CIVIL LITIGATION PRACTICE I
(LAWJ-4045) - 3 UNITS

Formerly known as Civil Litigation Skills Practicum I (LAWJ-4095), Civil Litigation Practice I is the first semester of a two-semester course. The two-semester course provides a survey of the litigation skills necessary to prosecute and defend a case from the pleading stage, through discovery and motions, up to, but not including trial. While the legal basis of the two-semester class is a survey of the applicable sections of the California Code of Civil Procedure, California Rules of Court, and California Rules of Professional Conduct, the course is not merely a study of legal theories. Rather, the rules will be studied in the context of a simulated dispute that goes through both semesters. In the first semester, students will focus on the beginning stages of a civil litigation matter, including topics such as case assessment, initiating and responding to a lawsuit, discovery plans, and motions to compel. Opportunities will be given to draft such documents as pleadings, document requests, and a discovery motion, individually and in teams, and to argue a simulated motion.

Because Civil Litigation Practice is a two-semester course, students who enroll in Civil Litigation Practice I will automatically be enrolled in Civil Litigation Practice II. Students will not be able to take the first semester in one academic year and the second semester in a subsequent academic year. Civil Litigation Practice I and II are required for the Civil Litigation & Advocacy Concentration. Although students will receive separate grades for each semester, both semesters must be completed consecutively in the same academic year to satisfy the Civil Litigation & Advocacy Concentration requirement. Students will not satisfy the Civil Litigation & Advocacy Concentration requirement merely by completing one semester of the course.

Pass/Fail:
No

Prerequisites:
Civil Procedure (LAWJ-1001) 
or
LAW-1J01