The primary focus of this course is on preparing the students to do the kind of writing expected of appellate court law clerks. Students will work with actual appellate briefs and appellate record documents, including trial-level pleadings and transcripts. Criminal and civil cases will be used. There will be weekly writing assignments, which may require students to conduct legal research. The weekly assignments will assist students in producing a fully-researched and analyzed bench memorandum recommending a case disposition to the court.

This course provides an introduction to Chinese law, although it meets once a week in a seminar format in order to probe the themes of the course in as much depth as possible. Although the focus is on Chinese law, its tradition and evolution in the 20th century, the discussions and research assignment are aimed at a broader exposure, that is, to a legal system distinctive from that in the United States, and to the skills needed to research and analyze foreign law more generally.

This course is designed to acquaint you with salient themes and developments in American jurisprudence since the end of the nineteenth century. Special attention is given to the erosion of the concept of private law, the rise of legal realism, and the problems of devising standards of decision making peculiar to the judiciary.