Freedom of Contract and the Second Restatement

Fall Assignments for Credit

You’ll note that your syllabi allow 15% for assignments. They are required and part of your overall grade.

Did poorly on the midterm? Worried that you might underperform on the final? Here’s how you can earn some points to offset the exams.

1) 10 point assignments (1a or 1b)

a) If you did poorly on the midterm, write a document explaining what you would do differently now. Which issues did you miss? Which rules were sketchy? Was your analysis light on, well, analysis? What would you do better if you could take the same exam again. I don’t want a rewrite of the essay. I want you to go through your own work as if you were grading someone else. This exercise is intended to help you think from the standpoint of a bar exam grader.

– or –

b) Did well on the midterm? Pick two issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and find a case for each from our assigned case readings that you feel best illustrates the rule in the way that it’s addressed on bar exam type essays. Discuss how you feel the court addresses the issue, and how you could use similar analysis if you ran into a comparable fact pattern in an essay. Do not recount the facts of the cases. This is an assignment to identify holdings within the case that you could use for IRAC of your own.

2) 5 point assignment

Pick two different issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and write out an MBE-style fact pattern and four answer choices for each. Use existing MBEs as a guide for the length and complexity, but DO NOT copy someone else’s MBE and then claim it’s  yours. That’s plagiarism. Moreover, this exercise is very beneficial in that it really forces you to understand and think though an issue of law carefully. If you do this right, you’ll have a better understanding of the two issues you pick.

Requirements and Due Date

Assignments are due the day of your final examination—November 14, 2019. I require a printed copy of the assignment be turned into me. You can send a digital copy as well, but I will only grade physical, printed copies turned in by the deadline.

You may turn in both assignments 1 and 2. A maximum score of 15 points will be awarded to work that fits the criteria supra. Please submit assignments that are a reasonable length. Be concise, but turn in something substantive. Sophomoric efforts will be graded accordingly.

Winter assignments for credit

You’ll note that your syllabus allows 15% for assignments. Last quarter I didn’t make it clear that this is something I expect every student to work on. This quarter, I want everyone to know that they must turn in work for this credit that goes towards 15% of their grade. The due date and other information are on the bottom, I’m sending it out now in case it’s easier for some of you to work on over the holidays, instead of waiting to the end of the quarter.

1) 10 point assignments (1a or 1b or 1c)

a) Is there an issue or issues that you keep missing or still misunderstand? Come up with a comprehensive project that helps you master that issue. Explain your approach in the beginning of the project and then show your work. Maybe a lesson plan that you would use to teach it to others, or an essay or two that features your problem issue, or a short paper on the issue that increases your understanding of it. If you have an idea, but want to double-check it, send it to me via email.

– or –

b) Pick two issues of contract law that you’re struggling with and find essays on CalBar’s website. Try to write the essays and then do the three-column method of checking the issues you spotted to the two student answers supplied by the Committee of Bar Examiners. After you complete your columns, write up an analysis of what you got right, what you missed, and what you need to improve on. Turn the whole thing in, your essay, the column comparison, and your analysis.

– or –

c) Pick two issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and find a case for each from our assigned case readings that you feel best illustrates the rule in the way that it’s addressed on bar exam type essays. Discuss how you feel the court addresses the issue, and how you could use similar analysis if you ran into a comparable fact pattern in an essay. Do not recount the facts of the cases. This is an assignment to identify holdings within the case that you could use for IRAC of your own.

2) 5 point assignment

Pick two different issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and write out an MBE-style fact pattern and four answer choices for each. Use existing MBEs as a guide for the length and complexity, but DO NOT copy someone else’s MBE and then claim it’s  yours. That’s plagiarism. Moreover, this exercise is very beneficial in that it really forces you to understand and think though an issue of law carefully. If you do this right, you’ll have a better understanding of the two issues you pick.

Requirements and Due Date

Assignments are due the day of your final examination—February 20, 2020. I’ll except items earlier. I require a printed copy of the assignment be turned into me. You can send a digital copy as well, but I will only grade physical, printed copies turned in by the deadline.

You may turn in both assignments 1 and 2. A maximum score of 15 points will be awarded to work that fits the criteria supra. Please submit assignments that are a reasonable length. Be concise, but turn in something substantive. Sophomoric efforts will be graded accordingly.

Spring assignments for credit

You’ll note that your syllabus allows 15% for assignments. Like with every other quarter, I want everyone to know that they must turn in work for this credit that goes towards 15% of their grade. The due date and other information is on the bottom.

1) 10 point assignments (1a or 1b or 1c)

a) Is there an issue or issues that you keep missing or still misunderstand? Come up with a comprehensive project that helps you master that issue. Explain your approach in the beginning of the project and then show your work. Maybe a lesson plan that you would use to teach it to others, or an essay or two that features your problem issue, or a short paper on the issue that increases your understanding of it. If you have an idea, but want to double-check it, send it to me via email.

– or –

b) Pick two issues of contract law that you’re struggling with and find essays on CalBar’s website. Try to write the essays and then do the three-column method of checking the issues you spotted to the two student answers supplied by the Committee of Bar Examiners. After you complete your columns, write up an analysis of what you got right, what you missed, and what you need to improve on. Turn the whole thing in, your essay, the column comparison, and your analysis.

– or –

c) Pick two issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and find a case for each from our assigned case readings that you feel best illustrates the rule in the way that it’s addressed on bar exam type essays. Discuss how you feel the court addresses the issue, and how you could use similar analysis if you ran into a comparable fact pattern in an essay. Do not recount the facts of the cases. This is an assignment to identify holdings within the case that you could use for IRAC of your own.

2) 5 point assignment

Pick two different issues of contract law that you’ve learned so far this year and write out an MBE-style fact pattern and four answer choices for each. Use existing MBEs as a guide for the length and complexity, but DO NOT copy someone else’s MBE and then claim it’s  yours. That’s plagiarism. Moreover, this exercise is very beneficial in that it really forces you to understand and think though an issue of law carefully. If you do this right, you’ll have a better understanding of the two issues you pick.

Requirements and Due Date

Assignments are due the day of your final examination—May 14, 2020. I’ll except items earlier. I require a printed copy of the assignment be turned into me. You can send a digital copy as well, but I will only grade physical, printed copies turned in by the deadline. We may have to change the physical copy requirement, depending on whether we’re able to return to the classroom by that time.

You may (read should) turn in both assignments 1 and 2. A maximum score of 15 points will be awarded to work that fits the criteria supra. Please submit assignments that are a reasonable length. Be concise, but turn in something substantive. Sophomoric efforts will be graded accordingly.