MVV73K Legal Writing, USA-Style

Faculty of Law
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
1/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. Leslie Burton (lecturer), JUDr. Kateřina Uhlířová, Ph.D., LL.M. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
JUDr. Kateřina Uhlířová, Ph.D., LL.M.
Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Mgr. Věra Redrupová, B.A.
Supplier department: Faculty of Law
Timetable
Mon 23. 10. 16:40–18:10 025, 18:15–19:45 025, Tue 24. 10. 9:35–11:05 025, 11:10–12:40 025, Wed 25. 10. 13:30–15:00 025, 15:05–16:35 025
Prerequisites
good knowledge of English
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 36 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The primary goals for this course are:
1. To develop students’ ability to analyze legal issues.
2. To develop students’ ability to present written analysis in a predictive office memorandum.
3. To develop students’ ability to present written analysis in a persuasive document.
To attain these goals, our classes will focus on specific skills you must develop to become proficient in legal reasoning and writing. These class objectives include learning to:
1. Analyze facts;
2. Analyze diverse sources of law to arrive at a rule;
3. How to apply the rule to specific facts in a predictive memo;
4. How to write a persuasive trial-level document; and
5. The style, tone and diction of legal writing
Syllabus
  • Class One: Objective Writing I
  • • Introduction
  • • Reading cases
  • • Interpreting cases
  • • Working with cases
  • • Briefing cases
  • Class Two: Objective Writing II
  • • Types of Precedent
  • • Hierarchy of Authority
  • • Predictive writing
  • • IRAC (also known as IREAAC) structure
  • • Structure of an Office Memorandum
  • • The Process of Writing
  • • Analogizing and distinguishing cases
  • Class Three: Persuasive Writing I
  • • Differences between objective and persuasive writing
  • • IREACC vs. CREACC
  • • Theme & theory in a persuasive document
  • • Parts of a Persuasive Document
  • • Point Headings
  • Class Four: Persuasive Writing II
  • • Considering your audience
  • • Process
  • • Outlining
  • • First drafts
  • • Later drafts
  • • Final draft
Literature
  • Literature and study materials will be provided by the teacher
Teaching methods
lectures, class discussion
Assessment methods
short written essay
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2011.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/law/autumn2017/MVV73K