It should be 3 to 4 pages long, double spaced and with normal
margins.
THERE ARE 2 OPTIONS, YOU MAY SELECT EITHER ONE:
1) Select a court case, business dispute or current event that has
recently occurred and has been in the newspaper or discussed in the
media. Explain the article/case or event and tell me how it relates
to a topic that we have discussed in class. YOU MUST EXPLAIN HOW THE
ARTICLE/EVENT YOU HAVE SELECTED RELATES TO A TOPIC WE DISCUSSED THIS
SEMESTER. Provide the definition and elements of the topic we
discussed in class. YOU MUST TIE THE ARTICLE/EVENT TO A CLASS TOPIC.
FAILURE TO TIE IT TOGETHER WILL GREATLY AFFECT YOUR GRADE.
You will most likely need to use multiple resources in order to fill
in some background information on the parties/topic/dispute.
Example: If the article discuses 2 corporations litigating a contract
dispute/ breach of contract case, a) explain the facts of the dispute
(who are the parties,what is the basis of the contract dispute, what
is each party’s position) b) In class we discussed that there
are 4 elements to a enforceable contract (explain the elements), c)
what is your opinion of the dispute and who do you feel should be the
successful party or who did a court say was the winner, do you
agree. OR you can find a negligence case that has already been
decided by a court or is in the media and describe the parties, the case, explain the concept
of negligence and the 4 elements of negligence and the results of
the decision or how you think a jury will decide the matter
You can write it on anything you want so long as you tie it to a
topic we have discussed in class. Do not use McDonald coffee case.
At the beginning of the paper have a Topic heading telling me
what is the article/event/court case you will be focusing on and what
is the topic we discussed in class. Example. ABC Corporation vs
Smith-Breach of Contract
2) Watch any movie that has something to do with a legal concept we
have discussed in class. ( A few suggestions: The Verdict, The
Rainmaker, Class Action, A Civil Action, Social Network, etc) Any movie that you can
tie into a topic that we discussed in class is acceptable. The more
creative, the better. You can get ideas by Googling legal movies.
Explain to me a) what the movie is about, use names of characters; b)
what is/are the concepts that the movie touches upon that we have
discussed in class, c) provide the definition and elements of the
topic we covered in class, d) how does the movie address the topic,
refer to certain scenes and describe the scenes and e) Do you believe
the movie scenes adequately depicted the topic we discussed in class
and satisfied the elements of the topic.
Example: If the movie portrays Mr. Smith filing a negligence case; a)
provide an overview of the movie (what happens) b) the movie touches
upon the concept of Negligence which we discussed in class; c) For a
plaintiff to succeed on a negligence case the plaintiff must
establish the 4 elements 1) a duty, 2) breach of the duty, 3) proximate cause
and 4) damages. d) In the movie Mr. Smith pursues a negligence claim
against who and why? How does he do this; and e) Do you think the
plaintiff should win its case (even if the movie does not address the
final outcome).
The movie can touch upon more than 1 topic as well.
Do not submit a rambling all over the place paper. Be concise. You
may want to watch the movie with the remote in one hand and a pen in
the other to get all the relevant scenes down on paper rather than
just trying to remember them after the movie. You can then go back
and pay more attention to the scenes you need to write about.
