Writing & Legal Reasoning
Professor Vietzke, , or 978-681-0800
Spring2014
Required Texts:Just Writing, Anne Enquist & Laurel Currie Oates
The Lawyer's Craft, Glaser, Lieberman, Ruescher, & Su (
Recommended Text:A Writer's Reference, Diana Hacker
Students are responsible for bringing handouts to class. All handouts can be found on Professor Vietzke’s TWEN page on Westlaw. Use your assigned Westlaw password to log in, and click on the “Law School” tab. On the lefthand side, under Law School Resources, click on “TWEN” and then select this course. If you have any trouble logging in, contact Shukla Biswas in the library ().Failure to bring handouts to class will constitute being unprepared and recorded as such.
NOTE: At MSLaw, writing classes are intentionally kept small to provide an ideal learning environment. Therefore, a professor will be assigned to you on the first day of class; it may or may not be Professor Vietzke. Please check the lists posted on the windows in the lobby and report to that room at your assigned class time.
Wed, January 22, 2014
Reading Cases & Writing Case Briefs
Just Writing
READ: pp 1-25 (Chapter 1)
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 39-57
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 58-62
Mon, January 27, 2014
Introduction to Legal Analysis
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 1-15
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 16-18
Wed, January 29, 2014
The Thesis & Topic Sentences
Just Writing
READ: pp 27-53 (Chapters 2 & 3)
READ: Topic sentence handout
Mon, February 3, 2014
Analyzing Legal Issues
Just Writing
READ: pp 55-72 (Chapter 4)
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 19-34
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 35-38
Wed, February 5, 2014
Outlining
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 314-315 and 322-326
Just Writing
READ: pp 73-100 (Chapter 5)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercise 51.
READ: Handouts (fallacies)
Mon, February 10, 2014
Analyzing Arguments
Just Writing
READ: pp 101-152 (Chapter 6)
Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 114 & 115.
READ: Handouts (arguments)
Wed, February 12, 2014
OUTLINE OF ARGUMENTANALYSIS PAPER DUE
Outline Workshop (Bring enough copies of outline for everyone in class and professor)
Just Writing
READ: pp 153-167 (Chapter 7)
Mon, February 17,2014
Introduction to Issue Spotting and IRAC
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 63-72
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 73-77
Just Writing
READ: pp 171-184 (Chapter 8, §§ 1 & 2)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 69, 70, & 71.
Wed, February 19, 2014
ARGUMENT ANALYSIS PAPER DUE
Introduction to Argument
Just Writing
READ: pp 184-202 (Chapter 8, §§ 3-5)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 38, 39, 100 & 101.
Mon, February 24, 2014
Persuasive Writing
Just Writing
READ: pp 202-206 (Chapter 8, § 6)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 78 & 79.
Wed, February 26, 2014
ARGUMENT I OUTLINE DUE
IRAC and Formulating Rules from Cases
In-class writing #1
Mon, March 3, 2014
Citations
The Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 255-266 (Chapter 14)
Just Writing
READ: pp 207-213 (Chapter 8, § 7)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 118, 119, and 120.
Wed, March 5, 2014
ARGUMENT I DRAFT DUE
In-class writing #2
SPRING BREAK! Enjoy your week off.
Mon, March 17, 2014
Using Analogy
Just Writing
READ: pp 215-231 (Chapter 9, § 1)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 80, 81, 82, and 83.
Wed, March 19, 2014
ARGUMENT I PAPER DUE
Punctuation
Just Writing
READ: pp 231-263 (Chapter 9, §§ 2-6)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 90, 92, and 96.
Mon, March 24, 2014
ARGUMENT II OUTLINE DUE
Conferences
Wed, March 26, 2014
Preparing for and Writing the LawSchool Exam
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 293-304
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 73, 74, & 87.
Mon, March 31, 2014
ARGUMENT II PAPER DUE
Writing and Revising for Readability
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 177-223
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises on pp 210-214.
In-class writing #3
Wed, April 2,2014
Analyzing Statutory Issues
Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 79-97
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 98-103.
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 85, 86, and 89.
Mon, April 7, 2014
Introduction to the Client Letter
The Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 241-253 (Chapter 13)
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercises 111 & 112.
READ: Handout
Wed, April 9, 2014
The Client Intake
Mon, April 14, 2014
CLIENT LETTER DUE
Introduction to the closed memo
The Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 107-113 (Chapter 6)
Wed, April 16,2014
Bloomberg Law Training -- REPORT TO COMPUTER LAB
Wed, April 23, 2014
The Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 145-154 (Chapter 8)
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 155-159.
Mon, April 28, 2014
OUTLINE OF CLOSED MEMO DUE
In-class writing #4
Wed, April 30, 2014
The Lawyer's Craft
READ: pp 161-172 (Chapter 9)
ASSIGNMENT: Do all exercises pp 173-176.
ASSIGNMENT: Computer-assigned exercises: go to the web site do exercise 170.
Mon, May 5, 2014
CLOSED MEMO DUE
In-class writing #5
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