This course teaches the legal research and writing skills fundamental to successful paralegal practice. Students learn how to research statutes, case law, and secondary sources. Students use digests and other finding aids and Shepard's Citations. Students learn the basics of Westlaw. Research instruction is accompanied by legal writing instruction.
Students learn to prepare memos of law.
This course introduces students to fundamentals of tort law. Students follow a hypothetical negligence suit from the initial client interview through settlement or trial. Lectures focus on the structure of the court system, jurisdiction, the rules of civil procedure, discovery, and the anatomy of a civil trial. Students learn to draft simple pleadings. This course introduces students to the law of contracts and agency, forms of business organization, and issues in the government regulation of business.