West Virginia University College of Law
The Legal Reasoning, Research, and Writing Program at West Virginia University College of Law is a full-year, four-credit program followed by a third semester of Appellate Advocacy. Four full-time faculty members work in the first-year program, each teaching two sections of 20 - 25 students. Thus, the student-teacher ratio is around 1 - 45. LRRW faculty members have ABA Standard 405 (c) status in that they may vote at faculty meetings, may be awarded a five-year contract after two probationary years, and may stay with the institution indefinitely. These faculty members may also (and do) teach other courses. The appellate advocacy course, on the other hand, is taught by a cadre of experienced adjuncts, each of whom is responsible for 16 - 18 students. The school’s Moot Court Board competition occurs during this third semester of writing.
Students in the first-year program spend two months learning basic skills through a pass/fail sequence of writing assignments, each of which must be rewritten until the student "passes" the assignment (with a "pass" being considered "C" level work). The pass/fail assignments include a case brief, a prediction based upon a statute, a prediction based upon a case, and a prediction based upon a synthesis of cases (two to four cases). After all students have "passed" the first four writing assignments, they write two graded documents. The first is a closed universe memo based on the synthesis assignment, while the second is a researched memo based upon West Virginia law. In the second semester, students write a researched memorandum based upon an issue of federal law, and then this memorandum is converted into a motion and supporting brief filed with a trial judge. The students finish the year with oral argument to the trial judge. Grades are awarded at the end of the full year, and any student receiving a grade below "C" must repeat the course. During the third semester, the students work with a different research problem, write a 25-page appellate brief, and end the class with oral argument to a panel of judges.
The College of Law now has a Professional Writing Center, staffed half-time by a writing specialist (non-J.D. English professor) who works with students in the first-year LRRW program. She is assisted by a third-year student who works in the center one day a week. The writing specialist teaches weekly workshops that target grammar, mechanics, and style issues, and all law students are invited to these workshops. However, she also works individually with LRRW students who need more assistance.
Grace Wigal, Director
West Virginia University College of Law
grace.wigal@mail.wvu.edu
Students in the first-year program spend two months learning basic skills through a pass/fail sequence of writing assignments, each of which must be rewritten until the student "passes" the assignment (with a "pass" being considered "C" level work). The pass/fail assignments include a case brief, a prediction based upon a statute, a prediction based upon a case, and a prediction based upon a synthesis of cases (two to four cases). After all students have "passed" the first four writing assignments, they write two graded documents. The first is a closed universe memo based on the synthesis assignment, while the second is a researched memo based upon West Virginia law. In the second semester, students write a researched memorandum based upon an issue of federal law, and then this memorandum is converted into a motion and supporting brief filed with a trial judge. The students finish the year with oral argument to the trial judge. Grades are awarded at the end of the full year, and any student receiving a grade below "C" must repeat the course. During the third semester, the students work with a different research problem, write a 25-page appellate brief, and end the class with oral argument to a panel of judges.
The College of Law now has a Professional Writing Center, staffed half-time by a writing specialist (non-J.D. English professor) who works with students in the first-year LRRW program. She is assisted by a third-year student who works in the center one day a week. The writing specialist teaches weekly workshops that target grammar, mechanics, and style issues, and all law students are invited to these workshops. However, she also works individually with LRRW students who need more assistance.
Grace Wigal, Director
West Virginia University College of Law
grace.wigal@mail.wvu.edu
posted by LRW Programs at
2:55 PM
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