Advocacy Courses

This course is designed for students in the second half of the Practice Court Program. Each student team works through advanced methods to prepare for its assigned PC 3 "big trial," including taking video depositions with simultaneous "real-time" court reporting and video synchronization for use in the big trial; development of visual strategy and its electronic presentation for trial; use of focus groups to prepare for trial; and advanced discovery issues.

A study of the techniques, goals, and methods of negotiating, as well as other forms of dispute resolution, primarily mediation. The principal teaching method is the use of simulated problems in which the students seek to negotiate resolutions to disputes involving a variety of factual settings and legal theories.

A study of state and federal arbitration law, including the ability to compel or resist arbitration, as well as practical guidance on drafting arbitration agreements and preparing for and participating in arbitration hearings.

This course seeks to provide students with a foundation in the art of trial advocacy before more advanced training in Practice Court. Course methodology includes class discussion, group planning, performance drills, and group critique. Subjects for study include developing a theory and theme of the issue; storytelling skills, as applied to opening statements; direct examination skills; planning of cross-examination and cross-examination techniques.

Students in this course seek to develop the skills necessary to establish appropriate professional relationships with clients. Specifically, the class engages in exercises that encourage students:

• to recognize and use different questioning techniques;
• to develop the skills to counsel clients in a manner that encourages full client participation in decision-making; and
• to recognize and resolve potential ethical issues related to the attorney/client relationship. Assigned readings supplement in-class exercises.

Here students explore topics in the area of advanced civil procedure. The course deals with the applicable law governing complexities inherent in civil litigation due to a multiplicity of parties or other lawsuits. A large course segment focuses on an in-depth examination of class action law. In addition, the course reviews other procedural devices (e.g., joinder rules, issue, and claim preclusion, transfer, multidistrict litigation, and abstention) intended to deal with problems associated with multiple parties and/or lawsuits and the unnecessary duplication of adjudicative activities.

The study of the law applicable to transactions connected in whole or in part with two or more jurisdictions. The general problems associated with the jurisdiction of courts, foreign judgments, the application of federal constitutional provisions, and the choice of law are considered together with the rules governing certain specific types of controversies arising in the fields of workers' compensation, torts, contracts, property, business organizations, and family law.

The Law School offers several field placement opportunities for which credit may be earned. Prosecutorial experience may be gained in field placement programs provided in the office of the McLennan County District Attorney and the office of the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas in Waco. Federal Judicial field placements are available in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (Waco Division) and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin and Waco Divisions). Other field placement programs, such as those with Lone Star Legal Aid, offer students the opportunity to assist with matters under the supervision of a staff attorney. Several state appellate and trial courts offer judicial field placements, and students may also participate in the Supreme Court of Texas and Court of Criminal Appeals field placements.

Participatory practice examination of selected legal, substantive, procedural, and practice considerations in the engagement, preparation, and presentation of family law litigation involving dissolution of marriage and suits affecting the parent-child relationship. Basic advocacy training follows lecture presentations with mock courtroom time by class participants.

A survey of the unique issues and elements of an intellectual property lawsuit. Topics covered include assessing whether a lawsuit is a proper course of action and the risks of litigation, conducting pre-suit investigations, selecting expert witnesses, drafting pleadings, conducting pretrial activities, discovery, evidentiary challenges, trial preparation, and appellate procedures. This course is to be taken with Practice Court 3.

First-year law students must take Legal Analysis, Research, and Communications (LARC): Introduction and LARC: Persuasive Communication. These courses are designed to introduce beginning law students to legal analysis, research, writing, and advocacy. In the first quarter of LARC, the principal goal is to teach students how to analyze legal problems; in the second quarter, students work on research skills. In the third quarter, students take Persuasive Communication, where the focus shifts from objective legal writing to persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy. The students research and write an appellate brief and then deliver oral arguments based on that brief in the intra-school moot court competition.

The Baylor experience culminates in the third year when every student enters Baylor’s renowned Practice Court- a two-quarter, four-course, real-world advocacy training ground.

Princeton Review calls Practice Court “arguably the best training ground in the nation for practical lawyering.”

The program is nationally recognized as one of the most rigorous, most demanding—and yet most rewarding— law school experiences for honing real-world lawyering and leadership skills.

This class will introduce students to the rules, strategies, and unique vocabulary that govern the practice of criminal law in Texas. While there will be sections that speak to the criminal defense side of practice, because the vast majority of state criminal practitioners get their start representing the State, the emphasis will be a road map to understanding the practice of criminal law from the prosecution standpoint. Topics covered will include charging decisions, docket management, pre-trial preparation, plea bargaining, motion practice, the punishment and sentencing phase of the trial, Michael Morton/Brady, discovery, and interacting with crime victims.