CML1106A & CML1106E: Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility
Session: Fall-January
Language: English
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: Nonet, on your attendance and participation.
Course Schedule
Each Section meets four times in the Fall Term and every day in the January Term.
Fall Term
DATES SECTION TIME ROOM
Sept. 10 & 24
Oct. 15 & 29
A 4:00-6:00 FTX 147A
Sept. 11 & 25
Oct. 16 & 30
E 4:00-6:00 FTX 147
In the Fall term Sections A, B, C and D share the Monday 4:00-6:00 course time with the Property course. There is no scheduling conflict between your property law course and this course. On the four Monday dates above, there is no property class for anyone. Instead, Sections A, B, C and D have Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility. Consult your property course syllabus for other details.
January Term begins on January 3, 2013 and ends on Wednesday, January 23, 2013.
Please note that the attendance at each class (in the Fall and January Terms) is mandatory since your grade is based, in part, on your attendance and participation.
Teaching Method:
This course combines classroom based active and experiential learning with web-based practice cycles. Students engage in small group tasks, role plays, simulations, and demonstrations followed by facilitated discussions. Debrief discussions use self-reflection questions to identify what has been learned and what needs to happen next to advance learning further. The web-based activities are used to teach theory and course content and to reinforce the skills introduced in the classroom. Several independent learning projects are included in the course work.Method of Evaluation:
1.1. PARTICIPATION GRADE: (15%)1.1.1. Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Latecomers are treated as absent. The final overall course grade is reduced by 2 points (2/100) for each unexcused absence from any class, exercise, discussion and teaching assistant meeting. Excused absences and assignment extensions must be approved by the Manager of Academic Affairs in Room 237 based on illness or other medical condition, religious observance, death in the immediate family, or other compassionate grounds as stated in the faculty regulations. It is your responsibility to get approval from the Manager of Academic Affairs.
If possible, please give Fran Russo advance notice of absences, particularly in the January term, so that groups can be re-arranged for exercises.
1.1.2. Preparation and Participation
Comprehensive preparation is essential for active participation in classroom exercises. The final overall course grade is reduced by 2 points (2/100) if a student comes unprepared to class without having read and analyzed exercise materials as required.
Checking your email, browsing the web, playing games, and online chatting is not permitted during class. The final overall course grade is reduced by 2 points (2/100) any time a student engages in these activities.
1.1.3. Pass/Fail Assignments
In general these assignments prepare you for an in-class activity or consolidate your learning following an experiential learning activity. Pass/Fall assignments are reviewed by your professor or by a teaching assistant. Some are automatically graded online quizzes. The final overall course grade is reduced by 2 points (2/100) for any assignment not submitted and two points (2/100) for each day an assignment is late. A failed assignment can be redone one time, within the time set by the professor, so as to avoid a grade reduction.
1.2. GRADED ASSIGNMENTS (85%)
There will be several assignments in the January term. Description and evaluation criteria will be provided with each assignment. Online Quizzes: 15%
- Interview Exercise: 15%
- Client Opinion Letter: 15%
- Research Paper: 40%
- Paper grades are reduced five points (5/100) for each day they are late.
Materials Used:
The readings for each class or activity must be done in advance.
- Ellen Zweibel & John Manwaring, Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility, Virtual Campus Website (2003), www.tlss.uottawa.ca Virtual Campus instructions are included in your welcome package.
- Julie Macfarlane, ed., Dispute Resolution: Readings and Case Studies, 3d ed (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2010).
- Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility: Readings 2012–2013, course pack/binder (University of Ottawa, 2012-13). On the first day of January Term each student must purchase their own current year binder. These will be sold at the end of the first class. These binders contain personalized, confidential role plays and binders cannot be shared between several students.
- Bruce Ziff et al., A Property Law Reader: Cases, Questions and Commentary, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2008).
Description:
Dispute Resolution and Professional Responsibility focuses on the skills the modem lawyer needs to advocate their client's interests in negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The substantive law you learn in first year is put into the context of real client problems. Ethical and professional responsibility dilemmas are explored.Most of your law studies will focus on doctrinal analysis: extracting legal principles from appellate level cases, learning how judges apply legal principles to case facts; honing the skills of interpreting, reconciling, and distinguishing case precedents; interpreting statutes and predicting how a court is likely to decide the legal issues presented by your client's specific circumstances.
For many lawyers, courtroom appearances are rare. Typical lawyer’s work involves problem solving, transaction facilitation, and dispute resolution through negotiation. You will apply statutes and case law to make informed decisions on how to resolve client problems using non-litigation approaches.
This course steps back from the litigation process. It takes you and your client out of the courtroom and puts you both back in your office exploring multiple approaches and solutions to the client's situation. You have an opportunity to practice oral and written advocacy in non-litigation settings.
The Writing Academy provides instruction and individualized feedback on an office memo in the Fall term and a client reporting letter in the January term.