Exam Type: No Exam

The First-Year Legal Writing and Research Program (LRW) is a series of exercises introducing students to the way lawyers analyze and frame legal positions in litigation, conduct legal research, and present their work in writing and in oral argument. Students actively learn research and writing skills by preparing initial and final drafts of memoranda and briefs and by becoming familiar with accessing both print and electronic research materials. In the spring, each first-year student is required to participate in the First-Year Ames Moot Court Program as a part of LRW, and to brief and argue a moot appellate case in a team of two. The course meets once a week for two hours or in one-on-one conferences. It carries two academic credits each semester and is graded honors/pass/low pass/fail. First-year law students in the Program are instructed by fourteen Climenko Fellows–promising legal scholars with high academic achievements and a strong interest in pursuing a career in law teaching–as well as by research librarians and upper-class teaching assistants.