Course Description
601:526. CIVIL RIGHTS LITIGATION-CURRENT ISSUES (3) S WI*
Limited enrollment = 24
Skills credit mandatory; writing credit optional with permission of instructor.
Prerequisite:
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
This course responds to the Carnegie Foundation’s critique of traditional legal education by integrating the teaching of doctrine and skills. Students learn the basic constitutional and 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 statutory doctrines necessary to litigate the most common current constitutional claims, those arising under the 4th, 8th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. To help students explore the roles of attorneys in shaping and applying legal doctrine, this course is structured around a series of realistic law practice simulations. Unlike most constitutional law courses, this course focuses on doctrinal development in the federal circuits by exposing students to circuit court decisions, as well as to model jury instructions, appellate oral arguments, appellate briefs, pleadings, expert reports, and other practical materials.