University of Denver Sturm College of Law

The Lawyering Process Program is a two-semester, four-credit course required of all first-year students. The course is graded with the same distribution requirements as all other 1L courses. Research is integrated into the curriculum in both semesters. The fall semester requires almost weekly assignments including multiple rewrites of an office memorandum of up to fifteen pages. The spring semester includes a client letter but primarily focuses on persuasive writing and allows students to work as a team to create several versions of a brief. In addition, students make oral presentations both semesters: an oral report to a senior partner in the fall semester and an oral argument in the spring. Students meet frequently with the Lawyering Process faculty during office hours and are required to attend at least two sessions with their professor each semester. The Lawyering Process Program integrated the CaseMap case management software program into the course this year and provided all of the course and problem materials to students on CD-ROM.

The Director of the Lawyering Process Program is a tenure track member of the law faculty and teaches one section of Lawyering Process and one other first year required course. There are eight full-time Lawyering Process Professors who teach two sections each and one part-time Lawyering Process Professor who teaches one section. The current enrollment averages fewer than 20 students per section. Lawyering Process Professors hire one upper-level student teaching assistant for each section and one or more practicing attorneys volunteer as Senior Partners for each section. Senior Partners hear oral reports and judge oral arguments, provide some in-class sessions, and hold office hours for advice conferences. The Director and LP Professors meet weekly to discuss the curriculum and teaching methods.

Lawyering Process Professors are eligible for three-year renewable contracts. They participate on faculty committees and have voting rights at the committee level.

For more information, contact klynn@law.du.edu or visit the Lawyering Process Program website at http://www.law.du.edu/lawproc/