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Skills Courses
Child Advocacy Clinic Credits: 6 Students in
the CAC work on a variety of cases and projects concerning children and
low-income families. In many of our cases, students act as Law Guardians
(attorneys) for children who have been brought before the family court
because of child abuse and/or child neglect concerns. Many of these
children have been removed from the care of their parents, at least
temporarily, and are residing in foster care or with relatives. In these
cases, students are responsible for ensuring that the legal interests
and needs of these children are being met. As part of this
representation, students appear in court hearings in the Superior Court
of New Jersey, Essex County, Family Part.On other cases,
students represent family members in fair hearings (like mini-trials)
before administrative law judges (of the Office of Administrative Law
and the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review) where children
have been wrongly denied needed public benefits or incorrectly
terminated from benefit programs. In these hearings, students do
everything from interviewing clients to writing briefs to representing
clients at hearings.Community education and outreach also are an
important part of the work of the CAC. Accordingly, in addition to
individual casework, students are responsible for at least one community
education project each semester. Past projects have included conducting
educational workshops for youth aging out of foster care and youth
detained at juvenile detention centers, planning and presenting at
conferences for kinship caregivers, preparing written educational
materials, and staffing information tables at various community
gatherings.What is unique about the CAC is its holistic,
collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach to addressing the needs of
children and families. In all its work, the CAC collaborates closely
with all of the other clinics at Rutgers School of Law and with
professionals in other disciplines in addressing the multiple issues,
legal and non-legal, that the children and their families may face. In
addition to fundamental lawyering skills, substantive law, and
professional responsibility, the CAC's curriculum teaches law students
the importance of evaluating cases in a comprehensive manner and how to
work effectively with persons from other disciplines.
Constitutional Litigation Clinic Credits: 6 The
Constitutional Litigation Clinic, since its founding in 1970, has
worked on cutting-edge constitutional reform. Through the clinic,
students not only learn the law, they make the law. Constitutional
Litigation Clinic students have litigated a remarkable array of landmark
civil rights and international human rights cases. The clinic's
extensive docket has included the nation's first suits against police
surveillance of political activists; a successful challenge before the
U.S. Supreme Court of Congress' authority to refuse to seat a duly
elected member; a successful defense of the right of non-profit
advocates to distribute leaflets to voters door-to-door and in shopping
malls; lawsuits to implement affirmative action programs and to enforce
affordable housing laws; protection of immigrants' rights; protection of
the rights of alternative political parties; a successful challenge to
municipal ordinances barring use of public parks by non-residents; suits
against the state police for unreasonable searches of motorists on New
Jersey highways; and a successful challenge to the use of electronic
voting machines that don't produce a verifiable paper ballot. In the
past few years, the Constitutional Litigation Clinic has expanded its
docket by litigating international human rights issues both in the
United States and in international tribunals. Clinic suits have
developed new law to protect political asylum seekers, including the
first decision from a federal court that U.S. officials can be sued for
violations of international human rights. Students are actively involved
in all aspects of the clinic's work including deciding which cases to
take, interviewing clients, developing the facts, crafting legal
theories, drafting legal briefs, and preparing for oral arguments.
Federal Tax Law Clinic Credits: 6 Prerequisite: Federal Income Tax. The
Federal Tax Law Clinic represents low-income individuals in disputes
with the IRS. Students represent clients at audits, negotiate with IRS
appeals, and actually litigate cases in the U.S. Tax Court. Principal
educational goals include developing familiarity with tax rules and
procedures and ethical considerations in tax practice. Students develop
skills in interviewing, counseling and negotiation through simulation
exercises and then use these skills in their cases. Students argue a
mock motion and participate in a mock Tax Court trial.
Urban Legal Clinic Credits: 8 Prerequisite: Evidence and status as third-year student. The
Urban Legal Clinic represents individuals and groups in a variety of
cases arising from, or exacerbated by, urban poverty. These include
landlord-tenant, family (divorce, child support, domestic violence,
adoption), consumer (consumer fraud, debt collection defense, legal
malpractice), social security disability, criminal (non-indictable
offenses), and juvenile delinquency matters. Students regularly appear
at hearings or in court on behalf of clinic clients. Principal
educational goals include developing skills in interviewing, counseling,
negotiating, fact investigation, and all phases of trial practice.
Community Law Clinic Credits: 6 or 8 The
Community Law Clinic is one of the nation¿s first combined community
development-corporate-transactional-intellectual property law clinics
and the school's only primarily non-litigation clinic. Students provide
legal start-up services to public interest-oriented entrepreneurs and
act as counsel to small businesses, non-profits, charter schools and to
major community development corporations (CDC's) in an effort to help
transform blighted communities by creating employment opportunities,
supportive local services and institutions, and affordable housing.As
counsel to small businesses and non-profits, clinic law students:
oversee asset purchases, mergers and acquisitions, and development of
arts and entertainment projects; provide legal guidance on trademark,
copyright, patent and related intellectual property issues; lead young
non-profit corporations through the complex process of achieving federal
recognition as tax-exempt charitable organizations; negotiate real
estate deals, equipment leases and other business contracts. As counsel
to charter schools, clinic law students: review contracts to ensure
compliance with the law and negotiate and draft staff and teacher
employment contracts.In all of these functions, students learn
to blend business and legal advice, and are trained to be sound
corporate counsel while representing community businesses and
organizations that serve the underrepresented. The clinic has helped
launch countless charitable organizations serving New Jersey's urban
poor, and has played a major role in securing safe and affordable
housing for hundreds of low-income families.
Special Education Clinic Credits: 6 Students
who take this clinic for the first time also must take, or have taken
previously, the Special Education Law Seminar for an additional 2
credits. The Special Education Clinic provides legal
representation to indigent parents of children with disabilities,
typically in the urban areas of Essex County, seeking special education
programs and services. Representation entails everything from
interviewing clients, reviewing school and expert records, researching
and drafting legal documents, appearing at meetings with school
personnel, mediation, emergency, and due process administrative
hearings, and handling federal court proceedings either on the merits or
for attorneys¿ fees. The clinic is open to both second and third-year
students, because all students are eligible to appear in mediation and
due process hearings under the applicable rules. The clinic also engages
in community education projects and activities. The Special Education
Law Seminar includes substantive law, simulation exercises, and guest
lecturers from both the educational and legal fields. All seminar
students are required to write a paper on a designated topic related to
the education of children with disabilities or draft a brief based upon a
specific fact pattern.
Advanced Legislative Research Credits: 1 This
one-credit intensive course will be offered during the summer session.
Instruction will consist of lectures and direct research over three
class days. Students will study the theory and methodology of performing
legislative research and compiling legislative histories and learn to
use legislative research as a tool for legal advocacy. The course will
focus on federal legislative materials as well as legislative documents
in New Jersey and New York. Students will gain hands-on experience
utilizing the resources of the Rutgers Law Library and the library's
computer labs and examine legislative documents in both print and online
formats. Each student will produce a legal memorandum that analyzes the
legislative history of a particular statute.
Advanced Trial Practice Credits: 2 Prerequisites: Basic Trial Presentation and Evidence Advanced
Trial Practice will afford students the opportunity to refine their
litigation skills and to explore more advanced aspects of trial
advocacy, such as jury selection, case theory and strategy, the ways in
which jurors process information, working with experts, principles of
persuasion, storytelling and narrative, and the use of computers in the
courtroom. All students will be involved in weekly in-class simulations.
Judges and practicing attorneys will attend classes frequently and
speak on different aspects of trials, and will help to critique the
students as they do the class exercises.
Adversarial Negotiations Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Negotiation or Introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution. Negotiation
is driven by several factors: the personalities of the participants,
the relationship between the parties, the nature of the dispute, and the
desired outcome, among others. Those factors dictate the choice of
negotiation strategies and tactics employed by lawyers/participants.
This course will explore the differences between cooperative and
competitive negotiation. Using the philosophy of the martial arts,
particularly Eastern, it will focus on identifying techniques and
tactics that may be employed defensively or offensively in those
situations where the players believe winning is everything.Alternative Dispute Resolution Credits: 3 This
course introduces law students to the range of dispute resolution
processes increasingly in use both within and outside of the courts.
These techniques, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and
so-called hybrid processes such as early neutral evaluation, summary
jury trials, and mini-trials, have been incorporated into both state
and federal court programs and may be available through private
providers. Under a recently-adopted New Jersey Court Rule, lawyers are
urged to become familiar with available CDR (Complementary Dispute
Resolution) programs and inform their clients of them.
Appellate Advocacy Credits: 3 A
study of appellate practice and procedure, brief writing, and oral
advocacy through both lectures and practical experiences. Each student
is given the record of an actual case and is required to prepare a full
brief and present an oral argument.
Civil Commercial Trials Credits: 2 This
course examines the development of fact and law issues for and at trial
as well as trial tactics and strategies from jury selection to closing
argument in a variety of cases such as libel, unfair competition, trade
secrets, and contracts. Teaching materials include actual trial
transcript excerpts. Students also participate in mock trial exercises
(e.g., opening statements and direct and cross-examinations). Written
work includes short memoranda on evidentiary and trial motion issues.
(Negotiating & Structuring) Complex Corporate Transactions Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Business Associations. Corporate Finance and Mergers and Acquisitions will be helpful but neither is required.This
course will provide an in depth analysis of the various legal facets of
large, complex transactions, such as a merger or a joint venture, and
how those facets relate to the underlying agreement and the lawyer's
role in the transaction. Students will learn to understand (1) the core
provisions of the relevant agreements, (2) what the legal and business
underpinnings of these provisions are and (3) how those provisions are
negotiated in "real life" transactions to create value for and balance
risks between the parties. Emphasis will be placed on thinking
thoroughly through the multi-faceted issues involved, relating legal
issues to business issues, understanding the design of the agreement and
how its elements interrelate and finding solutions that are
(creatively) tailored to the circumstances. Much of the class will be
devoted to experiential learning through drafting and simulation
exercises. Accordingly, active class participation is required.
Complex Litigation Credits: 2 This
course explores procedural and jurisdictional issues as well as
strategic considerations that lawyers are likely to encounter in actual
federal and state court litigation. The perspective of plaintiffs' and
defendants' counsel is considered with emphasis on multi-district and
class action litigation. The initial focus is on forum selection, the
Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation, removal to federal court
and remand, misjoinder, and forum non conveniens. The course then
examines in depth the prosecution and defense of class actions,
including class certification for litigation or settlement purposes in
consumer fraud, mass disaster, product liability, civil rights and
antitrust litigation. Following the progress of litigation as it
approaches trial, the course examines Daubert and Frye hearings to
exclude expert testimony and other motions in limine. Exercises in
preparing briefs and arguing motions based upon the subjects of the
course will enable students to improve their advocacy abilities.
Legislative reform proposals for this kind of litigation will also be
analyzed.
Criminal Trial Presentation Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Evidence. Practice
in preparing for and conducting criminal trials with systematic study
of problems of gathering evidence, strategy in planning the trial, order
of proof, empaneling a jury, openings to jury, direct and
cross-examination, and summations.
Entertainment Contract Drafting & Negotiation Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Either Entertainment Law & Business or Law of the Entertainment Industry. Contract
drafting and negotiation is one of the most significant and critical
functions of an attorney in the entertainment industry. This course will
help students develop their knowledge of the entertainment industry and
their contract drafting and negotiation skills. This will be
accomplished by contracting drafting assignments, mock negotiations,
critique sessions, and classroom lectures. Students will learn both the
dynamics and deal points of importance in the music, motion picture,
literary publishing, personal management, and related industries.
Evidentiary Issues at Trial Credits: 1 Prerequisite: Evidence Students who are enrolled in Advanced Trial Practice Seminar may not enroll in this course.
This
two and a half-day evidence advocacy program focuses on special
evidence issues presented at trial with respect to the legal and
presentation issues that commonly arise using business records,
photographs, illustrative and demonstrative aids, and summary charts.
The program includes a legal and strategy analysis of the evidence
advocacy issues presented by specific problems and then participants
will offer the exhibits into evidence through relevant witnesses in a
simulated trial setting in small group performance workshops. The
analysis and performance workshops will be supplemented by a lecture on
the effective advocacy with exhibits at trial, using exhibits in the
courtroom, the relevant evidentiary and presentation issues presented by
the specific exhibits.
Fact Investigation Credits: 3 Cases
are determined by applying a set of rules or laws to the particular
facts of a controversy. In the cases studied in previous courses, facts
were provided by appellate courts in their opinions. As a case develops
at trial, however, the facts are provided not by the court, but by the
attorney. This course explores the process by which factual information
is obtained, the manner in which facts shape legal claims, and, in turn,
the way in which legal issues shape factual investigation and the
presentation of facts at trial.
Foreign, Comparative, and International Legal Research Credits: 1 As
the practice of law becomes increasingly influenced by extra-judicial
or extra-national events and organizations, knowledge of foreign,
comparative, and international legal research becomes increasingly
important. This course introduces upper-class students to the research
strategies and resources useful in the study of transnational legal
organizations, foreign jurisdictions, and public international law. Upon
completing this course, students should be able to identify and
evaluate research resources for public international law, the laws of
foreign jurisdictions, and legal materials from international and
non-governmental organizations.
Immigrant Rights Clinic (to begin Spring 2012 semester) Credits: 6 Pre-
or Co-requisite: Students taking the clinic in the fall semester must
take, or have taken previously, Refugee Law. There are no pre- or
co-requisites for students taking the clinic in the spring semester, but
it is recommended that spring semester clinic students take, or have
taken previously, Immigration & Naturalization Law or the
Immigration Policy Seminar. The Immigrant Rights Clinic, the
newest of the Rutgers-Newark clinics, serves the local and national
immigrant population through a combination of individual client
representation and broader advocacy projects. The IRC is a one-semester
clinic; however, the type of work engaged in by the fall semester IRC
students differs significantly from the type of work engaged in by the
spring semester IRC students.Students enrolled in the IRC in the
fall semesters engage in individual client representation. Under
faculty supervision, students represent immigrants seeking various forms
of relief from removal, including asylum for persecuted individuals;
protection for victims of human trafficking; protection for battered
immigrants; protection for victims of certain types of crimes;
protection for abused, abandoned, or neglected immigrant children; and
cancellation of removal. Students are responsible for all aspects of
representing their clients, including interviewing and counseling,
preparing witnesses, engaging in fact investigation, conducting legal
research, drafting litigation documents (such as affidavits, briefs, and
evidence packets), and oral advocacy. Ideally, each team of students
represents its client at an immigration hearing at the end of the
semester. In the fall semesters, the weekly seminar class focuses on
substantive humanitarian immigration law and live client lawyering
skills.Students enrolled in the IRC in the spring semesters
engage in broader advocacy projects on behalf of organizational clients,
primarily immigrant rights organizations. The subject matter of the
advocacy projects varies from year to year, but might include detention
conditions, due process concerns, access to counsel, family
reunification, conditions of supervision, consequences of criminal
convictions, or enforcement issues. The final products of the projects
also vary and might include toolkits for practitioners, research
reports, white papers for legal services organizations, amicus briefs,
or pro se materials for litigants. Working in teams, students build
professional relationships with government and nongovernmental
policymakers, academics, individual immigrants, public interest
organizations, and others. Under faculty supervision, students have
primary responsibility for making project-related decisions, conducting
necessary factual and legal research, and implementing their decisions.
In the spring semesters, the weekly seminar class focuses on substantive
immigration law and policy and advocacy skills.In both semesters,
students attend rounds sessions and team meetings in addition to the
weekly seminar class.
Intensive Deposition Advocacy Credits: 1 Prerequisite: Evidence Students who have taken Fact Investigation may not enroll in this course. This
three-day deposition program focuses on effectively eliciting relevant
information and obtaining admissions through depositions. Participants
will enhance their deposition information gathering through frequent
opportunities to conduct deposition examinations and defend depositions
in a simulated deposition setting, followed by faculty commentary and
critique. Strategy sessions will include legal analysis of the issues in
the case, developing working theories of the case, planning deposition
strategy, and effective use of documents and information previously
obtained through discovery. Lectures on several topics relevant to
effective depositions will supplement participant performances and
faculty critique. The exercises will focus on witness preparation,
dealing with preliminary matters, a technique for effectively eliciting
complete information from witnesses, using exhibits, dealing with
obstreperous opposing counsel, obtaining admissions and theory testing.
Intensive Trial Advocacy Credits: 2 This
skills course will focus on the procedure, strategy, and evidentiary
issues involved in presenting a case to a jury, whether in the civil or
criminal context. Course will include lectures, discussion workshops,
and practical skills workshops in a mock trial setting.
International Alternative Dispute Resolution Credits: 2 This
course will explore the distinctive fora, processes, and law governing
alternative dispute resolution in the international context by examining
the entire dispute resolution process from beginning to end, i.e., from
drafting alternative dispute resolution clauses to enforcement of
awards or settlements. The course will focus on these issues in the
commercial context. There will also be an emphasis upon different forms
of dispute resolution such as mediation and arbitration and the cultural
differences of which international practitioners should be aware.
Students may be invited to participate in an international mediation
competition in the spring semester.
Labor & Employment Arbitration Seminar Credits: 2 This
seminar will consider practice and procedure in public and private
sector labor arbitration, and mandatory arbitration agreements for
non-union employees. The purpose of the seminar is to study the
practical and legal aspects of the arbitration process, and to consider
the differences between labor arbitration in a union setting, and
mandatory arbitration for non-union employees. Among the topics
discussed will be: sources of arbitration law, discovery techniques,
submission of an issue to arbitration, conduct of the hearing, rules of
evidence, burdens of proof, remedies, and the enforcement and vacation
of an arbitrator¿s award. Each student will be required to attend one
actual arbitration and to write a post-hearing brief. Guest lecturers
will include a labor arbitrator and a Superior Court Judge.
Labor Negotiations Seminar Credits: 2 This
seminar will present an overview of the case law in the public and
private sectors on negotiations practice and procedure, and a practical
application of the law. Students will initially participate in a few
short mock negotiations. For the remainder of the semester, students
will be broken into teams and will negotiate an actual labor contract.
The last day of the semester students will negotiate, as in actual labor
negotiations, until a final agreement is reached. Students will each be
required to write a memorandum of agreement memorializing the agreement
reached. During the semester, students will be required to solve a few
short problems regarding scope of negotiations issues that grow out of
semester long negotiations. They will be required to research a short
legal memorandum for each problem. Guest lecturers will include a
mediator and a union and/or management negotiator.
Legislative Drafting Credits: 2 The
course will focus upon the study of statutes generally, with a goal of
developing facility in reading and understanding statutes as well as
writing them. We will examine the sources from which statutes are often
derived, the different kinds of statutes (i.e., criminal, civil,
administrative, etc.), current styles in statutory writing, and the
parts of a statute and their functions. Students will attempt to write a
statute on a subject that presents difficult problems in order to
explore the kinds of issue that must be addressed in statutory drafting.
Legislative Research Credit: 1 Prerequisite: Legal Research & Writing I & II. This course does not satisfy the residence credit requirement. This
intensive course will consist of lectures and direct research over
three class days. Students will study the theory and methodology of
performing legislative research and compiling legislative histories and
learn to use legislative research as a tool for legal advocacy. The
course will focus on federal legislative materials as well as
legislative documents in New Jersey and New York. Students will gain
hands-on experience utilizing the resources of the Rutgers Law Library
and the library's computer labs and examine legislative documents in
both print and online formats. Each student will produce a legal
memorandum that analyzes the legislative history of a particular
statute. This course will be graded Pass/Fail. Enrollment in this course
is limited.
Matrimonial Litigation Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Family Law This
course aims at familiarizing the students with matrimonial litigation
practice. Specifically, the students will learn all procedural aspects
associated with the commencement of a divorce action and the related
pre-trial motion practice necessary to prepare a divorce action for
trial. The students will then be taught substantive law in four key
areas of New Jersey family practice litigation: equitable distribution,
custody, alimony and child support, and attorney's fees. Finally, each
student will be given an opportunity to draft and argue before a New
Jersey Superior Court Judge three distinct motions: an application for
pendente lite relief, one to enforce court ordered obligations, and an
in limine application to address trial related issues.
Mediation Credits: 2 or 3 Mediation,
in which a neutral third party assists people in resolving their
disputes, has witnessed a phenomenal growth in the last few years. Many
court systems use mediation as a way to settle cases without a trial.
Lawyers may urge their clients to try mediation to get better agreements
less expensively, without the hostility and aggravation that often
accompany litigation. The practice of mediation seems to be on its way
to becoming a profession. Even if they do not act as mediators
themselves, lawyers may find themselves representing parties in
mediation sessions or drafting mediation clauses for contracts. But
mediation raises substantial questions about fairness, accuracy,
confidentiality, equity, and differences in power: Should it replace the
traditional ways of resolving disputes? This course will cover the key
skills that mediators should have, using simulated mediations in which
students will participate. It will also cover the conceptual issues that
should be understood to make sound judgments about the use of
mediation. After initial skills training in the course, students may
have the opportunity to act as mediators in real disputes, such as those
pending in small claims courts, municipal courts, and other venues.
Students should have enough flexibility in their schedules to make
themselves available for this kind of work. This course may be
used to satisfy part of the requirements for the Certificate in Conflict
Management. It is designed to follow up in a more intensive way some of
the concepts introduced in Alternative Dispute Resolution, and may be
of particular interest to students who have taken, or are concurrently
taking, that course but Alternative Dispute Resolution is not required.
Negotiations Credits: 3 Lawyers
may negotiate more than they engage in any other single task. Arranging
business deals, setting the terms of employment (both union and
non-union), transferring real estate, guiding divorces, setting all
kinds of civil litigation, and plea bargaining are all familiar features
of lawyers' work. Good negotiating involves both skill and
understanding of what one is doing. This course pays attention to both.
Students participate in and critique several simulated negotiation
exercises, drawn from varied aspects of legal practice. The course also
surveys key modern ideas about negotiation. The last few decades have
seen a substantial growth in the breadth and richness of negotiation
theory, and the course will pay attention to how theory can usefully
inform practice. This course is designed to follow up in a more
intensive way some of the concepts introduced in Alternative Dispute
Resolution, but Alternative Dispute Resolution is not a prerequisite.
New York Legal Research Credits: 1 Students
will gain an in-depth knowledge of New York State primary and secondary
legal materials in both online and print formats. New York legal
databases will be explored each week through in-class exercises. New
York City legal materials will also be covered. For the final paper,
students will produce a five-page annotated bibliography on a
substantive area of New York law.
Patent Claim Drafting Credits: 2 Prerequisite: Patent Law. Course limited to 12 students. This
course focuses on the mechanics of drafting patent claims to define the
protected scope of an invention. The course covers drafting and
analysis of independent and dependent claims, apparatus claims, Markush
groups, means-plus-function limitations, method and system claims, and
other claim types. Students are given a number of claim drafting
homework exercises focusing on simple inventions that persons from any
technical discipline should be able to understand, and receive
individualized feedback on their claims.
Special Education Law Seminar Credits: 2 The
course will start with an historical examination of the public
education system¿s treatment of children with disabilities, and the
subsequent federal legislative response to the inadequate educational
opportunities afforded them (namely the Individuals with Disabilities
Educational Act (IDEA) and its predecessor Acts, Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)). We
then will cover each step of the special education process, including child find, evaluation, eligibility and classification, individualized
educational program (IEP) development, student discipline, procedural
safeguards, court proceedings, available remedies, and the meaning of
the statutory requirement that schools provide a free and appropriate
public education in the least restrictive environment. At each stage,
we will examine the applicable statutory law and regulations, the
seminal cases governing the particular area and the relevant policy
issues.This course is open to all students, whether or not
they are taking the Special Education Clinic. All students who are
taking the Special Education Clinic for the first time must take this
course simultaneously, if they have not taken the class previously.
Trial Presentation Credits: 2 or 3 Prerequisite: Evidence. Practice
in preparing for and conducting trials, including development of trial
strategy, opening statements and summations, the making of a trial
record, direct and cross-examination of witnesses, and preparation and
introduction of exhibits. Intensive classroom exercises will culminate
in simulated bench trials, in which students will participate as members
of trial teams. In connection with these trials, participant trial
teams will be expected to submit trial memoranda of approximately 10-20
pages in length. Each case can be tried in approximately 4-5 hours and
each is conducted in one trial day, thereby simulating an actual trial
schedule.
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