Simulation Courses

In simulation courses, students develop lawyering skills in a controlled setting. Much of the work involves hypothetical exercises resembling real case situations. Through seminars, critiques of videotaped role-playing and of presentations before mock judges and juries, and one-on-one review with instructors, students learn and refine specific lawyering skills. Current offerings include:

• Appellate Advocacy – Research, brief-writing, oral argument, and appellate rules, standards, and practice.
• Contract Writing and Analysis – Drafting and interpreting legal documents in business transactions.
• Interviewing and Counseling – Empathic listening, fact gathering, client goal identification, and ethical and responsive decision-making.
• Mediation – Advanced theories and skills for mediators and advocates.
• Negotiation and Mediation – Introduction to the theory, process, and practice of negotiation and mediation.
• Negotiation and Settlement – Communications skills for successful negotiation.
• Pre Trial Practice – Research and drafting of pleadings, discovery, and pre-trial motions.
• Clinics – Clinical courses that encourage students to be continually self-reflective about their practices.
• Problem Solving and Professional Judgment in Practice – Theory and application of interdisciplinary approaches to ethical and responsive decision-making taught through extended case studies and hands-on role playing.
• Roles and Ethics in Practice Problem – based and role-playing approach to ethical issues and skills in interviewing and counseling, fact investigation, and negotiation.
• Trial Advocacy I and II – Discovery techniques, pre-trial court conference, opening statement, direct and cross-examination, impeachment of witnesses, proper handling of documents and exhibits, use of demonstrative evidence, and closing argument, culminating in student participation in simulated trials.
• Trial Objections – Application of the rules of evidence through role-playing exercises intended to bridge the gap between Evidence and Trial Advocacy/Clinical Courses.