Professional Responsibility Law in the U.S. and U.S. Legal Discourse I & II
U.S. Legal Discourse I & II
(One credit each; students may enroll for U.S. Legal Discourse I and II, or only U.S. Legal Discourse I.)
Professor Craig Hoffman
United States Legal Discourse I (USLD I) (1 credit)
Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 30, 2013 - August 15, 2013
Coming to Georgetown Law for an LL.M. offers a great opportunity to learn to write well in English in a legal context. Writing well in a legal context requires a thorough understanding of the U.S. legal system and a clear appreciation of how U.S. lawyers use legal texts to construct legal arguments. USLD I is an intensive introduction to U.S. legal practice. Students will act as associates in a U.S. law firm and will participate in a simulation involving the representation of an international client. Students will write a series of texts that contribute to the representation.
USLD I is required for all foreign-trained LL.M. students. USLD I is offered as part of the Summer Curriculum and also in the fall semester.
United States Legal Discourse II (USLD II) (1 credit)
Meets August 19, 2013 - August 23, 2013
*Note: Space is limited. Once all spots are filled, students will be put on a waitlist.
USLD II is a practical legal writing class. Students will be assigned a legal problem to solve. The problem will require original legal research and will be written in two drafts. Students will receive written feedback on their first drafts, have individual conferences with their professors about the first drafts, and then write a final draft. Feedback will address issues of legal analysis and effective use of English in a legal context.
USLD II is offered as part of the Summer Curriculum and also in the fall and spring semesters.
Professional Responsibility Law in the United States
(2 credits)
Meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, July 29, 2013 - August 16, 2013
Professors Sherman Cohn and Michael Frisch
This course provides a practical and practice-oriented approach to the ethical, moral and social issues that lawyers deal with in the practice of their profession. The central objectives are to prepare students to recognize ethical problems when they arise, to identify the pertinent authority--particularly the ethical code provisions (using the Model Rules of Professional Conduct)--that are most likely to bear on the question, and to arrive at a sound resolution. Necessary to these ends will be consideration of the ways in which the ethical codes address the often competing interests involved: those of clients, of opposing parties, of non-parties, of the system of justice generally, and of the lawyers themselves. Although the particular focus of the course is on ethical issues, and on the codes and other authority that govern the resolution of such issues, some attention will be paid to putting the subject in a setting that encompasses both a macroscopic view of the role of lawyers in society and a more earth-bound understanding of the processes, disciplinary and compensatory, by which the professional responsibilities of lawyers are enforced in the United States. This course is required for students planning to sit for the New York Bar Exam. It is also offered during the 2013 - 2014 academic year.
Questions: Contact Colleen Burke, cmb94@law.georgetown.edu.
