LAW 701SEM - Federal Court Practice & Procedure

You’ve learned a great deal about what the law says, but after you graduate and enter the workforce, how do you use that information to practice law? This class will strive to bridge that gap, and to expose you to how law is practiced focusing on how that happens in the federal courts. We’ll address topics that you probably haven’t been exposed to, and will expand on some topics that you have worked with in other classes. This class will spend time addressing these practice (and practical) issues in both criminal and civil cases, and will look at timely and relevant issues in recent cases. We’ll examine pleadings from real cases, and use them to apply the law. For example, how do you decide if a complaint actually satisfies Iqbal and Twombly? Should I move to dismiss under Rule 12? We’ll take real complaints, go through them, and discuss potential motions to dismiss. In another context, what do you do after receiving a report and recommendation? Should you object? And to what? We’ll work through a real case with real pleadings, and give you insight into this process which applies to both civil and criminal cases. The course will be graded primarily through two written assignments and as a seminar class, one of them is considered a significant writing assignment.

Credits: 3