Legal Research and Writing Across the Curriculum : Problems and Exercises

by Murray, Michael D.

• ISBN13: 9781599413983
• ISBN10: 1599413981
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-18
• Publisher: Foundation Pr

Summary

The Murray and DeSanctis titles are designed for the current generation of law students whose familiarity and comfort with on-line and computer-based learning create a demand for teaching resources that take advantage of that familiarity and comfort level. Legal Research and Writing Across the Curriculum: Problems and Exercises applies writing across the curriculum and writing in the discipline principles to the study of law. It provides research and writing problems, drafting problems, and writing in the law discipline problems that will enable law students to develop the skills necessary to practice law. This book will give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in projects to create the type of writing that is produced in law practice. The problems and exercises are an entry into the legal discourse community. They will be focused on measuring a student's ability to produce accurate documents that serve the purposes of the problems presented within the context of a specific area of law. Part I of the book presents writing across the curriculum and writing in the law discipline problems in each of the first year law school subject areas: contracts, torts, civil procedure, criminal law, property, and constitutional law. Parts II, III, and IV provide research exercises and writing problems for each topic of a first year legal research and writing course, and track the content of the other three books in Murray and DeSanctis's interactive legal research and writing series. Part V of the book takes the writing across the curriculum and writing in the law discipline experience to upper-division law school subjects of remedies, copyright, right of publicity, and advanced constitutional law - first amendment. Whether researched and written by themselves or in small groups, the problems in this book will simulate the practice of law and introduce students to the legal discourse of a new discipline. They will afford students a realistic chance to master the concepts and skills necessary for law practice. Paired with the book is an electronic, computer-based version of the text that adds links to on-line databases and internet-based resources and supplements the text with pop-up definitions from Black?s Law Dictionary. The electronic version of the text is searchable and highly portable, with internal and external navigation links, making them more valuable for use in class and out. The interactive text employs a layout that departs from the traditional, all-text casebook format through use of callout text boxes, diagrams, and color/border segregated feature sections for hypotheticals, references to scholarly debates, or other useful information for law students.