Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Upper-Level Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Opportunities
The ºìÌÒÊÓƵ continues its commitment to research and writing beyond the first year. Every student must complete anÌýÌýto earn a JD degree. This requirement can be satisfied through seminars and other courses that allow students to explore and write about a variety of topics in depth, certain advanced legal writing courses or faculty-supervised revision of a project from an activity like moot court or a journal. Students seeking a faculty advisor to supervise revisions should consult theÌýÌýlisting to find a suitable professor to work with.
To further enhance their writing skills, second- and third-year students may also enroll in the following advanced courses focused on written advocacy, analytic writing and research.
Upper-Level Writing and Research Courses
The B598 Advanced Research and Writing seminar course changes yearly to offer a variety of different writing experiences. Recent seminars have focused on topics such as judicial writing, legislative drafting and public international law. Second-year students who serve on the staff of a legal journal also enroll in specialized seminars for each journal, designed to guide them through the process of researching and writing scholarly articles.
Extracurricular Opportunities: Moot Court, Writing Competitions, Journals
Other opportunities for second- and third-year students to practice legal research and writing skills include participation in aÌýlegal writing competitionÌýor aÌýÌý(mock trial, contract negotiations, appellate advocacy or a variety of regional and national competitions in different areas of law). Students who join the Moot Court Honor Board can participate in competitions that require research and writing a substantive piece of advocacy.
Another wonderful way for students to develop these skills is to serve on an academic journal. The field of law is unique because scholarly journals have historically been managed and edited by students, though there are increasing numbers of peer-reviewed journals run by faculty.Ìý Here at the ºìÌÒÊÓƵ, students can participate in four different journals. Students can later revise writing projects from both competitions and journals to fulfill the Advanced Writing Requirement, so long as they obtain a faculty supervisor for the revisions.
Students typically join theÌýMoot Court Honor BoardÌýor the school’s journals by invitation after their 1L year, but some 2L students are invited as well. Below are links to information about admission criteria for these organizations: