Welcome to Legal Writing for 2020-2021. Despite some feeling that this is not such a great time to be in law school, I think that it is the ideal time. Law is one of the only professions where you actually have the opportunity to change and fix the world ... and so much needs to be fixed right now.

Our class will be taught remotely, at least until we see how the next few months play out. I intend to meet through Zoom during the regularly scheduled class times, but we will also discuss how I might better accommodate everyone's schedule and availability ... especially if technical or other problems occur. I do intend to record all of the classes as well.

For orientation, I have a few introductory assignments. First, please watch videos 1 and 18-22, from the Crash Course on Government Series available on YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOfse2ncvffeelTrqvhrz8H

Feel free to watch other videos as well! They are very good and provide a great background of our legal system and manner of government.

Secondly, here are the assigned books for the course:

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (21st edition).

Le Clercq & Mika, Legal Writing Style with Style (red version, available only on Amazon).

Sources of American Law: An Introduction to Legal Research (free download from CALI).

The first book, our citation manual, is brand new, and I'm not sure when it will be available. If you purchase a used 20th edition, that might be problematic because there have been changes to the book. We can discuss what we'll do later this month if the 21st edition is not yet available.

The second book is only available through Amazon, and is the newer "red" version, as opposed to the used versions of the book published by Wolters-Kluwer.

The third book is from the legal website CALI, at cali.org You will receive credentials to use CALI during the school year, but I think you can still download the book here: https://www.cali.org/books/sources-american-law-introduction-legal-research

Please read pp. 1-14, 24-42, 55-65 in "Sources of American Law."

If you have any questions or concerns at all, please contact me. My email is k.mikanull@csuohio.nulledu. Also, I have set up listservs for the classes and will be sending material as needed to the group, including (I hope) a tentative syllabus for the semester.

Best wishes,

Prof. Mika