Criminal Law and Policy

Skills – 1 unit - This course will introduce students to the practice of conscious lawyering, including concepts in professional and personal identity, self-awareness, focus, emotional intelligence, cultural and personal values, mindfulness, meditation, and mind-body connection. This course will help train students to be mindful and aware while engaging in the practice of law including litigation, negotiations, transactional deals, client management, and day-to-day work in a law practice.

Seminar – 2 units. As California moves into its second decade of criminal justice reform, we now turn our focus to how those with mental health conditions interact with law enforcement and the justice system. This class will explore the work of crisis intervention teams, collaborative courts, and California's new CARE courts. Our effort will build on a foundational study of competency, insanity, protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, hospital holds, forced medication, and conservatorships. Special attention will be given to children and the elderly.

Skills - This course is designed to teach students (1) the law that restricts and supports jury selection in criminal law trials (2) the most effective methods of engaging in jury selection (3) how to think critically and strategically about voir dire questioning and juror challenges.

This course will be taught as an accelerated course. Class will meet for first 7 weeks only.

Discussion – 2 hours. This course will examine major cases, statutes, and events in the law, both on the books and in action, dealing with nonwhites. The course will include discussion of the situation of African Americans, Asians, Indigenous People, and Latinx People, from the Colonial era to the present. In addition to examining legal doctrine and policy, it will explore how the contemporary United States has been shaped by racial discrimination.

Seminar - 2 or 3 hours. This seminar explores the ways political units in different countries attempt to maintain social order and advance criminal justice. Students examine the people, policies, and institutions responsible for adjudicating alleged criminal law violations around the globe. They also learn about how rules of professional responsibility and legal ethics guide the behavior of the institutional actors who participate in these criminal processes.

All King Hall externships have two components. At the field placement, students handle legal assignments under supervision of an attorney. Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students complete professional development assignments. See the Externship website for more information.

Discussion  - 3 hours. This course examines a range of issues, including bail, charging decisions, preliminary hearings, discovery, statute of limitations, venue, joinder and severance, pleas, plea bargaining, assistance of counsel, trial, double jeopardy, sentencing, appeal and collateral remedies. This course will have a short essay assignment, midterm exam, and a final exam.

Final Assessment: Exam

Basic appellate practice and procedure. Beginning instruction in oral advocacy skills and an opportunity to practice these skills in front of a moot court. Students compete in four rounds of oral arguments which, combined with the second semester of the program, determine the rankings for selecting participants in the annual Neumiller Competition and other interschool competition teams and for membership on the Moot Court Board. Both courses 410A and 410B must be taken in order to qualify for most interschool competitions.

This course is a continuation of Course 410A. Focuses on the development of effective appellate brief writing skills and the refinement of oral advocacy skills. Participants research and write two appellate briefs and argue the cases before a moot court. The first appellate brief and arguments are judged for selection of interschool competition teams, participants in the annual Neumiller Competition, and membership on the Moot Court Board.

 This clinic provides practical experience in providing legal services to indigent clients who have filed civil rights actions in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Students work on clinic cases under the supervision of the clinic director. Students are required to follow the clinic office procedures and to employ skills such as interviewing, counseling, research, writing, negotiating, taking and defending depositions, and possibly oral and trial advocacy. Students are certified to appear in court. Each unit of clinic credit assumes four hours of work per week.