Designed for students who would like to clerk upon graduation or who have ambitions to sit on the bench, this class will focus on documents that law clerks and judges are called upon to draft, including bench briefs and appellate and trial court decisions. Students will complete multiple drafts of these documents, meet individually with the instructor to discuss the drafts, and engage in peer editing of their classmates' papers. Students will work with a single fact pattern throughout the semester, and will conduct extensive research as part of the course. In class, students will discuss the role of judges and their opinions in the legal systems, as well as the relationship between a judge and law clerk. The class will also include in-class writing exercises designed to improve the students' writing skills. ENROLLMENT LIMIT: 14 students. NOTES: This seminar satisfies the Upper-class Professional Skills requirement. This seminar does not satisfy the Upper-class Writing Requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar (designated by an (S) in the title), or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.