LAW 824LEC - Criminal Advocacy Intensive

An effective litigator is a shrewd strategist, a persuasive writer, and a confident orator. To that end, this seminar aims to improve student advocacy skills holistically using a simulated criminal case from arrest through appeal. Students will learn how to draft a criminal complaint, a motion to suppress, and an appellate brief, and how to argue a suppression motion and an appellate argument. Thus, rather than perfecting a single piece of writing or argument over the course of a semester, the goal is for students to develop a toolkit of skills they can use in real-world practice. As a result, students will go through several rounds of editing with the instructor and their peers before assignments are graded. Between each assignment, we will focus on practical skills such as witness interviewing, issue-spotting, discovery, and more. Each class will be split between a focus on these practical skills and a collaborative working process on students’ ongoing assignments.

Credits: 3