Practical Lawyering Skills

Practical Lawyering Skills is a two-unit workshop course designed to enhance students' critical thinking and writing skills. Students will learn how to approach assignments or problems "like a lawyer." Class sessions will focus on techniques for efficiently reading and analyzing case and library files, organizing file material, and drafting legal documents for a specific audience. Students will also review writing organization, analysis, and issue prioritization. Students should expect to practice these techniques under time pressure. This course focuses on general bar exam writing strategy, as well as performance  tasks similar to those found on the California Bar Exam's performance tests, the Multistate Performance Test (MPT), and the upcoming NextGen Bar Exam.