CIVIL PROCEDURE FOCUS FOR THE BAR (Spring Break 2022)
SYLLABUS
Professor Ira Steven Nathenson
St. Thomas University School of Law
| Email: | inathenson@stu.edu |
| Phone: | 305-474-2454 |
| Homepage: | https://www.nathenson.org/ |
| Course page: | https://www.nathenson.org/courses/civprofocus/ |
| Assignments | https://www.nathenson.org/courses/civprofocus/assignments/ |
| Class time & room: | This is a one week course, every day Monday to Friday, March 7 to March 11, 2022, in room 102. |
| Office hours: | I am available before and after class each day as well as by Zoom or phone appointment. My office is in the Deans suite. |
ABOUT CIVIL PROCEDURE FOCUS FOR THE BAR
This practical course prepares students for Civil Procedure questions on the Multi-State Bar Exam (MBE). It covers the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and other federal law relating to Civil Procedure, such as subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. The course helps students develop and hone multiple-choice skills, including critical reading and analytical thinking, necessary for MBE preparation. All students are encouraged to take this course to [re]familiarize themselves with aspects of Civil Procedure. This course is only offered to students in their final year of law school and is graded pass/no pass.
Prerequisites: Civil Procedure.
BOOKS, MATERIALS, WEBSITES
Required books, supplements, and online resources
- Required materials:
- This website, including the Assignments page
- Themis Bar Review, Multistate Bar Exam Outlines (2021). The assignments are paginated to the hard copy, which all of you should have from your Bar Prep Skills courses. You can also obtain a copy from Prof. Gutowski. The outline is also available on the Themis site, but without pagination.
- Canvas home page
- Themis materials (click on STU – Civil Procedure Focus – Professor Nathenson – Lectures and Outline)
- UWorld course page (to access pre-class quizzes)
- UWorld Qbank access
- Optional materials:
- Professor Nathenson website and YouTube channel: You can find more study materials at https://www.nathenson.org/courses/civpro/resources. A companion YouTube channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/IraStevenNathenson, with over 80 videos on Civ Pro.
- Statutory supplement (free): As you are working through the readings, you should refer to the relevant sections of the statutes and FRCP. My supplement with selections from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), selections from the United States Code (U.S.C.), and more, can be found here in Word and PDF.
- CALI lessons, which can be used for extra credit.
- Additional helpful materials:
- Available for free–multiple-choice practice: William Janssen & Steven Baicker-McKee, Mastering Multiple Choice for Federal Civil Procedure (West Academic 3d ed 2018). This is written by one of the co-authors of the Coleman casebook. You can also get this freely through the Law School Digital library (click here) and the West Academic study aids library at https://subscription-westacademic-com.stulaw.idm.oclc.org/Book/Detail?id=26127 Your STU login is required.
- Available for free–hornbook with examples: Joseph W. Glannon, Civil Procedure: Examples & Explanations (Wolters Kluwer use most current ed.). You can purchase this book but you can also get this freely through the Law School Digital library (click here) and the Wolters Kluwer study library.
LEARNING OUTCOMES, METHODOLOGIES, AND ASSESSMENT
Outcomes and methodologies
Learning outcomes refers to skills, concepts, and other matters I want you to learn in our year-long course. Learning methodologies are the techniques we will use to learn these matters. St. Thomas Law lists our institutional learning outcomes here.
|
Learning Outcomes (the goal) |
Learning Methodologies (the means) |
| Civil Procedure law and concepts (STU outcomes # 1, 2, 5, 6) : Review and bar prep on often-tested subjects such as subject-matter jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, venue, notice, pleadings, joinder and supplemental jurisdiction, discovery, dispositive motions, trial, and preclusion. | Reviewing a Bar prep outline, watching instructional videos, doing practice questions, classroom instruction with additional questions, dissection and skills of multiple-choice MBE exam-taking. |
GRADING
Pass/no pass..
This course is graded either pass or no pass. The course has 100 available points, not counting extra-credit opportunities of 10 extra credit points. To pass you must get at least 65 points.
Course points, extra credit opportunities, other learning opportunities.
Daily assignments: Each day you will have to study portions of the Themis outline on Civ Pro, watch Themis and other videos, and do multiple-choice questions I provide you. Each set of multiple choice questions are worth 1 point. You must complete the questions by midnight the night before class with at least 70% correct. If you do not achieve 70% the first time, you may retake the questions up to nine times until you get 70% correct. By submitting your answers, you are certifying that you did your multiple-choice work on your own. You may not seek or provide answers to other class members. Note: you can get 5 course points this way.
Multiple-choice extra credit: One multiple choice question a day based at least in part on any of the assigned topics of the day. (Up to one point for each question, for a total of up to five extra-credit points). You must include valid question, indicate answer, and provide explanations of why each answer is correct or incorrect. Multiple choice questions — with the answers and explanations — must be uploaded to the relevant page on Canvas. You must also upload your multiple-choice questions to the **** page on Canvas, but without the answers and explanations. Questions must be your own original work product. Copying or adapting a question you found elsewhere will get you no credit and may constitute an Honor Code violation. Note: you can get up to 5 course points this way.
Final exam: Ninety minutes closed-book, 50 multiple-choice questions worth two points each, in person on campus. Some of the questions will be taken from the assigned practice questions, some will be taken from the Themis Qbank, and some I may write myself. I might also use some of the multiple-choice questions you write for class on the final exam as well. It is therefore important for you to do many practice questions through the week as well as other questions from Themis QBank. If you study the materials and do practice questions diligently, and study your classmates’ multiple-choice questions with a critical eye, there is no reason why you cannot get a very high score on this exam. The final is worth 100 points.
In-class quizzes: Do not count towards your grade or points but will provide you with feedback as well as additional class discussion topics.
Discussion board: An opportunity to ask questions and discuss the topics in the course. Available through the Canvas site.
DAY-TO-DAY PREPARATION AND RECITATION
Be prepared. Do the work. Be professional.
- Professional and respectful discussion. Class is a quiet place for focus and respectful discussion. Lawyers persuade for a living. So speak up when you ask questions or you are called on. After all, you cannot persuade if you cannot be heard. Similarly, unless you are called on or are volunteering, do not talk. It’s distracting and disrespectful to the group. Finally, during recitation, questioning, and discussions, be respectful of others. We’re free to disagree and to disagree with passion. Again, that’s what lawyers do. But as the oath for the Florida Bar recognizes, we’re not free to treat others without respect, civility, or dignity. So please don’t make me invoke FRCP 12(f) and ask you to leave or mark you absent.
- No passes. There are only five classes and we will move at a brisk pace, so passes will not be allowed. If I call on you and determine that you are unprepared, you will be marked absent. If you are absent more than one class, you will receive a “no pass” under the College of Law attendance policy.
Re masking. Even if the University permits students the option of whether to wear masks, I would kindly ask that students mask so that we may protect one another. The main purpose of a mask is to protect others, namely, your classmates and professors, some of whom may have preexisting conditions or immunodeficiencies, or may live with elderly persons or other persons at risk. I am additionally sure you have seen on the news that the Omicron variant is as catchy as Measles, which makes it very easy for others to catch. Any of us may have it at any time and be totally asymptomatic, meaning that unmasked persons could unwittingly spread it to others. Even if Omicron turns out to be less deadly than Delta in the aggregate, it still has the potential to kill people. So even if the University allows you the option of not masking, I hope that you will be kind to others and choose to mask. I would also remind students that eating food is not permitted in classrooms. Finally, if University policy later changes to again permit Professors to require masks, I will then require them.
Re coming to class when you are sick, have symptoms, or have been exposed. You may not come to class and you may not come onto campus if you test positive for COVID-19, have any symptoms of COVID-19, or have had direct contact with any person who is either positive or has symptoms. In such circumstances, you must email me and Dean Hernandez to let us know, and you must also fill out the student self-reporting form found at https://www.stu.edu/coronavirus/. After filling out that form, you will receive further instructions. I will record classes so that you may attend via viewing the video along with any other work that may be required. So long as you comply with the steps noted above and otherwise comply with the University’s COVID-19 policy, you will not be counted as absent for any such days.
CLASSROOM POLICIES
Class preparation: be prepared.
Pursuant to ABA Standard 310, you should anticipate spending a minimum of at least two hours out of class preparing for each hour of in-class learning. That means, among other things, carefully reading and preparing cases, marking up and dissecting statutes, and fully preparing any experiential assignments so that you are “ready to go” once we assemble as a group. Assigned materials should always be printed and brought with you, as laptops are not permitted during normal class segments. Should you come to class without marked-up cases and statutes, I will presume that you are not well-prepared. Further, whether you are a discussant or a leader, each and every one of you will be treated as an apprentice lawyer, and I — as your mentor — expect you to act as such. See the “On Preparation and Participation” section above for more detailed guidance.
Attendance.
Class attendance. Class attendance is mandatory. In accordance with St. Thomas Law’s absence policy, you may only miss 20% of the classes. However, I strongly recommend that you do not miss that many classes. In addition to assigned materials, anything I say or that we discuss in class is fair game for quizzes and exams.
Leaving the room.
Leaving the room during class. We take breaks during each class, so barring a genuine emergency, it is unprofessional to leave the room while class is ongoing. Doing so without legitimate cause is disruptive to your classmates and to me. In addition, if you leave class early without permission or without a genuine emergency, your name may be stricken from the sign-in sheet.
Consequences of excess absences: they are significant.
Excessive absences, administrative F. If you are deemed absent from class more than five times, you will be dropped from the course with a failing grade. Please do not hesitate to contact me to let me know that you are ill, that your car broke down, or that a loved one had surgery. However, there is no such thing as an “excused” absence—whether for the above-listed or any other reasons—and I have no discretion in this regard. So please do not ask me to excuse an absence. Although I will have the greatest of sympathy for personal circumstances, it is your responsibility to monitor your absences, and if you anticipate missing more than 20% of any class, you are strongly advised to contact Dean Hernandez regarding the possibility of withdrawal before it is too late to do so. Moreover, since this is a skills class, much of what you’ll learn takes place in the classroom, and there is no substitute for being there, so I would strongly encourage you to miss as few classes as possible.
Email policy: check it regularly.
As a professional, you are responsible for checking your official STU email account regularly. From time to time, course-related announcements (such as new online materials or assignment revisions) will be sent to your official St. Thomas Law email account.
Technology policy.
Laptops and tablets are permitted. Use them smartly, don’t be a stenographer and don’t allow yourself to get distracted. Do not record any of the class.
Accommodations.
If any students believe they need, or are entitled to receive, any accommodations due to a disability they should consult with the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs (John Hernandez) as early as possible. Further information on accommodations can be found at http://www.stu.edu/law/students/disability-accommodations.
Posted Mar. 4, 2022