Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Provides the student with experience in the development of analytical writing skills for the law office environment in the preparation of  legal memoranda and general legal correspondence.  Focuses on the practical skills necessary to evaluate legal problems.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Read, evaluate, and analyze legal authorities to determine applicable legal rules.
2. Apply legal rules to fact scenarios.
3. Analyze a problem, formulate and evaluate alternative solutions, and construct written evaluations of those solutions.
4. Apply rules of English grammar and principles of writing to written tasks.
5. Write in a style that conveys legal theory in clear and concise language.
6. Apply effective legal writing techniques targeted to specific audiences. 

Flexible dependent on needs of student population and preferred teaching style of instructor, but may include reading assignments; videos; lectures; guest speakers; small group projects and discussions; objective assessments; and preparation of memoranda and correspondence.

Assessment strategies may include: written assignments; small group projects; preparation of legal analysis memoranda; and other projects.

This course is the first courses in a series that focuses on developing analysis and writing skills in the law office context.  These skills include the abilities to:

• Read a series of primary source authorities and extract from them their common doctrine and policy while recognizing and resolving conflicts between them. This may involve grouping cases that follow different rules; extrapolating rules from various cases on the same topic where the basis for the decision has not been articulated in any single case, and recognizing sub-rules articulated in successive decisions to explain, supplement, or develop a primary rule.
• Use a syllogism to convey legal analysis in one of the conventional paradigms, such as IRAC, CRAC, or CReAC. Using these paradigms, students should be  able to set out and synthesize the applicable legal rules and apply the rules to the facts of the assigned case, using a careful, step-by-step progression.
• Produce written documents with substantially correct grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalization and appropriate legal writing style.

• Demonstrate the ability to provide, seek and respond to appropriate feedback and guidance in legal writing.