The seminar will begin to develop in students the skills necessary to become effective litigators. That objective will be achieved both by enhancing students’ understanding of the law of evidence and also by assisting students to acquire the skills of factual analysis that are the stock and trade of trial lawyers. While doing so, the seminar will also afford students a unique opportunity to reflect on the litigation process and critically analyse how cases are constructed.
In this seminar, students will learn by doing. Materials from an actual murder case will provide the focus of in-class exercises. Excerpts from a documentary film involving that very same case, which chronicles the actual prosecution from start to finish, will supplement these exercises.
Although the in-class exercises and the take-home assignment will involve criminal cases, the skills developed will be equally valuable to those interested in civil litigation.
WARNING: The materials used both in the seminar and in the take-home assignment are from actual cases involving violent crimes – they are graphic and disturbing. Therefore, if you suspect that you may have difficulty being exposed to such materials, you should refrain from enrolling in this seminar
Method of Evaluation: 20% classroom participation / half way through the term, a set of written reflections (500 to 750 words), which is pass/fail / and a final case brief assignment worth 80%