Course Syllabus and Expectations

Using mock criminal and civil cases as a context, students develop patterns of thought and skills for the real-work practice of law. Activities will include, among others: case theory and theme development; forging an attorney-client relationship;  interviewing, counseling, negotiation, oral advocacy, and drafting of pleadings, discovery, and motions. Problem solving, decision making, and the professional role of the lawyer are emphasized. Alternatives to trial, such as mediation, are explored. Pretrial Advocacy allows a high level of student participation in discussion and role-play.

Course Outcomes

This course concentrates upon pretrial advocacy in the context of both civil (Summers v. Hard) and criminal (State v. Hard) litigation. At the successful conclusion of this course, you will have acquired the skills that are essential to effective pretrial advocacy, including, among others, how to do the following:

1. formulate a case theory and theme;
2. forge an attorney-client relationship;
3. interview and counsel a client;
4. interview witnesses;
5. develop and manage a case;
6. visit the scene;
7. negotiate;
8. engage in alternative dispute resolution;
9. take and defend depositions;
10. engage in discovery;
11. argue a motion; and
12. draft these legal documents: a complaint; an answer; interrogatories; requests for production; requests for admissions and either a motion or response to a motion.

E-Portfolio

An additional course outcome is an e-portfolio file that you can open and include in it your work product developed during the course. The contents of the e-portfolio, which you may wish to show a potential employer, will include: a complaint; an answer; interrogatories; requests for production; requests for admissions; and either a motion or response.

Course and	Instructor information
Course code:     ADVOC 300 B # credits:    4.0 Location:   Online	Instructor:           Ronald H. Clark Phone:                 (206) 930-6601 Email:                  clarkrh@comcast.net Instructor:        Tana Lin                               (206) 225-8190                                 tlin1@seattleu.edu  Office hours:       Please phone or email to  arrange appointments. Communication by email works very well.

Weekly Schedule

The weekly schedule will include scheduled online Zoom sessions. Sessions will follow a similar pattern, as follows: 

1. A reading assignment in the text, Berger, Mitchell and Clark, Pretrial Advocacy: Planning, Analysis and Strategy 5th Edition, (Wolters Kluwer 2017 ) ;
2. Watching a presentation, such as a video of the taking of a deposition; 
3. Submission of a project relating to the reading. For example, if the reading assignment was to read a chapter on drafting pleadings, the assignment would be to draft a complaint; 
4. In the alternative to or in addition to the above-mentioned project, you will engage in a discussion of, for example, the topic covered by reading assignment; and
5. Zoom sessions at 4:00-5:40 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday.

Required readings and Supplemental Website

Required Text (Purchase):

Berger, Mitchell and Clark, Pretrial Advocacy: Planning, Analysis and Strategy 5th Edition, (Wolters Kluwer 2017 - hereinafter Pretrial Advocacy) 

Companion Website:

Pretrial Advocacy comes with a robust companion website aspenadvocacybooks.com  (Links to an external site.)  The password for the website is entered in the top right corner under Others > Pretrial and the password is PreTrOtKD$ The website supplement also contains the case files for both the criminal and civil cases. This companion website is filled with valuable information that you can use during this course and when you are in practice. It contains as you can see below: Assignments; Case Files; Exemplary Forms; Movies and Additional Material.

Collected on the site under the Additional Materials tab are supplementary materials - shown below - that you may find invaluable when you are in practice.

The Case Files that you will need to perform the assignment exercises can be accessed by clicking on Case Files (Links to an external site.). You need not have to use the password.

Assignments, Evaluation and Grading

Note: There is no final exam in this course.

Your grade will be based upon how well you perform projects and your participation in discussions. Each activity is given points for its relative value as shown below.

The grade book in Canvas will show your points on each project or discussion. 

The  points are awarded based on the following criteria: 

(1) for a project, the student makes a good-faith effort to accomplish the project and demonstrates a firm grasp of the course materials and for a discussion,  the student adhered to the discussion guidelines

(2) professional language and courtesy towards other students and the professor.

Points usually are awarded after completion of not only the project but also an associated Zoom session. For example, if you have an assigned  discussion about witness interviewing and a workshop during which you interview a witness, you will need to not only contribute to the discussion of witness interview but also attend the Zoom workshop and interview a witness.

Graded Activity                                                     Relative Value

A report or discussion                                         3 points  for each of the 20 for a combined total of 60    points                                                                                          

Complaint; Answer; Written                          8 points each - projects for a  total  of 40 points

Discovery; Motion or Response

and Motion Argument             

Submitting your Assignments and Deadlines

All assignments must be submitted through Canvas.

Assignments must be submitted by the set deadlines. It is essential that you plan ahead for all eventualities to ensure that none of your work is late. Check the weekly schedule on Canvas to see when assignments are due. Block out time in your calendar now so that you know exactly when you will be working on assignments for this course. Make sure you give yourself extra time just in case you run into difficulty with an assignment, have a computer problem, or feel unwell.

Any late work will receive a 1 point grade reduction for each day late. Assignments are considered late if received after 3:59 p.m. on the date due.

If you are unable to complete course requirements because of extenuating circumstances, please notify Ron Clark on or before the date the assignment is due.

Student responsibilities for learning

You can expect to devote an average of ten hours per week to this course on readings discussions, and projects

Technology Requirements

This class is taught online using Canvas . Canvas does not work well with Internet Explorer. You will want to use Firefox, Edge, or Chrome. If you are having trouble, try switching browsers or updating the browser that you are using. Canvas works pretty well with mobile devices too, though if you're having issues (some functionality doesn't work in the mobile platform), try switching to a computer.

Technology support for the course is provided by Instructure, the company that makes Canvas.  You can find more information about Canvas, as well as contact information for Technical Support, at https://www.seattleu.edu/cdlihelp/students/canvas/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

It can also be helpful to post questions about the course to the Discussions page, using the Technical or Mechanical Issues thread. Your classmates may have already encountered and figured out a glitch that is holding you up, or they may be about to encounter the same issue and your post may save them some frustration.

Attendance

In this online course, and, unless we inform you otherwise,  we will have a Zoom session from 4:00-5:40 p.m. each Monday and Wednesday. Please  treat this as you would if a Court had scheduled the time and date and don't be late.  Because this is an online course, this can make it difficult to foster a sense of community. we hope that the discussions, small group work and our extensive explanatory and constructive feedback will create some sense of collective endeavor. We encourage you to use the discussions to reach out to your classmates.

Zoom

You will need to do two things for the Zoom sessions to work properly for you. First, when signing in to Zoom use your seattleu.edu address. Second, do not attend using a phone. Use either a tablet or a computer.

Communications

The majority of the communication between you, your classmates and me will occur through this Canvas website.  We will use Announcements to communicate with you as a class about both procedural and substantive issues. Announcements will appear on the home page. Make sure that you are notified of announcements about the course. To get notifications, click on Account in the upper left corner of Canvas. Then you will see Notification Preferences. Under Course Activities and Announcements, click the check mark next to your preferred email address. The check mark indicates that you want notification right away.  Canvas has a number of other automatic notification settings. You can modify or change these as you like. The default setting uses your SU email account.  We ask that you enter your preferred email address (if different from your SU account) and ensure that you are receiving, at a minimum, regular notifications from Announcements. Read this guide  (Links to an external site.) to learn how to change your Notifications Settings. 

Academic Conduct

You are not permitted to collaborate on assignments unless otherwise noted. Each assignment (including discussion posts) must be your own work, drafted individually by you. That said, if you are stuck or have questions,  contact me for further direction.

Accommodation Statement

If you have, or think you may have, a disability (including an "invisible disability" such as a learning disability, a chronic health problem, or a mental health condition) that interferes with your performance as a student in this class, you are encouraged to discuss support services and/or accommodations with Donna Deming, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at dcdeming@seattleu.edu or 206-398-4307.

Notice on Religious Accommodations

It is the policy of Seattle University to reasonably accommodate students who, due to the observance of religious holidays, expect to be absent or endure a significant hardship during certain days of their academic course or program. Please see, Policy on Religious Accommodations for Students (https://www.seattleu.edu/media/policies/Policy-on-Religious-Accommodations-for-Students---FINAL.pdf (Links to an external site.)), which requires a written request for accommodation among other things.