FCSL Certificate in Research, Writing, and Drafting for JD Plus 1 General Description The Research, Writing, and Drafting Certificate Program will allow students to specialize in the legal analysis, research, oral advocacy and writing skills needed for success in law practice. Students will produce a bound portfolio that they may use to not only market their skills to potential employers, but also as a reference for use in practice. This portfolio will consist of documents created in the process of completing the certificate courses (such as an appellate brief, motion, real estate transaction, etc.). No other law school in Florida offers students such a certificate. To receive a Research, Writing, and Drafting Certificate, students must 1) successfully complete the following required writing courses: (a) Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; (b) Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice; and (c) Lawyering Process for Transactional Practice; 2) successfully complete the Legal Editing course; 3) successfully complete six additional graded credits from the menu of elective certificate courses described below; and 4) achieve a 3.0 grade point average in the additional elective certificate courses. For instance, a B- in one three-credit elective certificate course and a B+ in another three-credit certificate course would achieve the 3.0 overall average required. Verification of eligibility for the certificate: Please forward a copy of your unofficial transcript to Professor Kirsten Clement (kclement@fcsl.edu) when you have completed the course requirements for the certificate so that your eligibility may be verified. Upon receipt of verification of your eligibility, the Registrar will designate the award of the certificate on your transcript and order your certificate, which will be mailed to you. Certificate Curriculum Total Credits Required: To earn the Research, Writing, and Drafting Certificate, students must complete 16 credits as set forth in this description. Required Courses: The required 10 credits come from the following courses: (a) Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing (3 credits); (b) Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice (3 credits); (c) Lawyering Process for Transactional Practice (3credits); and (d) Legal Editing (1 credit & pass/fail). Legal Editing (1 credit, Pass/Fail) Prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. This course is required for the Research, Writing and Drafting Certificate. This course will help students develop advanced critiquing and legal editing skills. Each week, several students will provide the class with copies of a legal document that they have produced in other classes or in clerkships. The class will then review each student s work and provide extensive feedback, after which the students will rewrite their work and present the documents for a second review by the class. Students must also pass a proficiency examination as a part of successfully completing this course. 1 This certificate description applies to students enrolled under the JD Plus Program. Thus, this applies to students enrolled in Fall 2013 and after, and the JD Fast Track students enrolled in Spring 2013 and after. Students who enrolled prior to Fall 2013 (except the JD Fast Track in Spring 2013) should follow the previous Program Certificate description.
Elective Certificate Courses: The remaining 6 credits must come from a combination of the approved elective certificate courses below. To satisfy the certificate requirements, students must earn a 3.0 (B) average in the 6 credits taken from the menu below. The courses marked with a + may satisfy the school s Skills requirement. Students may not take different or substitute elective courses to satisfy the writing certificate; only the courses listed in the menu below are approved as the elective certificate courses. ELECTIVE COURSES CREDITS Advanced Legal Research+ 3 Appellate Advocacy 3 Ethical and Professional Legal Writing 3 Judicial Writing 3 Persuasive Legal Writing+ 3 Pretrial Litigation Drafting+ 3 Advanced Online Legal Research+ 1 Supreme Court Litigation 3
Course Descriptions Advanced Legal Research (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: 45 credit hours in law school. This skills course surveys primary and secondary resources, both in print and electronic, available to the law practitioner. On-line research strategies and cost-effective techniques are discussed. Students prepare a Research Pathfinder on an approved topic of interest incorporating the research tools learned over the term. Class presentations will be given on the Research Pathfinder. Appellate Advocacy (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. Students in this course gain experience in the appellate process by writing appellate briefs and making appellate oral arguments. Ethical and Professional Legal Writing (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. In this course students will learn to identify and resolve the types of ethical and professional issues related specifically to legal writing and associated with particular types of documents, including predictive memoranda, client letters, demand letters, complaints, briefs and drafted documents. Students will prepare a series of smaller research papers addressing ethical and professional obligations for particular types of legal writing. These original research papers will integrate theory and application, identifying various ethical and professional issues in the context of specific written work attorneys produce in both litigation and transactional settings. Judicial Writing (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. This course will teach students to write in formats and styles unique to clerking or judging, i.e., the bench brief, judicial majority and dissenting opinions, and per curiam opinions. Through a series of writing assignments, students will learn how to improve, shorten and achieve clarity of expression in a style that is simple and understandable to those who read judicial documents. Additionally, the course is designed to provide students with a deeper understanding of the thought process that goes into the creation of legal precedent and the development of legal theory and social engineering that underlie the process. Persuasive Legal Writing (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. This course will teach advanced aspects of persuasion and specific techniques to make legal writing more persuasive. These techniques are based on principles relevant to persuasion that have been identified in other disciplines, such as classical rhetoric, psychology and literary theory. This class will give students multiple opportunities to participate in a variety of skills exercises designed to put into practice the advanced persuasion techniques addressed in the assigned text reading and class discussion. The types of exercises include: 1) performance exercises that require students to employ a specific persuasive writing strategy; 2) analysis exercises that require students to compose an essay critically analyzing another writer s use of persuasive strategy in an existing legal document; and 3) combined performance/analysis exercises that require students to employ a specific persuasive strategy and compose an essay critically analyzing the effort. Pretrial Litigation Drafting (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. Students in this course
will use hypothetical case files to draft documents common to pretrial litigation, such as: complaints; answers; discovery; motions; trial briefs; joint pretrial memoranda; settlement agreements; jury instructions; and client interview outlines. The assignments will be designed to help students refine their writing skills and better understand the real life expectations they will encounter in a litigation practice. Students will also be exposed to more complex litigation strategies and problems throughout the course. Advanced Online Legal Research (1 credit, graded)-prerequisites: 45 credit hours in law school. This class will teach students how to locate, analyze, organize, and evaluate primary and secondary electronic materials and resources in an efficient and cost-effective manner. By the conclusion of the class, they will be able to choose and use appropriate materials in electronic formats and describe the steps in a research plan. Coverage will include electronic search strategies for statutes, case law, journal articles, practice materials, and other topics which include current events, low cost options, search engines and Boolean searching. Specific course topics include: Boolean Searching/Search Strategies; Evaluating Resources; Finding Facts; Finding Statutes both State and Federal; Search Engines; Administrative Law Research; Legislative History Research; Free or Low Cost Research (Lois Law, Findlaw, Fast Case); State Materials and Local Ordinances; International Research; Cases-Free /Google; Secondary Sources, News, Current Awareness. Supreme Court Litigation (3 credits, graded)-prerequisites: Lawyering Process: Research and Objective Legal Writing; and Lawyering Process for Litigation Practice. This seminar is intended to introduce students to the history and operation of the U.S. Supreme Court, with particular emphasis on the most important cases being litigated and decided during the current Term. A discussion of particularly timely matters of judicial philosophy is also included. Students will select a current case to work on as a hypothetical Supreme Court law clerk, and will prepare a bench memorandum for his or her Justice. After Court conferences, students will then prepare and submit an opinion dealing with the case. Certificate Program Faculty Leigh Scales - Professor of Professional Skills B.S., cum laude, Florida State University; J.D., with honors, University of Florida Courses: Lawyering Process, Pretrial Litigation Drafting, Professional Responsibility, Persuasive Legal Writing, Legal Editing Professor Scales joined the FCSL faculty in 2001. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Scales practiced litigation for seven years with the Jacksonville law firms of Rogers, Towers, Bailey, Jones & Gay, P.A. and Marks, Gray, Conroy & Gibbs, P.A. Professor Scales specialized in the areas of medical malpractice defense, products liability, employment law, municipal and governmental law, and marital and family law, including dissolution of marriage, surrogacy, adoption, and prenuptial/postnuptial agreements. During her years of practice Professor Scales represented clients in numerous trials, argued before the First District Court of Appeal of Florida and represented clients at countless hearings, depositions, and mediations. Professor Scales served on the Board of Directors of the Young Lawyers Section of The Jacksonville Bar Association for four years. She also served on the Board of Directors of Learn To Read of Jacksonville, Inc. for six years. Professor Scales taught litigation at FCCJ for two years as well as high school English. She also interned in the Public Defender's Office. She is a member of The
Florida Bar and is admitted to practice before all Florida courts, as well as the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida. Kirsten Clement Associate Professor and Director of Lawyering Process University of Florida Levin College of Law, J.D. 2002; University of Florida, B.A. 1999 Courses: Lawyering Process; Ethical and Professional Legal Writing; Persuasive Legal Writing; Legal Editing Professor Clement joined the law faculty, in the Lawyering Process Department, in 2005. After graduating from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Professor Clement worked as an associate attorney at the insurance defense firm Marks Gray, P.A., practicing in the area of workers' compensation. Professor Clement serves as the coordinator for the Lawyering Process Department, and is a faculty advisor to students participating in the Florida Coastal School of Law Public Interest Research Bureau. Professor Clement has presented at both national and regional legal writing conferences, speaking on legal writing topics and the development and administration of the Research Bureau. Sander Moody - Associate Professor of Professional Skills St. John's University School of Law, J.D. 1995; University of Virginia, B.A. 1992 Courses: Evidence, Contracts, Appellate Advocacy, Business Crimes, Business Associations While in private practice, Professor Moody s practice concentrated in the area of complex commercial litigation. He primarily represented clients in technology licensing litigation, antitrust litigation and international reinsurance disputes with large law firms in New York City and Jacksonville. In addition, while practicing in New York City, Professor Moody served on the New York County Lawyers Association Ethics Committee. As the faculty advisor to the Moot Court program, his teams have won state, national and international moot court competitions.