Legal Methods
Course Information
- Course Number
- L6113
- Curriculum Level
- Foundation
- Type
- Lecture
Section 004 Information
Instructor
Shyamkrishna Balganesh
Sol Goldman Professor of Law
Section Description
This course will introduce first-year law students to the fundamentals of legal reasoning. Our focus will be on the nature, forms, and institutions of law-making, as well as the conceptual and analytical structure of legal arguments that are deployed in various contexts. The overarching goal of the course is to have students develop a level of familiarity with the idea of “thinking like a lawyer”. We will approach our examination of various aspects of legal reasoning and analysis through the area of copyright law, an area of federal law that has gone through important conceptual and institutional changes over the course of the 150 years. The main reading for the class is: Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer: A New Introduction to Legal Reasoning (2012) and various additional materials that will be made available to you on CourseWorks.
- School Year & Semester
- Fall 2023
- Dates
- August 24 - September 1
- Location
- JGH 106
- Schedule
-
Class meets on
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Dates
- August 24 - September 1
- Location
- JGH 106
- Schedule
-
Class meets on
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Points
- 1
- Method of Evaluation
- Paper
- J.D Writing Credit?
- No
Learning Outcomes
- Primary
-
- Acquiring an understanding of and/or facility in doctrinal analysis, including close reading of cases and precedents, and application of existing caselaw to new facts; and
- Obtaining an initial historical overview of the development of American law, legal institutions, and legal techniques, and the controversies concerning them; and
- Learning essential law student techniques, such as case briefing and synthesis, examination preparation, and exam taking.
- Secondary
-
- Comfort in contributing to oral classroom discussion
- appreciation for the benefits of collaborative work in learning law
- acquiring habits of self-reflection about the impact of legal education on oneself
Course Limitations
- Instructor Pre-requisites
- None
- Instructor Co-Requisites
- None
- Recommended Courses
- None
- Other Limitations
- Course is limited to Columbia Law School 1L students
Additional Section for Legal Methods
School Year & Semester
Fall 2023
Instructor
Points
1School Year & Semester
Fall 2023
Instructor
Points
1School Year & Semester
Fall 2023
Instructor
Points
1School Year & Semester
Fall 2023
Instructor
Points
1