Satisfying The Upper Level Writing And Upper Level Skills .

Satisfying the Upper Level Writing andUpper Level Skills Graduation Requirements(Under the New Rules)Satisfying your Writing RequirementsUpdated November 18, 2015This document serves as a supplement and guide to selecting courses based on the LawSchool’s writing credit requirements. The writing credit rules can be found on the law schoolwebsite at vices . Go to the StudentResources page and click the link for Rutgers Law School Rules, Regulations, and Policies.The 2-writing intensive credit requirement, generallyBefore speaking specifically about course selection, a few words about the writing creditrequirement. Students must complete 2 intensive writing credits prior to graduation. You mayearn writing credits by taking courses that offer optional or mandatory writing credits, including“seminars”1 and directed research projects. In some cases, law journal students who are doingwork supervised by a faculty advisor may earn intensive writing credit at the discretion of thesupervising professor. At least one of your writing credits must be earned in a class, seminar, orclinic. Only one writing credit can be earned through a Directed Research project.Although there is no limit on the number of writing courses you may take, we strongly urge youto space out your work so as not to create too onerous a writing burden in any single semester.Except upon consultation with the Vice Dean, a student must complete the Graduation WritingRequirement before the start of the student’s last semester in Law School unless the studentintends to satisfy the requirement in the last semester by taking a course designated as a WIcourse. You may not earn writing and skills credit for the same course or enterprise.Intensive versus non-intensive writing credits1“Seminar” has been eliminated as a formal course category, as listed in the schedule.However, these courses still exist, in the same form. Our Academic Rules have eliminated theneed to call some courses “seminars”, and the concept itself is fluid. Rather than think in termsof labels, you should consider how the course is taught, and whether it offers W or WI credit.You can find this information in the course description, or by asking the professor teaching it.You can also find a list of former seminar courses at the end of the Master Course List, whichwill preserve this category for record-keeping purposes.

A course carries WI (intensive) writing credit when the writing assignments have as one goal thedevelopment of writing proficiency. Students must write work that totals 6,000 words exclusiveof footnotes. In a WI course, the professor will provide individualized feedback to the studentsand opportunities to re-write. In those courses, the students complete multiple drafts of one ormore assignments. Alternatively, the WI experience may be the development of writingproficiency through a sequence of writing assignments. In either case, the final product mustdemonstrate a facility in legal writing appropriate to upper-level law study.Overview of available writing course optionsNumerous courses offer students the ability to work on their legal analysis, research, andwriting skills at a variety of levels. You can build your doctrinal knowledge and also work onyour writing skills themselves in a variety of different ways at the law school.Professors have some latitude in how they offer writing credits, whether optional or mandatoryand through one long piece of writing or multiple smaller pieces. The types of writing projectsvary greatly within courses and reflect the different creativities and pedagogical goals of ourfaculty. Some professors have students write short research or reflection papers. Otherprofessors may have students work on legislative drafting projects or simulation scenarios.Others use a modified seminar paper model. Writing credits for courses are clearly indicated onthe Alpha schedule for each semester and the summer session.There are a number of specialized courses and opportunities that regularly offer writing credit:“Seminars” provide students with the ability to work in depth in a particular area of law. Thesmall class size of seminars offer students the unique opportunity for more extensive andthorough interaction with the professors. Depending on the particular course, students willwork closely with the professor on drafts of an academic-style or response paper. Those papertopics are often generated individually by the student, with professor input. Students inseminars often have the opportunity to present their work to their classmates. As noted infootnote one, this is no longer a formal category. This description, however, does capture whatmost people mean by “seminar,” and if this is the course experience you want, you shouldcheck the course description of a WI class to see if this is how your professor intends to teachthe course.Upper-level writing courses are, by design, heavily engaged in the writing process itself. Manyof these courses discuss writing in the practice-based context. Several will focus on a particularwriting skill in practice (Advanced Brief Writing, Advanced Legal Research, TransactionalDrafting). Others may allow students to reflect on previous writing experiences and tocompletely rewrite those documents using the particular skills taught in the courses (AdvancedLegal Writing). Some courses may involve strengthening practice-based writing with overlays of

interdisciplinary persuasive theories (e.g., Persuasion in Legal Writing). Each of the upper levelwriting courses are writing-intensive courses, meaning they will involve multiple drafts ofdocuments, with opportunities for students to receive feedback from the professor on drafts.Skills courses. Some skills courses are also writing courses. The best examples are the clinicalcourses, which involve a great deal of practice-based writing. Clinical courses also may offeroptional writing-intensive credits. For detailed descriptions of clinics and externships, includingthe location and work requirements of approved externship placements, follow the links fromLawyering Programs on the Law School’s home page.Directed research projects are individual projects taken on by students and supervised by aprofessor. There are limits to the number of students any one professor may supervise in agiven semester or year. Because of these limitations, students are advised to seek out aprofessor with expertise in the area of research as soon as possible. Permission to do DirectedResearch with adjunct faculty is very sparingly granted.Law Journals. Finally, some students will elect to receive writing credit (WI) by virtue of theirlaw journal note or comment. Law journal writing involves in-depth research and analysis of astudent-chosen topic, similar in some ways, to directed research projects. Students on lawjournals have the opportunity to submit their completed work for publication consideration intheir journals. In order to receive intensive writing credit for law journal, the student mustsecure a faculty advisor who will supervise the student’s work over the course of the semesteror year. A student must be enrolled for at least two semesters in order to receive a writingcredit, assuming all other requirements are met.Satisfying your Upper Level Lawyering Skills requirementUpdated November 2015Each Rutgers law student must earn a minimum of 6 credits in designated skills course as acondition of graduation. Courses which we consider appropriate will be designated on theschedule.To qualify, a course, clinic, or practice externship must involve instruction in lawyering skillsthat is directly supervised by a professor or by a field supervisor. These courses will be cappedat 24 students, at most, and provide repeated opportunities to practice a skill or a sequence ofskills and get individual feedback, and (if the course is graded) consider these skillsperformances as a portion of the grade. You can review the rule in full, with more detaileddescriptions of how skills performance instruction is provided in various types of offerings

(simulation courses, doctrinal courses with skills components, clinics, externships) in AcademicRule 7 and Appendix C. See Academic Requirements and Information. Note that some offeringsmay fulfill both Upper Level Skills and Upper Level Writing requirements, but you may notreceive skills and writing credit for the same course or enterprise. It is, nevertheless, ourrecommendation that you take full advantage of the skills and writing course offerings and planto pursue one or more lawyering skills courses, as well as intensive writing credit courses forthe additional educational value they offer. Note also that first year courses do not fulfill thisrequirement, even if they feature some attention to skills.Overview of available opportunitiesNumerous courses, clinics, and externships offer instruction in lawyering skills; clinics andexternships also provide opportunities for supervised practice experience. You can build skillsby enrolling in simulation courses and experiential lawyering courses as an upper level student.Simulation courses concentrate on a particular skill (Negotiation or Persuasion are two suchcourses), sequence of skills (Trial Advocacy) or an integrated immersion in the problem-solving,skills and doctrine of a practice setting (Bankruptcy Workshop, Litigation, IBT Practicum,Medical Malpractice Litigation). Most courses of these types offer Skills Credit. Some will makeuse of real case materials or clients for a portion of the lawyering performances that areassigned. For most, simulated realistic lawyering problems are used to be sure that eachstudent has opportunities to perform and be critiqued on the targeted skills.Clinics provide students with real client and case experience under the supervision of clinicfaculty and in collaboration with other students. As third year students, you can represent aclient in all phases of a case pursuant to the New Jersey Student Practice Rule. Some of ourclinics are specialized by practice area.Practice Externships allow students to work in civil or criminal law settings outside the lawschool under the supervision of practicing attorneys. Placements include legal services,prosecutors, public defenders, United States attorneys, state or federal government agencies,hospital or university counsel office, and many other locations. These placements may provideSkills Credit or writing credit at the discretion of the Director. Students must be certified underthe student practice rules of New Jersey or Pennsylvania.Prerequisites and Recommendations