Fall 2023
Professor(s):
Kenneth Swift (CLINICAL FACULTY [405(b)])
Credits: 3
Course Areas: 1st Year - Section A
Time: 2:30p-4:00p TTH Location: 312
Course Outline: In Lawyering Skills and Strategies I will focus on an introduction to the American legal system and the skills and strategic planning lawyers must possess to succeed within it. The curriculum will be problem-based, using fact-pattern simulations to enable students to work through actual practice skills and strategies and ethical issues. The course will focus on written legal analysis and the components and structure of a legal memorandum. The course will also include other essential lawyering skills such as legal research, citation, and client and oral communication.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus
Course Notes: (Face-to-Face) The UH registration system instruction mode for this course is listed in parenthesis. After student registration opens, there may be instruction mode changes to this course up through two weeks before the first day of classes for the term, but notice of such changes will be sent to then-registered students. For this instruction mode, instructors and students are expected to normally be physically present in the classroom. If the course has a final examination, it will be in a classroom requiring your physical presence. Other assessment, such as a mid term exam, may also be in a classroom. Whether this instructor will offer “remote presence” (starting a zoom meeting from the podium computer to enable student remote access on an occasional basis) for part or all of the semester is not known, but students should not rely on an expectation that remote presence will be available.
Prerequisites:
First Day Assignments:
Final Exam Schedule: 12/01 9am-noon 312
This course will have:
Exam:
Paper:
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type: No
Bar Course: No
DistanceEd ABA: No
Pass-Fail Student Election: Unavailable (Required Course)
Course Materials
Book(s) Required
Course Materials: George W. Kuney & Donna C. Looper, Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting (2009) Carolina Academic Press ISBN: 978-1-59460-628-1; The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st ed. 2020) The Harvard Law Review Association ISBN: 978-0-578-66615-0. (Notes: You should purchase a book rather than the online Bluebook. Also, note that this is a somewhat newer edition of the Bluebook, so make sure you purchase the 21st edition.)
Amy E. Sloan, Researching the Law: Finding What You Need When You Need It (2023); Aspen Publishing ISBN: 9798886144208, ebook ISBN: 9798886144215 (Note: the online supplement is not required)
Tracy L McGaugh & Christine Hurt, Interactive Citation Workbook for The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (2023 Edition)(“Interactive”), ISBN: 9781663360946; ebook ISBN: 9781663360953
Additionally, you will need to purchase a subscription to Core Grammar for Lawyers, available at www.coregrammarforlawyers.com.
