LAW 517LEC - Advanced Legal Analysis, Writing & Research

The ultimate goal of this course is to prepare students to address complex legal issues as they arise in actual practice. This course will prepare students by focusing on legal issues that commonly arise in the context of civil litigation. Using one civil case file, students explore all phases of civil litigation, from intake through appeal. Students will conduct legal research, analyze legal problems and authorities, draft a variety of legal documents, complete distinct legal skill exercises, and write an appellate brief. This course will help students to develop sophisticated legal research skills, refine their legal analysis, and hone their legal writing. It will also reinforce fundamental civil procedure and legal practice concepts. Students will learn how to draft pleadings, develop an understanding of how discovery tools are used to obtain evidence to support your claim or defense, draft a pretrial motion brief, and develop an understanding of essential appellate concepts such as finality, preservation, and interlocutory appeal. By the end of this course, students will be more adept at conceptualizing and analyzing legal issues, have a more sophisticated understanding of legal elements, rules of law, statutory analysis, and case law synthesis, and will have applied these concepts to complex legal problems in a practical setting. PLEASE SEE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS ON UB LAW WEBSITE FOR SECTION TOPICS.

Credits: 3