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'Innovation' redux

By University of Houston Law Center

Here is the 'innovative curriculum' at the new UC Irvine Law School. It's not really very innovative, even though it has different names for the courses, but it does scrap the traditional curriculum and try something different. One thing that looks interesting about this curriculum is that it seems to repeat the what-do-you-think-and-how-do-you-feel-about-this-court-opinion method a little less.

 

 

Here's the outline:

FALL SEMESTER 2009

Law 507A - Legal Profession I (2 units)
This course, which will be part of both semesters, will teach students legal ethics and professional responsibility. It also will provide instruction in the economics, psychology and sociology of the profession. In this way, it will provide interdisciplinary instruction, which is often so important for the practice of law. This course will include a speaker series in which lawyers from many areas of practice will describe what they do so that students can gain a sense of the different kinds of work the profession offers.

Law 506A - Lawyering Skills I (3 units)
This course, which will be part of both semesters, will focus on teaching skills that all lawyers use, such as fact investigation, interviewing, legal writing and analysis, legal research, negotiation and oral advocacy.

Law 500 - Common Law Analysis: Private Ordering (4 units)
This course will focus primarily on the common law of contracts to teach this method of analysis, in which the law is derived from judicial decisions rather than statutes or the Constitution.

Law 504 - Procedural Analysis (4 units)
This course will use civil procedure as the foundation for teaching students about areas of law in which there are procedural rules, and how analysis and arguments are made in such contexts.

Law 503 - Statutory Analysis (3 units)
This course will use criminal law as a basis for teaching students the methods employed in all areas of law for analyzing statutes.

SPRING SEMESTER 2010

Law 507B - Legal Profession II (2 units)
Continuation of fall semester course.

Law 506B - Lawyering Skills II (3 units)
In the spring semester of this two-semester course, all students will have gained experience in a legal clinic setting, where they will conduct intake interviews of actual clients for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County.

Law 501 - Common Law Analysis: Government Regulation (4 units)
This course will use torts as a way of further examining the common law, and how lawyers reason and develop arguments in this area.

Law 502 - Constitutional Analysis (4 units)
This course will teach students basic areas of constitutional law such as separation of powers, federalism, and individual liberties. It will focus on how constitutional arguments are made, and how courts and lawyers analyze constitutional issues.

Law 505 - International Legal Analysis (3 units)
This course will introduce students to international law and the ways that analyses in this area are similar to and different from analysis in other areas of law.

Full post as published by University of Houston Law Center Faculty Blog on August 04, 2009 (boomark / email).