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Perform legal research and drafting according to the standards of legal ethics
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Research Project, Memorandum, Discussion Post
Criteria
Project includes research on how implicit bias affects legal research and writing in relation to gender, race, class, and other historically marginalized and underrepresented populations and the bias embedded in word choices
Project includes research on the historical roots of offensive terms including labels for individuals and groups of individuals and international implications of word choice
Written documents avoid use of your personal life experiences and personal views as part of legal analysis
Written analysis describes structural inequalities in the justice system based on cultural conditioning as a conduit for unsupported legal opinions and arguments
Written legal analysis avoids cultural bias based on untruths, stereotyping, and lack of respect for differences and assumptions related to race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability
Written legal analysis is void of imprecision, stereotyping, potential for unintended offense, and legal opinions based on unsupported assumptions, cultural biases, and faulty reasoning
Written office documents address clients, parties, counsel, and judges using appropriate workplace language and preferred terms for members of groups and individuals being named
Your list of national and local Model Rules of Professional Conduct for ethical standards that apply to legal research include competency, civility, and confidentiality
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Use accurate terminology associated with legal research
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response, Discussion Post
Criteria
Write using appropriate, basic legal terms associated with legal research
Apply the concept of precedent/stare decisis
Explain the necessity and purpose of legal research
Define primary and secondary sources of law
Written documents show evidence of accurately applied terminology and spelling
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Classify sources of law
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response
Criteria
Identify the primary and secondary sources of law
Differentiate between primary and secondary sources of law
Describe the role of the judicial branch of government with respect to the application of laws
Differentiate among the types of law created by the different branches of government
Your research and analysis differentiate among federal, state, and local sources of law
Use credible sources for legal and factual research
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Identify issues of law
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response, Memorandum
Criteria
Identify the law applicable to a set of client facts
Differentiate between relevant and non-relevant facts
Formulate a complete legal issue including elements of law and fact based on client scenarios
Refine and clarify drafted legal issues
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Differentiate between primary and secondary sources
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response, Memorandum
Criteria
Identify the types of primary sources
Explain when a source is defined as primary
Differentiate between mandatory and persuasive authority
Identify the weight of sources and authority of law
Identify secondary authority
Explain the appropriate use of secondary authority
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Use proper citation formatting
Assessment Strategies
Written Product: Project, Scenario Response, Memorandum, Performance
Criteria
Create complete case citations
Use the official and unofficial reporters for courts in the federal and state court systems
Create appropriate parallel citations when required
Create accurate statutory citations
Include public domain citations when required
Create complete administrative law citations
Use the Harvard Bluebook Guide to Citation form for citations
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Apply effective legal research strategies
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Discussion Post, Scenario Response, Memorandum
Criteria
Statutory research is performed accurately and meets guidelines as specified by instructor
Administrative law research is performed accurately and meets guidelines as specified by instructor
Case law research is performed accurately and meets guidelines as specified by instructor
Apply research to client factual scenarios
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Validate currency of legal research
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response, Memorandum
Criteria
Explain the tools and system used to validate legal research
Use industry-endorsed tools to validate the currency of legal research
Confirm the currency of legal sources while proofreading work of others
Update all sources of law in your writing
Maintain records of your research projects and results
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Perform basic legal research using appropriate tools
Assessment Strategies
Written Products: Project, Scenario Response, Memorandum
Criteria
Legal research tasks are completed using electronic legal research database
Use appropriate industry-endorsed tools to complete legal research within given deadlines
Use electronic legal research database search restrictions to focus research
Use alternative electronic resources available for legal research, including subscription-based, low-cost, and no-cost alternatives
Describe the benefits of using low-cost and no-cost legal research alternatives
Use appropriate tools for legal research and factual research