Legal Analysis to

Once students complete the two required courses in Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research in the first year, they will have the opportunity to further develop their skills in a variety of ways. You can sign up for advanced legal drafting seminars and contract drafting workshops. You can also enroll in the Vocation Writing and Advocacy course, which serves as a gateway to Marquette Law`s moot court competitions. Finally, they have the opportunity to participate in the editorial boards of various journals. All these experiences enrich students` legal education, regardless of the area of law they choose. Marquette University`s Marquette School of Law`s Law Writing Program (LAWR) offers a rigorous writing experience that fully prepares students for the practice of law. In addition, second- or third-year students can enroll in various seminars and writing workshops to further develop their legal writing skills. These offerings include advanced legal drafting, contract drafting, and in-depth exploration and drafting of legal issues. In 2008, the Faculty of Law announced the Boden Visiting Professor of Law program. Since the fall of 2008, a leading national scholar in legal writing has joined the Faculty of Law to teach a section of the Legal Analysis, Writing & Research 1 course in the first semester, as well as a course of his choice. In the fall of 2010, the School of Law welcomed Mary Beth Beazley, Director of Legal Writing at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, as Boden Visiting Professor of Law. Professor Beazley has written a practical guide on the representation of appointments.

Marquette Law School is involved in regional and national legal drafting organizations and boards, and frequently appears at local, regional, and national legal editorial conferences on legal drafting topics. From time to time, they write columns for Wisconsin Lawyer, the official publication of the Wisconsin State Bar. Six full-time faculty members, all of whom have practiced law, teach legal analysis, writing, and research 1 and 2. To further enrich the writing curriculum, each member of the Faculty of Legal Writing also teaches graduate program courses on a rotating basis. Writing contests allow students to hone their legal writing skills, build their portfolios, and potentially win cash prizes. Click here for a complete list of writing contests. Legal Analysis, Writing, & Research 2 builds on the skills students acquired in the fall semester. In the spring semester, students move from objective writing to persuasive writing. They are also beginning to apply the research skills acquired in the fall and conduct their own legal research.

As in the fall, students typically work on at least two sets of issues, requiring them to independently research, analyze, and apply the law to hypothetical client situations. Students learn to present this analysis in the form of an essay-level briefing. Again, students receive extensive written and oral feedback and the opportunity to rewrite their early drafts. The shift to persuasive writing often confronts students with ethical questions about a lawyer`s role as a zealous lawyer. These topics are also covered in class. To further strengthen students` research and writing skills, they must also take an Advanced Legal Research (ALR) course on a topic of their choice, taught by a Marquette Law Librarian. ALR topics cover a variety of practical areas. Economics and taxes, family law, federal law, sports law, Wisconsin law, and intellectual property are just a few of the offerings available.

Previous Boden visiting professors include Robin Wellford Slocum of Chapman University School of Law in the fall of 2008 and Michael R. Smith in the fall of 2009, Winston S. Howard Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the legal writing program at the University of Wyoming School of Law. Professor Slocum has written two textbooks on legal writing: Legal Analysis and Writing and Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Persuasive Argument. Professor Smith is the author of Advanced Legal Writing: Theories and Strategies in Persuasive Writing. The core courses of the Legal Writing program are the first year courses, Legal Analysis, Writing and Research 1 and 2.