Article
Making Effective Use of Practitioners' Briefs in the Law School Curriculum
Saint Thomas Law Review
(2010)
Abstract
This article explains how practitioners’ briefs filed in cases law students are currently studying can be used in the classroom to enhance legal education. It provides pedagogical reasons, such as increased student interest and richer appreciation of the legal process, for why these documents should become part of the law school curriculum. It discusses the goals Roy Stuckey proposed for legal education in Best Practices for Lawyers and argues that by uniting theory with practice, the use of practitioners’ briefs would help law schools attain those goals. The article provides different ways that practitioners’ briefs can be used in the legal writing classroom. It gives examples of how practitioners’ briefs, filed in cases students use when writing their trial briefs and appellate briefs, can be used to teach persuasive writing. It also suggests ways to use these documents in casebook classes such as Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure. Finally, this article examines potential pitfalls in using practitioners’ briefs in classes and suggests ways to avoid those pitfalls.
Keywords
- briefs,
- legal education,
- legal writing
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring 2010
Citation Information
Anna P. Hemingway. "Making Effective Use of Practitioners' Briefs in the Law School Curriculum" Saint Thomas Law Review Vol. 22 (2010) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/anna_hemingway/6/