This is a one credit intensive course in legal writing and
written advocacy, open to 100 second and third year law students. It is formally
known as Law 633. Classes will be held in MAC 001.
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).
The only assigned readings will concern factum-writing, which is the main topic in the second week of the course. The readings will be available online and will be brief. Those that read the articles during the course will get far more out of the lectures.
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 instructors:
Justice Thomas Cromwell (Supreme Court of Canada) (bio) and Justice David Stratas (Federal Court of Appeal) (bio).
Schedule and Syllabus (subject to
change):
January 19, 2013 - 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00 (Instructor:
Justice David Stratas) - 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 commmmon 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
February 2, 2013 - 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00 (Instructors: Justice
Thomas Cromwell and Justice David Stratas) - Factums: introductory comments -
Factums: ethics, civility and professionalism - How judges use factums - What is persuasion and how to persuade? - 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: Schedullllles, 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, opinion lettteers, reporting letters and emails - Office politics
and client relationships: circulating your work for review - Modern technologies and factums - Questions: ask the judge anything!
February 22, 2013 - 15:00 Distribution of take-home examination: pass/fail
evaluation.
March 22, 2013 - 15:00 Due date for submission of answers to
examination. Absent extraordinary circumstances, no extensions of time will be
granted.
