Course Description
601:701. Advanced Legislative and Policy Drafting (2) WI
Prerequisite: Legislative & Policy Drafting; and Permission of Professor
Schedule: Team meetings each week; one class-hour per week; field work by arrangement.
Students in the course will continue work on projects begun in the Legislative and Policy Drafting course. These assigned projects relate to New Jersey legislative work surrounding pathways to accessible justice for individuals. Students draft and revise materials designed to inform legislators and other stakeholders.
Field work may include visiting court proceedings to understand the purpose of draft legislation, legislative sessions to understand the process, meetings with legislators, and meetings with other stakeholders such as other professionals working on the issues, and members of legislative offices.
Learning goals:
Students will continue learning about creating pathways to accessible justice (also called the civil right to counsel, and sometimes referred to as civil Gideon).
Students will gain a deeper understanding of the New Jersey legislative system.
Students will continue researching the New Jersey legislative system.
Students will deepen their legal and non-legal research skills.
Students will deepen their professional verbal-communication skills.
Students will learn how to write and present to different audiences such as legislative aides, legislators, pro se litigants, pro bono attorneys, activists, and other stakeholders.
Students will write with visualized legal analysis (charts, graphs, infographics) using appropriate software.
Students will work effectively in a team setting,
Assessment tools: drafts of documents; in-class presentations by student teams, presentations by student teams to outside stakeholders, including legislators and other attorneys.