LEGAL COMMUNICATION -- COMM 4113

INSTRUCTOR: Lindsley Armstrong Smith

REQUIRED TEXT:

There is no required text in this class. Instead, each of you will be required to read chapters and articles (and perhaps cases) provided throughout the semester by your instructor that will be on file in the library. You will be notified of reading assignments in class and via e-mail correspondence. Therefore, and mainly because this course meets only one day a week, you will be expected to check your e-mail account regularly for information from your instructor. Most of the readings will be on reserve in the library. The instructor will also incorporate the use of films and other tapes for instruction, most of which will be reviewed and discussed in class. Guest speakers from the legal field may also be used to discuss practical information related to communication and the law.

COURSE OVERVIEW:

This course examines the ways communication influences and is influenced by the legal system. This course will serve as an introduction to communication theory and processes related to the legal system and judicial practices. Students will study and examine both communication theory and legal processes.

This is not a law course, but a communication course. The course will provide students with necessary and fundamental knowledge and skills of argument building and analysis, oral presentation in the legal environment, communication analysis in legal practice, legal advising, advocacy, conflict resolution, and knowledge of the several aspects of litigation that are applicable in some way to any student's course of study. This course has been taught at other universities either as a lecture-based course, a practical-skills-based course, or a combination of the two. This course will take the third approach--this course will include partial lecture and partial oral and written skills requirements.

Students and the instructor will work together to determine the role of communication in each phase of the litigation process. Thus, students will look at legal issues from a communication perspective in order to investigate communicative functions of the legal profession, such as: interviewing, negotiation, voir dire, mass media coverage, opening statements, direct examination, cross-examination, objections, closing arguments, judge's instructions to the jury, jury deliberations, appellate arguments, and judicial decisions. Students may also examine communication influences in popular trials and precedent-setting cases and will be assigned oral and written projects designed to help students fully understand practical lawyering skills.

Much of the role of communication in law focuses on legal dialogue: attorney-judge, attorney-attorney, attorney-client, judge-witness, attorney-jury, witness-jury, client-jury, jury-jury, and judge-jury communication and relationships. Students will seek to understand the verbal and nonverbal factors involved with these relationships within the courtroom and overall legal process.

REQUIRED OUT-OF-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS:

(1) You will observe two debates sponsored by the Arkansas Union Society on Wednesday nights.

(2) You are to serve as a juror for one of the law school mock jury trials. A schedule of mock trials will be provided by the law school during the semester for you to designate which trial you will observe, deliberate, and render judgment as a jury member.

There will be a sign-up sheet documenting your attendance and participation in the above two sets of events as well as a representative present to monitor attendance.

(3) As part of your paper, you will either observe a real trial or hearing, or you will

interview someone in the legal field (i.e. an attorney, judge, court reporter, etc.)

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES: By the end of the course, students should become acquainted with, understand, and/or experience:

- communication theory as applied to the legal field

- an appreciation of the role of communication in the legal system

- general trial procedures

- the legal process

- an understanding of judicial systems that guide the flow of communication

- how verbal and nonverbal communication is influenced by and influences the legal process

- how communication affects and guides legal negotiations, the jury selection process, jury deliberations, and witness examinations

- the application of narrative and exposition theory as they pertain to opening statements

- the rhetoric related to opening and closing arguments

- mass media effects on the legal process

- argumentation and analytical skills

- the role of communication in trial and appellate processes

- persuasive impacts inside and outside of the courtroom

- improvement of oral and written skills

- methods of gathering evidence and building a case

COURSE GUIDELINES:

- Since this class meets only once a week (a total of 14 class periods plus a final examination period), missing one class session is important because it equates with missing a whole week of class. I will expect you to be present for all classes, be on time, and not leave early. We will meet each Monday night unless there is an official university closing during the time class is scheduled.

- You are permitted only two absences in this course before your grade is lowered because of attendance. I do not need to know the excuse for an absence, because the effect on your grade after two absences will be objectively, rather than subjectively, rendered (i.e. if you have two absences then you have two absences). For each absence after two, your overall grade will be cut one grade level (i.e. from a "B" to a "C", "C" to a "D", etc.). Leaving early or late (within 15 minutes) will equal 1/2 absence.

- All assignments are due on the due date! Any late assignment will receive a grade penalty for that assignment of -15 points on late assignments. Makeups will be permitted only upon time allowed in the course. When students are not present on assignment days to present their assignment, it inevitably ends up putting the entire class behind schedule, and, more importantly, it causes unfairness to fellow students who present their assignment on time. However, you will only be able to make up one late assignment. Additionally, if you miss an assignment that involves more than just yourself (i.e. assignments in which you and another classmate present together as a team), know now that your absence on a presentation day greatly affects your teammate! Your teammate's grade will not be lowered because of your absence for the team assignment (unless the teammate is also at fault in missing the due date); however, you must inform your teammate and instructor as soon as you know you will miss a due date so that arrangements can be made for your teammate to present his or her assignment as scheduled.

- Plagiarism will result in either failing an assignment or the course and/or disciplinary action from the appropriate University committee(s).

GRADUATE CREDIT: Although no additional papers or presentations will be required for graduate students, I expect the work of graduate students on all assignments to exceed in performance that of undergraduate student work. The course paper will also require 13-15 rather than 8-10 pages. Additionally, graduate students will serve as teaching assistants in this course; which includes having office hours to meet with undergraduate students on campus about the coursework, determining trials available for students to observe and assisting the students in where to go to observe a trial, possibly administering coursework in class, and serving as a partner in teammate assignments when a student would otherwise not have a partner.

FINAL EXAMINATION: The final will be discussed the period prior to the exam date. The exam will cover all lectures, the reading assignments, and possibly some presentations. It will be multiple choice, matching,

and essay.

 

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week One: - Introduction to Communication and Law (Reading 1 on Reserve)

Week Two: - Holiday

Week Three: - Continue Introduction to Communication and the Law

- Legal Interviewing and Counseling (Reading 2 on Reserve)

Week Four: - Legal Negotiation (Reading 3 on Reserve)

Week Five: ** NEGOTIATION PRESENTATIONS (8 minutes for each set of attorneys)

Week Six: - Opening Statements (Reading 4 on Reserve)

Week Seven: - Communication in the Litigation Process

- Discovery Exercise

** 3 1/2 - 4 pg. double-spaced WRITTEN OPENING STATEMENT DUE

Week Eight & Nine: - Continue Communication in the Litigation Process--including the preparation, examination, and cross-examination of witnesses

Week Ten: **Group 1 and 2 -- DIRECT EXAMINATION AND CROSS EXAMINATION PRESENTATIONS

- you are responsible for creating the questions for your 4-5 minute witness direct examination from a set of facts given, selecting someone to serve as your witness, and assuring that your witness is present for class. Limited to one objection of cross-examining attorney. **You are to turn in a copy of your questions (therefore type them up), prior to your examinations.

- The "opposing" attorney will cross-examine the other attorney's witness for 2-3 minutes (not required to turn in a copy of cross-examining questions). Limited to one objection of direct-examining attorney.

Week Eleven: **Group 3 and 4 -- DIRECT AND CROSS EXAMINATION PRESENTATIONS (see instructions above)

Week Twelve: - Closing Arguments (Reading 6 on Reserve)

- short summary presentations on research paper

Week Thirteen: ** Group 3 and 4 -- CLOSING ARGUMENT PRESENTATIONS (5 - 6 minutes)

Week Fourteen: ** Group 1 and 2 -- CLOSING ARGUMENT PRESENTATIONS (5 - 6 minutes)

Week Fifteen: Judicial Communication

** 8-10 PAGE RESEARCH PAPER DUE

Week Sixteen: Media and the Legal Process

** FINAL EXAMINATION AS SCHEDULED

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

VIEW TWO ARKANSAS UNION SOCIETY DEBATES

SERVE AS A JUROR FOR A LAW SCHOOL MOCK JURY TRIAL

NEGOTIATION SIMULATION (10 % of your grade)

You and an an opposing attorney will negotiate to reach a settlement that your client would approve.

WRITTEN OPENING STATEMENT (15 % of your grade)

You will turn in a typed opening statement. This assignment will test your abilities to prepare and write a solid legal speech.

DIRECT EXAMINATION OF A WITNESS: (15% of your grade) You will have a partner for this presentation--you will directly examine your witness for 4 - 5 minutes, and a classmate will be assigned to cross-examine your witness. The direct examining attorney will make an objection to the cross-examining attorney's questioning of his/her witness if the need arises--i.e. outside the scope of direct examiniation (limited to one objection to the cross-examination)

CROSS-EXAMINATION OF A WITNESS: (5% of your grade) You will have a partner for this presentation--you will cross-examine another classmate's witness for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes. The cross-examining attorney will make an objection during the other attorney's direct examination if the need for one arises--i.e. leading the witness (limited to one objection of the direct-examination).

CLOSING ARGUMENT (15% of your grade)

This assignment will test your abilities to prepare and present a solid legal speech.

COMMUNICATION AND LAW RESEARCH PAPER (25% of your grade)

You are to write a 8-10 page double-spaced research paper analyzing an aspect of communication in the legal field.

As a large part of this assignment, you are either to observe and analyze a trial or legal hearing or interview a person in the legal field and incorporate that into your paper. This paper is a research paper and should provide an in-depth analysis of the role of communication in the practice of law and include information from books and/or articles that add to your analysis. If your research paper is at least 10 pages in length then it may qualify for a senior paper--if your paper is to be your senior paper then notify the instructor by March 25.

Specifically, you are required to include the following: (1) information learned from observing a trial or hearing, or information learned from an interview of a person in the legal field; and (2) at least 4 written sources--i.e. books and scholarly articles. If you would like to do a survey and incorporate the results of the survey in your paper then you can substitute your survey as one of the required written sources. You are required to properly cite your sources in footnote or reference-to-bibliography form).

Topics can vary in range and have included in previous classes a focus on communication in the legal field in the following areas: nonverbal communication in the courtroom, legal negotiating, courtroom design and its influence on communication in the courtroom, credibility in the legal arena, communication in client interviews and counseling, influences of media in the legal field, the portrayal of the law in films, communication and the jury (i.e. jury selection, credibility determinations, and deliberation), the First Amendment and freedom and restraints of communication, legal argument, the effects of multiculturalism in the legal field, storytelling as a form of legal communication, the effects of evidentiary rules to communication, judicial communication (i.e. trial and appellate), etc.

FINAL EXAMINATION (15 % of your grade)