June 16, 2009

Exciting Times for Lewis & Clark’s Legal Analysis and Writing Program

Lewis and Clark has developed a nationally recognized Legal Analysis and Writing program thanks to its innovative teaching, extensive curricular offerings, and involvement in the national Legal Writing community.

Lewis and Clark has developed a nationally recognized Legal Analysis and Writing program thanks to its innovative teaching, extensive curricular offerings, and involvement in the national Legal Writing community.

The strength of Lewis and Clark’s program is its faculty and its curriculum. Under the leadership of Professor Steve Johansen, the school has one of the most experienced Legal Analysis and Writing faculties in the country. Believing that they are teachers first, the faculty takes advantage of small class sizes in all writing courses to develop innovative teaching strategies that enable students to develop their critical thinking and writing skills.

Recently, the school expanded its Legal Analysis and Writing offerings for both first year and upper division students. The first year program now requires five credit hours of intensive instruction in the fundamentals of legal research, reasoning, and writing. Upper division students continue to develop their mastery of communication skills through two advanced writing experiences. The first, the Writing Intensive Experience, allows student to develop their writing skills in a variety of contexts including contract drafting, statutory interpretation, and the art of legal persuasion. Students complete their Legal Analysis and Writing training in a Capstone Experience where they apply their previous skills training to produce a scholarly paper on particular legal issue of interest to them. Through the integrated curriculum, students are able to develop their reasoning and writing skills throughout their law school experience.