Universität Wien

030233 KU Legal Writing (2024W)

Legal Writing and Related Global Legal Skills

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 3 - Rechtswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
MIXED
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

21.10.2024, 9:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00, meeting in Brno
22.10.2024, 9:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00, meeting in Brno
23.10.2024, 9:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00, meeting in Brno
24.10.2024, 9:00-12:00 meeting in Brno

  • Wednesday 09.10. 09:00 - 10:00 Seminarraum SEM34 Schottenbastei 10-16, Juridicum, 3.OG (Kickoff Class)
  • Monday 14.10. 17:00 - 19:00 Digital
  • Monday 21.10. 09:00 - 12:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Monday 21.10. 14:00 - 17:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Tuesday 22.10. 09:00 - 12:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Tuesday 22.10. 14:00 - 17:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Wednesday 23.10. 09:00 - 12:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Wednesday 23.10. 14:00 - 17:00 Ort in u:find Details
  • Thursday 24.10. 09:00 - 12:00 Ort in u:find Details

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Students will acquire basic legal writing and research skills. The course focuses on legal writing from a comparative legal perspective and offers an introduction to the US legal system. It will consist of the following topics:
(i) legal writing;
(ii) reading cases globally; briefing a case;
(iii) argumentation and presentation skills;
(iv) organization of sources:
(v) appellate writing;
(vi) finding the necessary information in books, journals, and case law;
(vii) citation skills: making correct citations, and avoiding copyright infringements (plagiarism);
(viii) find important information;
(ix) formal rules and structures for writing legal documents, seminar papers, and final papers.

Interactive class sessions in a highly international environment will stimulate active discussions and exchange between students and instructors. Presentations and basic input by the lecturers will accompany group exercises and presentations in class.

Assessment and permitted materials

We will base the grading on the quality of the active participation during the class modules (quality of ad hoc group discussion results and their presentation during and in classes) and on a written paper (summary of writing skill exercises carried out and/or explained in class) that you have to submit after the end of the class sessions.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Students should be advanced in their undergraduate law studies and going to prepare a seminar paper/master thesis or enrolled in a doctoral, Ph.D., or post-graduate master program.
We will assess the output according to the standards of good legal writing, and the individual level of the participant's legal writing tasks (seminar paper, master thesis, doctoral thesis).

Examination topics

The evaluation of the student's performance will be based on the content of the class sessions and home exercises.

Reading list

Christoph Konrath (ed.), SchreibGuide Jus, 4th edition, Manz: Vienna 2018
John B. Thornton, U.S. Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Practice for International Lawyers, LexisNexis: New Providence/San Francisco 2014

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 02.10.2024 09:25