Teaching the Law School Curriculum - Institute for Law Teaching ...

282 Legal Research and Writing
dents that all cases should be introduced and cited in the orange and yellow sections or that they shouldn’t include
any citation in the blue or green sections.
“Remember the Paint Box?”
Nancy A. Wanderer, University of Maine School of Law
For a number of years, I have used a child’s paint box to explain the need for separation between rule explanation
and rule application in my students’ first memos for Legal Methods. First, I explain the format and stress
the need to lay a foundation for the arguments pro and con in rule application. Then I tell students that one of
the mistakes many first-year students make is to mix rule explanation into the rule application section. At this
point I take out my paint box. It is white and has about eight squares of color, all pristine in their clarity. I take
the little brush, dip it into cup of water I’ve brought with me, and go from one square of color to another. Soon,
the crisp clarity of the squares disappears, replaced by muddy blobs of color. This muddy mess, I tell students, is
what happens when they mix rule explanation with rule application. When I comment on papers during the semester,
I can say, “Remember the paint box?” to remind students of the problem.
Persuasive Seating
Brannon Heath, Touro College Law Center
During the semester on persuasive writing in which students will represent the same party for the duration of
the semester, I physically separate them to emphasize the switch from objective to persuasive writing. The appellants
sit on one side of the room; the respondents, the other side. It’s easy, then, to have them argue and
counter-argue, to develop opposing themes, to respond to each other’s practice oral argument questions, etc.
Judge and Lawyer Speakers
Nancy Soonpaa, Texas Tech University School of Law
I have tried to bring as many judges and lawyers to the class as possible. During the first eight weeks we work
with an actual Maine Supreme Judicial Court case that is on appeal. I teach the students to write a bench memo
on the case using the actual parties’ briefs. Then I invite the lawyers from both sides to come to class and talk
about the case with the students. Finally, the entire class of 80 or so students attends the actual oral argument.
After the argument, right in the courtroom, the lawyers talk with the students again and process their impressions
of how the argument went. A few weeks ago, the court issued an opinion and we were able to dissect it and
determine the probable impact the opinion will have on future cases.
I have also brought in a lawyer each year who has argued in the United States Supreme Court to talk about
his or her experience; three panels of lawyers to explain discovery, motion practice, and ethical duties; the chief
justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to talk about what makes for a good brief or oral argument; and a
senior circuit judge from the First Circuit to talk about federal practice, brief writing, and oral argument. Although
these visitors say basically the same thing I have been saying, the students really perk up and listen when
they speak.
Nancy A. Wanderer, University of Maine School of Law