Pre-Trial Litigation

This is a simulation course in which students are organized into law firms which litigate against each other during the semester.  It focuses on civil litigation as a process in which early decisions and steps have consequences which invariably affect later steps.  The course covers prefiling fact investigation, interviewing parties and witnesses, legal research, litigation strategy, pleadings, discovery, motions and settlement.  Students prepare weekly assignments, such as drafting complaints and answers, discovery documents, taking depositions, drafting summary judgment motions, and preparing pretrial memoranda.  The final assignment is attending a settlement conference.