LAW 766 - Advanced Professional Development II for 2Ls and 3Ls (APD II)

Spring Credits: 2 Fredric Lederer Prerequisite(s): LAW 765 OR LAW 765 OR LAW 765 OR LAW 765

Advanced Professional Development is a two semester legal skills course based on simulated (role-played) clients. The course supplies additional experiential lawyering skills and experience to both 2L and 3L students. For purposes of simulated representation, participating students will be divided into two simulated law firms, each with two working groups of four students. Each firm will have a supervising faculty “Senior Partner.” Each working group will represent at least two realistic role-played simulated clients. APD II requires APD I and will deal with more advanced and realistic role-played clients than did APD I, with clients ordinarily coming from outside the law school. Each client will require student counsel to interview, negotiate, conduct legal research, and prepare written memoranda. APD II will require student counsel to use creativity and a range of legal mechanisms and procedures to achieve client goals. Time-keeping and (simulated) billing are required. Clients will present occasional professional responsibility issues for student resolution. When the course is fully implemented, student lawyers will also have to use proficiently a wide selection of legal technology. Client representations will be “open-ended,” meaning that should unforeseen issues develop in a representation, students must cope with them unless the Senior Partners determine that doing so would not be academically advantageous. Dean Ende will contribute his experience, knowledge and the results of his discussions with law firms and other employers to ensure that the course addresses what employers believe to be deficiencies in many law school graduates. The course curriculum will have input from Dean Ende, Professor Killinger, and Professor Roberts. Grading is Honors, pass/fail.