University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
The goal of the writing program at Pacific McGeorge School of Law is to produce thoughtful, skillful, and ethical advocates, attorneys who enter the complex, dynamic world of contemporary legal practice with the theoretical foundations and rhetorical tools necessary to make a positive impact.
Our formal writing program is organized as a two-year required program. First-year students take Legal Process, a 3-unit, two-semester course that focuses on the foundations of legal advocacy - legal research and writing. The curriculum covers the American legal system, legal analysis, basic legal research, predictive writing, and a short introduction to persuasive writing. In the first semester, in addition to short writing assignments ranging from single paragraphs to drafts of a predictive memo, the students write and re-write two closed-universe predictive memos. They also study research strategies and sources, both paper and electronic, and take a research examination at the end of the first semester. In the second semester, the students research and write a longer predictive memo and then research and write both a first draft and a final draft of a persuasive memo to a trial court. Both semesters include mandatory faculty-student conferences.
In the second year, the students take a 3-unit Appellate and International Advocacy course that covers a semester and a half. The course entails writing a complex persuasive document to a U.S. appellate court that involves both domestic issues and an international issue. Students in the course use Michael R. Fontham, Michael Vitiello, and David Miller’s Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy in Trial and Appellate Courts, a text developed in the course and published by Aspen. The course is structured using large-group lectures and small-group workshops. Full-time faculty provide the lectures, while the workshops are run by a practicing attorney and an upper-level student. Students practice oral argument throughout the course and engage in a final moot court competition in the spring semester.
McGeorge has recently introduced an upper-level advanced writing course and an advanced advocacy seminar and plans to add a transactional drafting course and other elective writing courses in the future.
The first-year Legal Process program is staffed by a Director, five full-time Instructors, and seven adjuncts. Six of the adjuncts, who are all practicing attorneys from the Sacramento and San Francisco areas, staff the Evening Division program, while the seventh adjunct teaches a section in the Day Division. The five full-time Instructors teach two sections of approximately 20 students each. The Director and full-time Instructors are on renewable three-year contracts, while the adjuncts are all on one-year renewable contracts. Several of the full-time faculty teach elective courses, including Community Property, Advanced Legal Writing, Advanced Appellate Advocacy Seminar, and Applied Remedies. We are also considered for courses in summer school, although we are not required to teach in the summer. We serve on faculty committees and attend and vote at all faculty meetings, except on matters involving hiring, promotion, and tenure. We share in the same benefits package given to tenured and tenure-track faculty, and the full-time Legal Process faculty all received mid-year salary increases during the 2005-2006 academic year to bring us more in parity with other schools. All Legal Process faculty are appointed by the Dean. The Appellate and International Advocacy course is taught by a tenured faculty member and two faculty members on long-term contracts.
Our formal writing program is organized as a two-year required program. First-year students take Legal Process, a 3-unit, two-semester course that focuses on the foundations of legal advocacy - legal research and writing. The curriculum covers the American legal system, legal analysis, basic legal research, predictive writing, and a short introduction to persuasive writing. In the first semester, in addition to short writing assignments ranging from single paragraphs to drafts of a predictive memo, the students write and re-write two closed-universe predictive memos. They also study research strategies and sources, both paper and electronic, and take a research examination at the end of the first semester. In the second semester, the students research and write a longer predictive memo and then research and write both a first draft and a final draft of a persuasive memo to a trial court. Both semesters include mandatory faculty-student conferences.
In the second year, the students take a 3-unit Appellate and International Advocacy course that covers a semester and a half. The course entails writing a complex persuasive document to a U.S. appellate court that involves both domestic issues and an international issue. Students in the course use Michael R. Fontham, Michael Vitiello, and David Miller’s Persuasive Written and Oral Advocacy in Trial and Appellate Courts, a text developed in the course and published by Aspen. The course is structured using large-group lectures and small-group workshops. Full-time faculty provide the lectures, while the workshops are run by a practicing attorney and an upper-level student. Students practice oral argument throughout the course and engage in a final moot court competition in the spring semester.
McGeorge has recently introduced an upper-level advanced writing course and an advanced advocacy seminar and plans to add a transactional drafting course and other elective writing courses in the future.
The first-year Legal Process program is staffed by a Director, five full-time Instructors, and seven adjuncts. Six of the adjuncts, who are all practicing attorneys from the Sacramento and San Francisco areas, staff the Evening Division program, while the seventh adjunct teaches a section in the Day Division. The five full-time Instructors teach two sections of approximately 20 students each. The Director and full-time Instructors are on renewable three-year contracts, while the adjuncts are all on one-year renewable contracts. Several of the full-time faculty teach elective courses, including Community Property, Advanced Legal Writing, Advanced Appellate Advocacy Seminar, and Applied Remedies. We are also considered for courses in summer school, although we are not required to teach in the summer. We serve on faculty committees and attend and vote at all faculty meetings, except on matters involving hiring, promotion, and tenure. We share in the same benefits package given to tenured and tenure-track faculty, and the full-time Legal Process faculty all received mid-year salary increases during the 2005-2006 academic year to bring us more in parity with other schools. All Legal Process faculty are appointed by the Dean. The Appellate and International Advocacy course is taught by a tenured faculty member and two faculty members on long-term contracts.
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