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Gain the essential advocacy, analytical and legal writing skills needed for law school success through this preparatory program designed to guide you from admissions to your first year of law school.
This is a pre-law project designed for college freshmen and sophomores to develop a practical understanding of lawyering and build analytical and advocacy skills. The first weeks of the project will focus on demystifying the law school admissions process. You will then develop an appellate brief that can be used as a writing sample for your future career endeavors. You will also present oral arguments in a simulated courtroom environment. This project emphasizes research, writing, and oral advocacy, providing you with the opportunity to analyze complex legal cases, formulate well-reasoned arguments, and participate in structured debates. More importantly, this project will serve as a preview of what you can expect during your year of law school. You will refine your analytical thinking, writing, and public speaking abilities. By the end of this project, you will have gained critical skills in research, writing, and argumentation, directly applicable to entry-level roles in law, public policy, and various sectors that value clear communication and analytical precision.
Who are we? What are our career interests? What industry tendencies call your attention the most? What will our project look like? What do the final deliverables look like?
Law school is a huge financial and time investment, and where you go to law school has a big impact on where you will practice law upon graduation. Can you dedicate three years of your life to obtaining a juris doctor? Would part-time or evening programs better fit your needs? What kind of financial assistance do you qualify for? How will the admissions timeline fit into your life plan?
The first half of the session will be a brainstorming workshop for your law school personal statement and/or diversity statement. What makes a good personal statement? What is the best way to showcase how you would bring diversity to the classroom? During the second half of the session, you will get acquainted with the moot court problem, a fictitious workplace discrimination case between a female employee and her ex-employer.
Now that you have read the “record” of the case, which contains all the facts and evidence of the case, we will dive deeper into this dispute. Who are the parties? Who are the witnesses? What arguments are each side likely to make? Which facts are ambiguous?
In the U.S., legal decisions hold as much weight as the laws themselves. An effective legal advocate will support their arguments with the law, previous decisions (known as “precedents”), and the facts of the case. You will learn how legal decisions are structured and how to identify key rulings that can be used in their briefs.
This is where the argument comes together, by applying the available legal authorities (laws and cases) to the facts of the case, which we covered in Workshop 4.
How do lawyers write when they address judges? This class will focus on the organization, writing style, and tone of the final brief. You will then be introduced to best practices of courtroom oral arguments.
It’s time to debate! You will deliver your oral argument paired up with another student in a simulated courtroom environment.
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Mélodie is a Law Build Fellow at Open Avenues, where she works with students leading pre-law projects. Mélodie is an Associate at Wigdor LLP, where she represents plaintiffs in discrimination and harassment cases against their employers. Mélodie has interned with the international trade law department of the United Nations, worked as a 'BigLaw' summer associate, and clerked for judges in Los Angeles Superior Court. She holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School and a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA. A fun fact about Mélodie is that she is fluent in three languages. Despite living in NYC, she loves to surf and regularly paddles out in the Rockaways.