EXAM: due October 21, 2016 at 17h00. It can be accessed here.
Course
description and syllabus
General description of the course:
This is a one credit intensive course in legal writing and written advocacy,
open to approximately 120 second and third year law students. It is formally known as Law
633.
Class policies:
There will be some classes where the students will work briefly on writing
exercises. There will be others where the classes will be in lecture format,
but with strong interaction with the students. High quality participation is
encouraged.
Please note that in order to pass this course, you must attend every class, for
the whole class. Attendance will be taken and absences will be detected. Any
absences must be explained with strong reasons offered. If you plan to be
away for any of the classes, or if you need to leave early in any of them, do
not enter this course.
Course evaluation: students will receive a "pass/fail" grade based on
a take-home examination (see below).
Precedents and materials will be available online and will be discussed in
class. In order to participate, students must bring a laptop computer to class
in order to access the materials wirelessly.
The instructor:
Justice
David Stratas (Federal Court of Appeal) (bio).
Schedule and Syllabus (subject to change):
September 9, 2016 - 14:30 to 17:30 in MAC 001
● Introduction: why written advocacy matters
● The golden rule of writing: write for your audience
● Understanding the judicial audience
● Understanding the client audience
● The basic rules of writing
● Strategies for writing clear, direct and brief prose
● Making sentences and paragraphs connect
● Exercises
● Eliminating the fat
● Eliminating common problems
● Writing exercises: sentence construction
● Writing exercises: making paragraphs connect; making sections connect
● Advanced writing techniques
● Achieving emphasis without using bold or italics
● Pleadings and notices of motion
● Serving and satisfying clients and senior people in the office who do not
write well
September 16, 2016 at 19:00 to 22:00 in MAC 001; September 17, 2016 at 10:00 to 14:00 in MAC 001
● Factums: introductory comments
● Factums: ethics, civility and professionalism
● The facts section: motions, trials and appeals; strategies for organization
and presentation
● Managing detail: selection
● Managing detail: techniques
● Overviews and introductions
● Responding factums and replies: motions, trials and appeals
● Remedies section: motions, trials and appeals
● Getting the little things right: Schedules, references and authorities
● The law section: motions, trials and appeals
● The role of oral argument
● Special considerations for Crown counsel
● What trial judges expect
● Other documents: pleadings, opinions, reporting letters and emails
● Office politics and client relationships: circulating your work for review
● Modern technologies and factums
● Questions: ask the judges anything!
September 30, 2016 at 13:00 to 14:30 in MAC 001
● At the end of class on September 17, a mandatory editing exercise will
be assigned. On the “exercises” webpage, it is Exercise D. Edit any two of the
three paragraphs in that exercise. Apply
the tips supplied during the writing class.
● Submit your answers to Exercise D to David Stratas by email by September
24 at 17:00. On September 30, the
assignment will be taken up during a “writing workshop.” Again, attendance is mandatory.
October 11, 2016 - 09:00
● A take-home examination shall be made available at
the top of this webpage. It must be submitted by email to David Stratas no
later than October 18, 2016 at 20:00.
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