Penn State Dickinson Law Experiential Learning (LWEXP)

The primary goal of this course is to prepare students to be effective appellate lawyers, in any practice setting as well as in moot court competitions. This upper-level advanced skills course focuses on appellate theory, standard of review, advanced appellate brief writing, and the art of appellate oral argument. The course is designed to build upon the legal research and writing skills learned in the 1L curriculum; to hone and refine writing, research, and oral advocacy skills; and to develop the judgment necessary to be exceptional appellate advocates. Students will work with a partner to prepare a simulated appeal, and will be responsible for analyzing a record on appeal, developing core themes, telling a persuasive story, crafting persuasive arguments, and presenting those stories and arguments in both an appellate brief and in an oral argument. Student work will culminate in a final appellate brief and a series of oral arguments.

This course introduces the fundamental skills of trial advocacy applicable in civil and criminal trials in any jurisdiction. In keeping with the theory that trial advocacy is best learned by "doing," each student will conduct written and oral exercises concerning the various stages of the trial process-pleadings, pretrial motions, discovery, settlement negotiations, trial preparation, jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination of lay witnesses, examination of expert witnesses, trial motions, and closing arguments. Students are able to evaluate their own progress through viewing videotapes of their performances. The class meets jointly for lectures, while the oral trial exercises are conducted in small sections.

Every week the entire class meets for a lecture and demonstration session, and also breaks into small group courtroom section meetings during which every student will present a trial exercise. The goals of the course are 1) to improve confidence in public speaking, 2) to learn how to prepare documents that conform to multiple sources of rules, and 3) to implement the unique protocol for factual, as opposed to legal, persuasion.

This course is designed to introduce students to the techniques and best practices involved in general writing and operative document creation in a transactional law practice. the course involves a series of written exercises completed against the background of readings and lectures describing best practices in written communication and operative document creation. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Students will learn about problems that entrepreneurs and small businesses encounter during the operation of the business. Topics include: Legally hiring and firing employees; employee privacy; governmental intervention and compliance; handling governmental agency issues (IRS, SEC, DoL, etc.); business expansion; cessation of a business; business divorce and transition planning. The course will provide practical experience for students who wish to represent entrepreneurs or become transactional attorneys. Practical assignments are designed to allow students to identify relevant issues and draft documents resolving those issues. This course is strongly recommended for anyone who plans to represent entrepreneurs and small businesses.

This course covers transactional drafting techniques for any commercial matter, and negotiation exercises useful in all legal settings. It then addresses the structure and law of real estate transactions, including agreements of sale, title and survey matters, leasing, financing, easements, and development rights.

Studies the concepts and techniques required to develop estate plans. Topics include the initial client interview, drafting of wills and trusts, powers of attorney, living wills, disability planning and income taxation of trusts and estates. The psychological and ethical aspects of estate planning will be covered. The course will also survey the federal gift, estate and generation skipping taxes. The course is intended to be an introduction to estate planning, valuable to both the person intending to specialize in the field and the general practitioner. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This experiential course will provide students with an engaging overview of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and smart contracts to introduce them to the essential information every student should know about the legal implications of this emerging, disruptive global technology. The legal landscape includes government, payment systems, intellectual property, regulation, and civil and criminal liability. Blockchain technology is poised to disrupt virtually every industry on a global scale in ways neither rivaled nor contemplated since the advent of the Internet. This course will involve individual and group work and challenge students to consider how technology will impact their lives, their communities, and the world and prepare them to stay on the leading edge of innovation. Additionally, expert guest lecturers from the ecosystem (tech, law, business) will visit the class in person or via Zoom to present current issues, hot topics, and future trends. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

The course provides a foundational understanding of the legal, policy, and technical architecture in the domain of cyberspace. The course will introduce students to the domestic (federal and state) and international legal frameworks that govern cyberspace, and the institutions (both public and private) charged with addressing those challenges. The course explores a number of case studies, including cyber events that have affected both government agencies, individuals, and private companies. The course will culminate in a two-day simulation exercise with the U.S. Army War College designed to incorporate and test the knowledge and skills acquired during the course in a practice setting. This course is offered as a partner to Cyberspace Law & Policy Seminar; students may take both courses or only one.

This course is designed to give students a basic understanding of the management of a legal services organization. Attention is paid to the operation of a law practice as a business, including entity formation, internal organization, quality control, business development and finance. The course also is designed to provide a complement to other parts of the curriculum in which students can continue to develop their professional identities. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

As an overwhelming majority of civil cases in federal courts never go to trial or oral argument, federal courts decide cases primarily on the parties' written motions and briefs. As such, knowing how, in a written document, to persuade courts to take a desired course of action is an essential skill for today's advocates. In this course, students will study the science of persuasion, from classical rhetoric to modern cognitive psychology, and will study the art of persuasion by examining how successful appellate advocates write. Students will practice writing their own compelling motions and briefs in the context of an actual federal civil rights action. Students will receive individualized feedback throughout the course. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This course explores sources of administrative law, with primary emphasis on federal administrative law, and provides students the opportunity to research regulations, agency decisions, and other administrative legal resources using a variety of sources. The goal of the course is to give students a practical understanding of where administrative authority and law originates and how to find it. Emphasis will be placed on using free, authentic resources to conduct much of this research, but attention to premium online resources will also be included. Students should have taken or plan to take concurrently a course that deals with administrative law. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Identifying opportunities for negotiating and resolving conflicts before they are litigated in the courts is the focus of this course. The course explores both negotiation theory and practice, as well how to design systems and processes for managing disputes. This experiential learning course will address and explore real world issues that may come up for attorneys in practice, including in person and online. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This course introduces the fundamental skills of trial advocacy applicable in civil and criminal trials in any jurisdiction. In keeping with the theory that trial advocacy is best learned by "doing," each student will conduct written and oral exercises concerning the various stages of the trial process-pleadings, pretrial motions, discovery, settlement negotiations, trial preparation, jury selection, opening statements, direct and cross examination of lay witnesses, examination of expert witnesses, trial motions, and closing arguments. Students are able to evaluate their own progress through viewing videotapes of their performances. The class meets jointly for lectures, while the oral trial exercises are conducted in small sections. The teams for the national mock trial competitions that are conducted during the spring semester will be selected based upon students' overall performance in Trial Advocacy.

This course is designed to provide students with an advanced understanding of ways lawyers use primary and secondary legal research sources and finding tools to successfully represent their clients. An emphasis is placed on the development of effective legal research strategies that take into account choice of format (e.g., the relative advantages and disadvantages of print and electronic sources), cost/benefit analysis of format choice, evolving approaches by law firms and private practitioners to billable research hours, use of computerized tools to organize research results, and presentation of research results to case supervisors. Course content will be presented in a hybrid format consisting of two hours per week of in-class meetings with the remaining credit to be completed by coursework outside scheduled class time through online and written assignments. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This course introduces students to the dynamics of a productive attorney-client relationship, the goals of interviewing and counseling, and structures and techniques that can be used to achieve those goals. The focus is on developing students' skills in interviewing and counseling. Instruction consists of assigned reading, problem-solving exercises, group discussion, and practice through simulations. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Negotiation/Mediation combines the law and ethics of negotiation, mediation and settlement with economic and psychological bargaining theory and regular hands-on practice in representing clients in negotiation and mediation. Bargaining theory (including distributive and integrative bargaining), relevant socio-psychological research, negotiation and mediation ethics, the law of settlement, and the basics of contract drafting are all introduced. Instruction consists of assigned reading, a series of simulations and exercises (including drafting a resulting contract), written negotiation planning and self-evaluation, feedback, and group discussion. The course also may involve participation in a full-day Saturday program, and students should be prepared to experiment with various means to maximize their facility in using videoconferencing and other technologies to negotiate and represent clients in mediation. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Students will learn about the role of judicial clerks, including the typical responsibilities of judicial clerks, and they will learn about various forms of judicial writing done by trial and appellate court clerks. Students will recognize the impact of written advocacy on judicial writing as they switch roles from advocating as a lawyer to deciding issues raised by the advocates and writing opinions that implement subtle persuasive writing techniques. Students must critically read judicial files, including parties' briefs; they also will conduct research, analyze the facts and law from a judge's perspective, and apply the correct motion standard or standard of review. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the process for creation of legal precedent through opinions. With individualized feedback, students will develop precision in self-editing and revision skills and will practice producing concise, clear, and accessible written work. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement

Conflicts between parties with different views of "the public good" are often difficult to resolve, especially in the environmental and natural resource arena. The judicial dispute resolution process is often not well-adapted to addressing conflicts among jurisdictions and meeting the interests of the public and private parties affected by the conflict. Mediation and other alternative dispute resolution techniques can be very useful tools in these cases. This experiential course uses case studies and simulations to explore techniques and strategies other than traditional litigation that lawyers can use to represent clients and resolve disputes in these settings.

The practicum nature of this course will allow students to not only learn the fundamental principles of examination and deposition, but to demonstrate these skills in a supervised setting where feedback can be provided, and students can learn from their mistakes in a low-pressure environment. Students will also be taught how to authenticate and introduce evidence through witnesses. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

Disposition before trial occurs in the vast majority of civil lawsuits (e.g., 98% of federal cases), which makes pre-trial advocacy the dominant part of legal practice at most law firms and agencies. This experiential learning course will engage students with a robust client fact pattern, including analysis of client documents and procedural and substantive law. Students will learn how to draft pre-trial advocacy pleadings, discovery, disclosures, and motions, culminating with learning how to draft a motion for summary judgment. Students will learn how to take depositions and negotiate a settlement. By simulating an actual complex civil litigation case, this "in-context" course will provide students with insight into the process of preparing a case for trial through the pretrial conference and improving the client's position for a pre-trial disposition. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This course considers legal issues typically arising in the course of representing an entrepreneurial venture, including choice of appropriate entity, naming and trade names, agreements among initial and early owners, operational management, governance, succession, equity and debt finance, intellectual property issues, employment arrangements and applicable employment statutes, executive compensation, typical operational contracts, risk management and ethical issues. This course will also review customary financial statements, business strategies in terms of long-term development or early exit, and common exit alternatives. The objective is to give participants an introduction to the diverse legal problems that they are likely to encounter in an entrepreneurial setting, either as lawyers for the enterprise or as owners of an equity position in the enterprise.

A listing of the major topics to be covered with an approximate length of time allotted for their discussion. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.

This course is devoted to developing problem solving skills related to legal issues in higher education. Students will have a chance to confront problems the way university lawyers do, from the very beginning, before the facts are all known, before goals are clarified, before the full range of options is explored, and before a course of conduct is chosen. This course is intended to help prepare students for the actual practice of law by allowing them to actively to engage in the sorts of discussions and activities that occupy lawyers every day, combining their knowledge of law with practical judgment to help clients. Topics include faculty and student rights and responsibilities; constitutional issues involving application of the guarantees of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments; civil rights issues including diversity and affirmative action, the rights of the disabled, and gender-based issues. This course satisfies the experiential learning requirement.