Southern Illinois University School of Law

First-year law students at Southern Illinois take two courses, Lawyering Skills I and II, in which they receive integrated instruction in legal research, legal analysis, and legal writing. The 1L's are also introduced to client interviewing, client counseling, negotiation, and oral argument. Almost all class meetings for these two courses include an active learning experience, often in small groups, and take full advantage of the latest classroom technology. Objective legal writing and basic research sources are covered in the fall; persuasive legal writing and more advanced research sources, including legislative history and regulatory research, are covered in the spring. Each course is three credits, graded with the same distribution requirements as all 1L courses.

The Lawyering Skills courses are staffed with experts in the various aspects of legal skills training. Primary responsibility for the writing aspects of the courses lies with the Associate Clinical Professors of Lawyering Skills (on a 405(c) promotion track with long-term contracts) and the Director of Lawyering Skills (tenured on the law faculty). Each student has at least four required conferences with their writing professor during the first year, receiving guidance as they work through multiple drafts of each major paper. Primary responsibility for the research aspects lies with the Professors of the Law Library (on the law library tenure track and tenured in the law library) and the Director of the Law Library (tenured on the law faculty). All these positions require scholarship for retention and promotion, and all may vote at faculty meetings. At times both a research and writing professor stand in front of the class, team teaching, and all the professors involved meet weekly to integrate their teaching efforts. The law school also has a Writing Across the Curriculum requirement, so that every course in the law school includes at least one writing assignment, with feedback provided, in addition to any final exam.