Spring 2027

Legal Writing, From Counselor to Advocate

Introduction to legal reasoning, writing, and research where students draft memos and briefs using fictional case files to simulate legal practice.

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Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Read legal sources critically and accurately to identify relevant information.

  • Recognize the weight and significance of legal authorities within the American legal system.

  • Analyze and synthesize legal authorities to explain and formulate controlling rules.

  • Apply legal rules to a set of facts—both to predict legal consequences and to advocate for a preferred result.

  • Use research strategies to find controlling and persuasive legal authority.

  • Write clearly and concisely about the law in different professional contexts, including objective office memoranda and persuasive legal briefs.

  • Articulate legal analyses and argue legal positions via oral communication and advocacy.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
LEGALST/POLISCI 445

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Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

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Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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Student experience

the class

Introduction to legal reasoning, writing, and research. Draft memos and briefs based on fictional case files and independent legal research, simulating the practice of law. Topics include precedent, sources of law, reading and interpreting legal texts, objective legal analysis, persuasion, and oral argument.

difficulty & workload

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Topics

  • Precedent and sources of law
  • Interpreting legal texts and objective analysis
  • Persuasion and oral argument

Skills

  • Critical reading of legal sources
  • Analysis and synthesis of legal authorities
  • Applying legal rules to facts
  • Legal research strategies
  • Professional legal writing
  • Oral advocacy and argumentation

Grades

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Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
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  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "bee4fad00f158c9600a1b6272c6a832bf148f8bac4fba37a0a928a9ecb8b8956",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}