LC7033 - Drafting Skills (2023/24)
| Module specification | Module approved to run in 2023/24 | ||||||||||
| Module title | Drafting Skills | ||||||||||
| Module level | Masters (07) | ||||||||||
| Credit rating for module | 2.25 | ||||||||||
| School | Guildhall School of Business and Law | ||||||||||
| Total study hours | 22.5 | ||||||||||
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| Assessment components |
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| Running in 2023/24(Please note that module timeslots are subject to change) |
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Module summary
This module focuses on the skill of drafting legal documents. It aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop or improve their legal drafting skills.
Prior learning requirements
Qualifying Law Degree
Syllabus
1. Introduction to the drafting of legal documents.
• understanding why legal documents are drafted as they are;
• identifying drafting errors;
• drafting/amending clauses of a business agreement;
• explaining the effect of certain clauses in a business agreement.
2. Drafting practice
• analysis of an agreement to ascertain consistency with the client’s goals and instructions;
• drafting/amending the agreement so that it meets the client’s goals and instructions.
Covers all Learning Outcomes
Balance of independent study and scheduled teaching activity
1 one-hour and thirty minutes tutor led session and 2 one-hour and thirty minutes student led sessions in the Foundation Course and further teaching and practice throughout the course.
Learning outcomes
At the conclusion of the Legal Drafting sessions students should:
1. understand the content and requirements of formal legal documents in the core
practice areas
2. understand the principles of good drafting and editing
3. be able to explain their own and others’ drafting.
Element 1: Drafting and amending documents
Students should be able to draft and amend basic documents or provisions that:
1. demonstrate an understanding of the relevant legal, factual and procedural issues
2. meet all formal legal or other requirements
3. demonstrate a considered choice, use and adaptation of templates or precedents
4. are in prescribed or generally accepted form.
Element 2: Style of drafting and amending
Students should be able to draft and amend documents that:
1. use accurate, straightforward and modern language
2. use correct spelling, grammar, syntax and punctuation
3. are easy to follow, internally consistent and free of ambiguity
4. use recitals, definitions and boilerplate correctly and appropriately
5. have a clear, logical, consistent and appropriate structure, layout and use of
numbering and schedules.
Element 3: Explaining and editing
Students should be able to:
1. explain in clear and simple terms the meaning and effect of basic documents and the
possible implications for the client
2. review and edit their own and others’ drafting to identify and correct omissions, errors
and unnecessary provisions.
Assessment strategy
The assessment is a take away assessment set in the context of Business Law & Practice. The assessment is designed to replicate practice and enable students to demonstrate the application of legal principles in a realistic, practical context. Students are given a formative assessment and receive written feedback.
Students are provided with a ‘mock’ formative assessment, which they have several weeks to attempt and submit for marking and feedback. Students are then provided with detailed written feedback and provided with an indication of whether their submission would have been likely to have been marked ‘competent’ or ‘not yet competent’ had this been the real, summative assessment. Students can also meet with the tutor for further oral feedback.
Bibliography
Basic Texts
Skills for Lawyers, University of Law Publishing
Legal English, Pearson Education
Online Materials
Supporting WebLearn materials and student study materials
.