Curriculum

REQUIRED COURSE

The following course is required for our Associates.

Legal Writing for New Media

Professor Michelle Zierler

Coursework will include weekly blog-like writing assignments about current events and hot-button issues, of approximately 2 pages in length.  Classes will include review and critiques of assignments by the students.   Research materials are provided early in the course, with later assignments requiring that students conduct their own research. Grades are based on a portfolio of students‘ work throughout the semester. NOTE: Assignments are due 48 - 72 hours after the end of each class; enrollment is limited.

ELECTIVES

The following represents courses that are offered by NYLS that satisfy the elective credits for our Associates Program.  New courses each semester may also satisfy an elective requirement.  

Advocay, Media and the Big Case

Professor Lis Wiehl

Study of the big cases from the perspective of the defense lawyer, the prosecutor, the judge and jury, and the media. Students will explore how lawyers tell a story, articulate a theory to persuade a jury, and interact with the media to influence the case. Students will discuss issues of ethics, evidence, trial advocacy, persuasion and strategy in dealing with the high profile case. Guest speakers will offer additional insight in these areas. Students will write a substantial paper.

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Explaining the Law to the Public

Professor Jethro Lieberman

Students will work in small teams to prepare a small book on a single area of the law for publication to an audience of policy-makers and journalists. The paper will present the law in a clear and comprehensive manner for use as reference material in subsequent writing on the subject. Completed papers will be published as monographs and distributed by the new publication arm of NYLS, Tribeca Square Press. (Note: Enrollment is limited).

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Legal Journalism

Professor James Simon

Requires students to analyze and write about legal subjects in language that intelligent non-lawyers can understand. Assignments include analyses of court proceedings and legal doctrine as well as short profiles of prominent members of the bar. Enrollment limited. Satisfies the Writing Requirement.

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Legal Writing for New Media II

Professor Michelle Zierler

Students will meet twice each month in "workshop" format with to discuss the news of the week, their critiques, and drafts of their blogs. Students' blogs will be edited and posted on the PLJ website. (Note: Enrollment is limited).

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Newsgathering and the Law

Professor Cameron Stracher

Focuses on legal issues facing the media, including defamation; privacy; access to courts and legal materials; newsgathering torts and prior restraints. Examines both the relevant substantive area of law and the litigants‘ strategy in the case materials we read, with an eye toward understanding how claims against the media can be brought and defended against.