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Virginia Administrative Code (Last Updated: January 10, 2017) |
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Title 18. Professional and Occupational Licensing |
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Agency 35. Board of Bar Examiners |
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Chapter 20. Law Reader Program Rule |
Section 350. Basic legal skills
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Part IX. Course Descriptions
Article 1. First Year
Introduction to basic legal reference materials (including judicial, legislative and administrative primary and secondary sources) and their use; techniques of legal reasoning, analysis and synthesis; legal writing styles. Familiarization with the structure of the federal and state court systems, the concept of case law in a common law jurisdiction, fundamental principles of stare decisis and precedent, the legislative process, principles of statutory construction and interpretation. Reader should be assigned projects of increasing difficulty such as: case abstracts, analysis of a trial record to identify issues, short quizzes to demonstrate ability to locate primary and secondary sources, office memoranda or trial-oriented memoranda of authorities to demonstrate ability to find the law applicable to a factual situation and to differentiate unfavorable authority, and an appellate level brief.
Historical Notes
Derived from VR168-01-04 § 9.1, eff. March 1, 1993.