TO:          Law School Faculty

FROM:    M. Patricia Adamski
                Vice Dean and Professor of Law

RE:          Upper Class Writing Requirements - Seminars and Independent Study
 

     I am writing to remind you of the standards adopted by the faculty for satisfying the upper-class writing
requirements.  Please note that to fulfill Upper-Class writing Requirement I, a student must write a substantial
scholarly research paper under the supervision of a full-time faculty member.  Close faculty supervision of the
writing process is required as described below.  A memorandum of law, brief, or other similar advocacy document
does not satisfy Upper-Class Writing Requirement I.

     Upper-Class Writing Requirement II may be satisfied through writing a substantial research paper in a seminar or
Independent Study, or by writing a paper or series of papers in a drafting, simulation, clinical, or other course.  The
cumulative writing necessary to meet Writing Requirement II must be at least 20 pages, and the writing must involve
legal analysis, legal reasoning, and/or philosophical reflection.  If students work in teams, the 20 pages of writing
that will be used to count towards the satisfaction of the proposed writing requirement must be identifiable as the
writing of an individual student.

     To satisfy either writing requirement, close faculty supervision of the writing process is required.  Please note that
these requirements apply if writing credit is given in a seminar or in Independent Study.  The faculty has
emphasized that students must receive feedback on their written work in sufficient time for them to take advantage of
faculty input in subsequent written work.  The following procedures were adopted as the minimum standards for
writing supervision:

                       a. Students must submit a detailed sentence or paragraph-type outline of their paper to the
                           faculty member, which outline should be discussed and should be commented on by the
                           faculty member, or,

                       b. At least one draft of the paper should be submitted, which draft should be discussed and
                           should be commented on by the faculty member, and,

                       c. A final paper should then be submitted.

     In a few courses, such as drafting courses, the submission of outlines and drafts is unnecessary because
the required writing consists of a series of papers.  It place of the submission of outlines and drafts of a
single written work, students must receive written or oral evaluations on each piece of writing as the semester
progresses.

     Let me also remind you that the minimum grade necessary to satisfy the writing requirement is a C+ on
the paper.  A grade of C+ in the course that reflects an increase in the paper grade based upon class
participation is not sufficient.