Indiana University Bloomington

Primary Navigation

Involved alumni smile during a meeting at Indiana Law.

Course Materials

Introduction to Law:
The American Legal Mind

Class Books

  • ALM = American Legal Mind (2006) (supplemental course materials) [available in PDF format on class website]
  • GTM = Richard Fischl & Jeremy Paul, Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams (1999)
  • American Law = George P. Fletcher & Steve Sheppard, American Law in a Global Context: The Basics (2005)
  • S & T = Kimm Walton, Strategies and Tactics for the First Year Law Student (1997)
  • Handout = Material distributed in class or made available on class website

Assignments

Day 1 — August 4
  • Introduction to the American Legal System
Assignment
  • Pages 3-12 in American Law available on electronic reserve, (password: introlaw)
  • Indiana Code § 1-1-2-1, on page 6 in ALM
  • Read Page v. Hollingsworth, on pages 3-5 of ALM
Class Notes

Day 2 — August 5

  • American Constitution + Federalism
Assignment
  • Pages 132-45 in American Law
  • Link - read United States Constitution (PDF)
Resources
Class Notes

Day 3 — August 6

  • State Courts + Federal Courts + Procedure
Assignment
Resources
Class Notes

Day 4 — August 7

  • American Common Law System – History, Cases, and Common Law
Assignment
  • Pages 15-28 in American Law; skim pages 29-42
Resources
Class Notes

Day 5 — August 8

  • How Common Law Lawyers Argue — Words and Rules
Assignment
  • Pages 16-24 in ALM, "A Bedtime Story." [ALM = supplementary materials in pdf format on course website.]
  • Pages 7-15 in ALM, text and commentary on Section 504 of Restatement, Second of Torts.
  • Pages 42-44 in ALM, "The Anatomy of a Torts Class" (first part of article only)
  • Pages 37-43 & 43-54 in GTM
  • Llewellyn article on Canons of construction on electronic reserve, (password: introlaw) especially charts on canons of construction at end of article.
Class Notes

Day 6 — August 11

  • How Common Law Lawyers Argue — Categories and Cases
Assignment
  • Pages 44-46 in ALM, "The Anatomy of a Torts Class" (only portion of article on manipulation of precedent)
  • Pages 55-66 in GTM
  • Vosburg v. Putney, on pages 25-31 in ALM
  • Hurley v. Eddingfield, on pages 32-33 in ALM
  • Tuttle v. Buck,on pages 34-41 in ALM
Class Notes

Day 7 — August 12

  • How Common Law Lawyers Argue — Facts
  • How Common Law Lawyers Argue — Giving Good Reasons
Assignment (for Doing Things with Facts)
  • Pages 44-46 in ALM, "The Anatomy of a Torts Class" (only portion of article on manipulation of precedent)
  • Pages 87-105 in GTM
  • Hamer v. Sidway (Hamer I), pages 55-65 in ALM
  • Hamer v. Sidway (Hamer II), pages 66-78 in ALM
  • The Fact Game, page 79 in ALM
  • Bargain Story [PDF] [Word]
Assignment (for Giving Good Reasons)
  • Pages 156-57 in GTM
  • Pages 46-53 in ALM, "The Anatomy of a Torts Class" (portions of article on policy reasons)
Class Notes

Day 8 — August 13

  • How Common Law Lawyers Argue — Exercises
  • Law School Exams
Assignment (for How Common Law Lawyers Argue - Exercises)
  • Read and prepare Common Law Exercises # 1 & 2 on pages 80-94 in ALM. The purpose of these exercises is to review the Common Law Kitbag material and to practice using common law arguments. Each exercise has a set of questions to answer, based on the case provided. Read each case, and be prepared to answer the questions asked on page 80 and pages 85-86.
Assignment (for Law School Exams)
  • Read the Derrick Bell memo on electronic reserve.
  • Read pages 111-66 in Kimm Walton, Strategies and Tactics for the First Law Student Year.
Resources
  • Annotated Exam Answer [PDF] [Word]

Day 9 — August 14

  • Legal Materials and Research
Assignment
  • Lecture
Class Notes

Day 10 — August 15

  • Final Exam