What you’ll learn

Attorneys are professional communicators. Before they can advise clients, attorneys must locate the relevant law, re-view it, and apply it to given factual circumstances. Equally important, attorneys must be able to communicate effectively with other attorneys, the court, and their clients. This course is a workshop in which you will learn and practice these skills.

The College of Law has adopted a set of learning out-comes that are central to a comprehensive legal education for students at Loyola College of Law. This course is committed to teaching and assessing the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge of substantive law and processes

Analysis and reasoning

Research and information gathering

Communication

Conflict resolution

Professional and ethical identity

Organization and working with others

OFFICE HOURS

Tuesdays 2 to 3:30, TBD

and by appointment

Sources for Help

Class TA: Camrie Ventry

cmventry@my.loyno.edu

TA for students whose

first language is not

English:

Sabrine Mohamad, samo-

hama@my.loyno.edu

Writing Lab (Room 118):

You may consult with Class

TAs and Lab TAs as you

prepare each of your three

major Writing Assignments.

I will post Lab hours and

policies before the Lab

opens in September.

Lawyering I, Fall 2019 version 1 Professor Marí a Mercedes Pabón , 504 861 5405 Office : LS 426 mpabon@loyno.edu

How to Succeed in Lawyering I

Blackboard is your lifeline!

I will post class slides, handouts, assignment memos, case files, and many other important documents on the course Blackboard page. I will also use Blackboard to send important announce-ments. Get used to checking it daily!

http://blackboard.loyno.edu

Email Policy:

Email is a crucial part of law practice; check your Loyola email multiple times per day.

You may email me with questions and notifications about personal emergencies. I expect that any email you send me will be professional in tone, content, and format.

Be an engaged participant

I will take attendance at every class meeting, and school policy prohibits me from “excusing” absences. Law school policy and ABA regulations require you to attend at least 80% of our class sessions. (i.e., you may miss no more than five of our class sessions). If you miss a class, I expect you to review all assigned reading, class slides, and handouts before meeting with me to discuss what you missed. I will also track your punctuality, because punctuality is a component of professionalism. If you arrive one or more minutes after the sched-uled start time of the class, I will mark you late.

You will get the most out of this course if you participate actively in class. I invite volunteers, and I will also call on students at random.

Phone use distracts me and your classmates and shows disre-spect for the speaker. Please turn off or silence your cell phone before class begins, and do not use your cell phone at all during class. If you receive an urgent call during class, please leave the room to address it.

Laptop use in the classroom is generally prohibited, though I am happy to permit you to use a laptop as an instructional aid if it is listed in a Course Accommodation Record that you have obtained from the Office for Accessible Education. There are certain class ses-sions on electronic research in which laptop use is necessary. I will notify you in advance of the dates of those class sessions.

1. Be professional. Come to class on time, and bring all necessary ma-

terials, including textbooks. Turn in your best work, on time, every

time. Remember that your classmates are your future colleagues,

and treat them accordingly.

2. Do not fear mistakes. Everyone in this class is new to legal writing,

and legal writing is hard. It is different from any type of writing you

have done before. Let go of the expectation that you will do every-

thing right the first time. Revision is a key component of the course,

and you will see your skills improve over time.

3. Embrace the feedback mechanism. Throughout the semester, you

will receive feedback from the TAs, your classmates, and me. Try to

heed both the praise and the constructive criticism, and use it to

make your work stronger. You will also have opportunities to pro-

vide feedback; craft your messages with the goal of helping the re-

cipient.

Required Texts (Please use the correct edition of each book! You use old editions at your own risk.)

1. Mary Garvey Algero, Louisiana Legal Research (3d ed. 2017).

2. Christine Coughlin et al., A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis (3d ed. 2018).

3. Tracy McGaugh Norton & Christine Hurt, Interactive Ci-tation Workbook for the Bluebook (2019 ed.).

4. The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (20th ed. 2015).*

5. The Texas Law Review Manual on Usage & Style (14th ed. 2017) NOTE The last two books are also required for the Lawyering II course in the Spring semester.

I reserve the right to give unannounced, in-class quiz-zes on the material covered in reading assignments.

Optional Sources Lawyers must explain complex principles clearly and concisely, so grammar and style will con-tribute to the grades in all of your written work. These sources may help you hone your writing skills:

Core Grammar for Law-yers is an online learning tool. The Pre-Test will iden-tify your strengths and weaknesses. You can then complete lessons and exer-cises divided by topic. Sub-scription information will be available during Orientation.

Megan McAlpin, Beyond the First Draft: Editing Strate-gies for Powerful Legal Writ-ing (2014)

Late Work Policy

Courts establish deadlines and penalties for lateness; so do I. Submit assignments in hard copy unless otherwise speci-fied. An assignment is late if it is submitted one or more minutes after the designated submission time. Typically, I will still accept late assign-ments, subject to an automatic grading penalty of one-third of a letter grade per 24-hour pe-riod following the deadline.

In an emergency, please con-tact me as soon as you are able, and preferably before the deadline. I may grant relief under exceptional circum-stances (e.g., sudden illness or a death in the family), but computer problems and heavy demand for the law school printers do not qualify as “exceptional.”

Set yourself up for success: Meet interim deadlines, back up your work in more than one location, and budget time for printing!

Failure to submit any required coursework will result in an Incomplete in the course. Additionally, a failing grade on Writing Assignment 3 will result in a failing grade in the course.

Expectations and Feedback I assume that you have come to law school because you want to learn to produce professional-quality work. I also

know that skill-building takes time and requires trial, error, assessment, and revision. Therefore, I set high stand-

ards for your work, and I believe that you can meet those standards with effort and persistence.

I also set high standards for myself as your professor. I will try to explain abstract concepts of reasoning and writ-

ing as clearly as I can, and I will make myself available outside of class to discuss your writing one-on-one. I will

offer feedback repeatedly throughout the semester, and I will work to ensure that it is thorough and constructive.

Receiving, deciphering, and implementing feedback are lawyering skills. The feedback you receive will come in

two forms: evaluation and coaching. Evaluation tells you how your work compares to a set of standards or to the

work of your classmates. Coaching tells you what you can do the same or differently to produce a better product

the next time around. Both types of feedback are necessary, but the coaching is often more important to your long-

term development as a legal writer.

If you become concerned about our interactions or your progress in this course, please feel free to discuss those

concerns with me.

Citation Exercises

In Lawyering I, you will learn the unique system of citation used by legal professionals. I will review some cita-

tion rules in class, and my feedback on your written work will include citation feedback. However, most of your

instruction in legal citation must occur outside of class, as you read your citation workbook and relevant Bluebook

rules, watch the citation video mini-lectures that I post on Blackboard, and practice citing using the online Interac-

tive Citation Workstation (ICW) hosted by Lexis Advance.

ICW will work best for you if you practice seriously but realize that neither you nor the website can be perfect all

the time. Human errors and website glitches are inevitable, but if you communicate with me and Loyola’s Lexis

representative about your work, citation will gradually become more intuitive.

University Counseling Services

The University Counseling Center, located on the second floor of the Danna Center, provides mental healthcare

for all currently-enrolled Loyola students. Office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., and services are free. Counseling is available 24/7 by contacting the UCC counselor-on-call. During business hours, call 504

- 865-3835 to schedule an appointment, or to ask to speak with the counselor on-call. After hours and on week-

ends, call 504-865-3835 and press 1 at the voicemail prompt to be immediately connected to a trained and li-censed mental health professional. Visit our website at http://studentaffairs.loyno.edu/counseling .

Accommodated Learning

Loyola is committed to offering classes that are inclusive in their design. You may contact the Office for Ac-

cessible Education to learn more about the accommodations process, or to discuss the accommodations for which you may be eligible. Students with A-M last names should contact Samantha Pollard, smpol-

lar@loyno.edu, 504-865-2070, and students with N-Z last names should contact Dario Bayardo, dbayar-

do@loyno.edu, 504-865-2108. Andrea Rodriguez directs the office, alrodrig@loyno.edu, 504-865-3265. The OAE is in the Monroe Library on main campus, second floor, Pan American Life Student Success Center, suite

229. Front office: 504-865-2990, email: oae@loyno.edu; Website: http://success.loyno.edu/accessible-

education. If you encounter disability-related barriers in a course, please notify the Office for Accessible Edu-cation (OAE) immediately. OAE welcomes your feedback, which will assist us in improving the usability and

experience for all students.

Additional Source

Anne Enquist et al., Just

Writing: Grammar, Punc-tuation, and Style for the

Legal Writer (5th ed.

2017)

At times, ordinary University operations are interrupted as a result of tropical storms, hurricanes, or other

emergencies that require evacuation or suspension of on-campus activities. To prepare for these emergencies, review the instructions at this link. Please note that students who are not living on campus need not file an

evacuation plan with student affairs. http://academicaffairs.loyno.edu/students-emergency-responsibilities

Information Technology:

Information Technology provides on-campus computer systems assistance and technical support to students, faculty, and staff, through the sup-port units of client services, computer services, distributed systems, telecommunications, and information management. Visit us on the 2nd floor of the Monroe Library, online at http://academicaffairs.loyno.edu/infotech/student-computing, or by phone at 504-865-2255.

Weather Alerts and School Closure

A document explaining the formatting requirements for your written work is available on Blackboard. If you submit an improperly-formatted document, I reserve discretion to either penalize the formatting er-ror, or to require you to submit a new, properly-formatted document, subject to a lateness penalty.

Formatting Requirements for Written Work

Please review the Honor Code, which is contained in the Law School Bulletin (http://2019bulletin.loyno.edu/law). The TAs and I report all Honor Code violations to the Honor Board. Here are some steps you can take to ensure that you abide by the Honor Code as a Lawyering I stu-dent:

Carefully review instructions for each assignment to determine wheth-er you are allowed to discuss it with your classmates. Abide by the col-laboration restrictions for each assignment.

Consultation with outside lawyers or legal professionals is almost nev-er permitted for Lawyering I assignments. On the other hand, we en-courage you to consult with the Lawyering faculty and TAs.

Learn basic principles of legal citation and provide proper attribution for all work that is not your own.

Be responsible with the shared supplies and equipment used in the course, including library books.

Review and abide by the research restrictions for each assignment.

Other VIP Matters: The Honor Code