Law 17


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LAW 17 LEGAL WRITING

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Student Responsibility: Our online law program requires a comprehensive and complete understanding of a number of details, procedures and information. Students are assumed to have carefully read all of our procedures and policies located at our "Welcome Message" at http://welcome.pbwiki.com - which is a comprehesive collection of materials for our program. Students are held fully responsible for information contained at this central location.  Students must login to their online class and post their introduction and first set of assignments within a week from the start of the semester or session or they may be excluded and dropped from class, and not permitted to enter the moodle classroom.

 


 

Course Assignments:  The assignments for each class and the due dates are located at duedates for each class. If there is a "conflict" between the due dates and the moodle class assignments, quizzes, forums, text and materials, the  moodle materials will "over rule" if there are differences with the duedates.


 

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

see information on your instructor including website, office hours, phone no. etc. http://lamission.edu/law/lawfaculty.htm


COURSE DESCRIPTION                                       

Catalog: CSU 3 units. This course consists of advanced legal drafting and writing, including research and special projects. The student will draft a business letter, a demand letter, a Legal Memorandum, a Mandatory Settlement Conference Brief, a Motion for Summary Judgment, and a Final Research Project.

 

Law 17 introduces the student to advanced legal drafting and writing, including research and special projects. The student will also study and learn the essentials of legal research, including the six steps to effectively research a legal matter. 

 

COURSE TEXT 

There is no course text for this class. For assignments check out the duedates - at http://duedates.pbwiki.com and resources for legal writing at http://del.icio.us/abogado/legal-writing  

 

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the class, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate their knowledge in the substantive law and procedures of legal writing including Legal Writing in Plain English, preparing Business Letters, Demand Letters, Legal Opinion Letters, Legal Argumentation, How to do an A+ research paper, Legal Memorandum, Mandatory Settlement Conference, Motion for Summary Judgment, Legal Research and Writing papers

 

2. "think critically" in law, and in the area of legal writing

 

3. brief a law case in legal writing

 

4. prepare a legal research and writing paper in the area of legal writing - using correct legal research procedures, citations, and good legal writing content, form, and presentation.

                                 

GRADING & EVALUATION

The class will be composed of quizzes, postings to an "electronic bulletin board" - threaded discussions, and written projects.The student should work off of the duedates for the class.. The deadlines are clearly posted on the schedule. Quizzes will be posted and students are expected to fill in their answers to the multiple choice questions during a deadline period. After the time period has expired, the quiz link will no longer be available, and the student will NOT be allowed to take the quiz (certain exceptions might be made if the student emails his/her online instructor regarding exceptional family circumstances or situtations - not just "not enough time", or "late", and the instructor will decide and determine each request on the facts of the circumstances).

The "letter grade" scale is as follows.

 

A =  90-100 percent of total points

B =  80-89

C =  70-79

D =  60-69

F =  Below 60


Distribution of Grades

Tests  is 30% of your grade

Assignments  are 35% of your grade

Final Legal Research Paper  = 25 % of your grade

Disussion Forums = 10% of your grade and entered at the end of the semester


Office Hours: see Faculty page at http://lamission.edu/law/lawfaculty.htm - Office Hours, Mon. - Friday 9-5 pm at the Office Telephone number of each Faculty member, or upon special appointment - email the faculty member for your appointment date and time.

 

Course Structure: This course will be offered under a course management system. For the online class and its course management system check the online portal for Mission College at http://lamission.edu/online.

 

LATE ASSIGNMENTS: ASSIGNMENTS SUBMITTED LATE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNLESS PRIOR APPROVAL IS REQUESTED AND GRANTED BY THE INSTRUCTOR.

 

EXTRA CREDIT: Since the law is in constant change, along with the advent of the Internet, issues may arise that are timely and germane to our class. Therefore, opportunities may arise during the term that allow for extra credit, although no extra credit is presently offered.

 

INCOMPLETE: If you require a grade of "incomplete," you must advise me as soon as possible and discuss the terms of its removal.

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic honesty is highly valued at Mission College, just as it is at all colleges and universities. A student must always submit work that represents his or her original words or ideas. If any words or ideas are used that do not represent the student's original words or ideas, the student must cite all relevant sources. The student should also make it clear to what extent such sources were used. Words or ideas that require citations include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications, whether copyrighted or not, and all verbal or visual communications when the content of such communications clearly originates from an identifiable source. All submissions to any public meeting or private mailbox fall within the scope of words and ideas that require citations if used by someone other than the original author.

 

Course Assignments: see links at due dates - http://duedates.pbwiki.com

 

Course Evaluation:

The final grade will be determined by: averaging quizzes, discussion questions and written assignments, each assigned 100 or more points.

 

* This syllabus is subject to change. Please note revision dates ("updated") above. Students are responsible for the most recent updated version of this syllabus.

 

Reasonable Accommodations:  If you are a student with a disability and require online class accommodations, please see Prof. Jordan an email to discuss arrangements.  The sooner we are aware that you are eligible for accommodations, the quicker we will be able to provide them.  If you have not done so already, you may also wish to contact the DSP&S Office in Instructional Building 1018 (phone 818/364-7732 TTD 818/364-7861). There website and resources are located at http://www.lamission.edu/dsps/

 

For students requiring accommodations, the DSP&S Office at Mission College provides special assistance in areas like: registering for courses, specialized tutoring, note-taking, mobility assistance, special instruction, testing assistance, special equipment, special materials, instructor communications, community referrals and job placement.

 

Updated: 11-12-09