LAW 114C - Adv Practice: Criminal

The Pretrial Criminal course is designed to introduce students to persuasive pretrial advocacy in the criminal law context. Unlike what you might see on television, criminal cases are not usually won in 22 minutes in the courtroom. Rather, the bulk of criminal litigation is handled pretrial through pleadings, discovery, witness interviews, and pretrial motions. Students will follow a single criminal case from the commission of a crime to the start of trial, focusing on the behind-the-scenes issues that criminal lawyers are forced to address every day. Students will receive reports of a crime, interview the defendant and/or the victims, investigate the evidence, and determine which charges to bring. Students will then engage in various pretrial activities typically found in criminal practice, such as moving for discovery, preparing exhibits for trial, and negotiating plea deals. Students will write two or more substantial motions to suppress. In addition to attending practice classes with adjunct professors, the students will register for and attend an additional required writing class for the first six weeks of the semester. The class will culminate with a final oral argument based upon a written motion to suppress.