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The Death of the 3L Paper

By Trevor

This is the best news in a long time:

All J.D. students are required to produce either

(1) a substantial research paper of publishable or otherwise professional quality, to be written in close consultation with a faculty advisor, in conjunction with a seminar or workshop (for an addition of 1, 2, or 3 credits), or through independent study or the January Term writing program (for 2 or 3 credits); a 3-Credit project should have the scope and ambition commensurate with a 3-credit course, and students electing 3 credits should make sure that this would not cause them to exceed the 12-credit limit on writing credits nor interfere with their plans to pursue cross-registered and clinical courses, the credits for which, along with writing credits, count toward the 16 non-law-school-classroom credits students may take for degree credit.

or

(2) two pieces of writing of a different sort from those encompassed in (1), which could include any of the following, provided that at least one of the pieces was written under the supervision of a faculty member or clinical instructor:

a. lawyers work product: this category would include substantial writing in a clinic, upper-level moot court briefs, or the equivalent, as certified by the supervisor of the relevant program, but not written work from a summer job or paid work;

b. law school course and seminar papers: substantial writing as part of a course or seminar, including the standard series of reaction papers, amounting to no less than 15 pages;

c. law journal writing: including notes, book reviews, descriptions of developments in the law, and the like (totaling no less than 10 publishable pages);

d. nontraditional writing produced under faculty supervision: this might include interactive web-based material, surveys of students or practitioners with analysis, case study materials appropriate for classroom use, or other law-related writing outside of the forms mentioned above.

Everyone winds up writing plenty of long papers for various classes and activities, and tacking another extra long paper requirement onto the tail end of 3L year was just gratuitous, especially for those of us who have no interest in pursuing an academic career. I was going to have to come up with some 30-40 page research paper and bash my brains out trying to write it over the course of next semester.

Now, I don't have to.

Hooray!

Full post as published by T Sinister on December 19, 2007 (boomark / email).