preparing legal documents. (b) Preferred formatting style, automatic in-text and cross referencing, defined headings and table of contents. (c) Oxford style referencing (OSCOLA). (d) Blue-book referencing. 12 Understanding Contracts The Interpretation of Contracts, Sweet & Maxwell Publications (a) Understanding the following parts of a Contract: Parties to a Contract Recitals Definitions and Interpretations Scope of Agreement Rights and Obligations of Parties Boilerplate clauses (limitation of liability, governing law and dispute resolution, severability, notices, indemnity, termination, liquidated damages etc) (b) Understanding the basic rules of interpretation of Page 7 of 9
Contracts. (c) Introduction to addendums to contracts. 13 Contracts: Reading Exercise To be assigned (a) Introduction to different types of contracts. (b) Reading and discussing a sample contract. (c) Practice Exercise (ungraded). ASSIGNMENT IV: DRAFTING AND AMENDING A CONTRACT 14 Legal Opinions To be assigned (a) Introduction to drafting legal Opinions through a case study approach: Understanding factual backdrop Understanding the questions of law involved Researching the relevant laws (statutes, delegated legislation and judgments) Analyzing the applicability of relevant laws in view of the factual backdrop Confirming commercial/industry practice Providing legal opinion on each question of law raised (b) Useful tips on drafting Legal Opinions: Language usage Writing style Use of imperative words Structuring Qualifications and caveats ASSIGNMENT V: LEGAL OPINION Page 8 of 9
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