FRS 003               Sec. 025               (1 unit)               CRN 75532               W  4:10-6:00pm               091 King Hall

Pre-law Freshman Seminar

Instructor: Kevin Johnson, School of Law

Description: The goal of this course is to expose students to different legal fields and allow the student to explore his/her relation to these fields through written and oral expression. Each class session will have a guest speaker who will lecture and hold discussion with a question and answer segment about their specific legal domain. Students will read an article that the speaker provides prior to the scheduled course date and submit two questions to the speakers for discussion.  The discussions will be mediated by Sara Grumley, this year’s instructor. Students will also have the opportunity to hear from current law students and prelaw program participants who are in the midst of applying to law school or who are currently enrolled in law school. This course aims to provide students with a better idea of the many legal fields that are available to explore as well as learn what it is like to be a prelaw student and a law student.  This course is intended for students who may not know what different legal field s have to offer.  This course should help students establish their views and attitudes about the legal profession and law school. We believe that by completion of this course, these students will have a better understanding of legal professions and what law schools.  Through class discussion, it is believed that students will become more confident in speaking and asking questions in a group setting.  Required writing assignments aim to help the student express his/her thoughts in writing on a legal topic as well as make thoughtful connections between class presentations and the students’ outside environment.  Students will also acquire feedback on grammar and content to help improve their writing skills. Professor Kevin Johnson, who has taught Freshman Seminars in the past, will be the professor assigned the class.  He will offer an overview lecture on the role of the law in U.S. society in the first class, will introduce the various speakers, meet with the students individually, and offer a concluding lecture tying the course together.

Format: Classes meet once a week for two hours on Wednesdays from 4:10 pm to 6:00 pm in room 091 King Hall.  There are no field trips for this course. Please see course syllabus for a detailed weekly schedule. Students are required to read an article that the next week’s speaker provides prior to the scheduled presentation date. Students must submit two questions to the speakers for discussion based on the article.  In addition, students will be submitting a 1-2 page reaction paper to the previous week’s speaker and article.  Students are encouraged to relate personal experiences and/or current events in the paper as it relates to the lecture topic.  No group work will be assigned.  Film viewing will be held in class  Grading:

• READING REQUIREMENT: The reading for this class will consist of selected articles provided by each of the faculty lecturers for her/his session. Student will receive these articles in advance. Students will be required to read the articles prior to each class session. To demonstrate fulfillment of the requirement, students must submit at least two questions, based on readings at the beginning of lecture.
• ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENT: Students will be required to attend all sessions of this class. More than one absence will result in the grade of “No Pass.” However students are allowed 1 unexcused absence. Please note that students are still required to submit the assignment due for the day they miss. 
• QUESTION REQUIREMENT: Students will be required to submit at least 2 questions at the beginning of each class session based on the readings for that session. In the case of the three panel presentations, students will submit two questions for each panel & must also provide anticipated answers to those questions.
• PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT: All students are expected to fully participate in class discussions & ask questions.  In addition, at each session, each faculty member will be provided with a class list so that faculty member can call on students.
• WRITING REQUIREMENT: 8 out of 9 class papers will be required. Students will write 1-2 page reaction papers after each lecture and panel presentation. These papers will be read by Sara for content and by Ellen Abrams, LSC Writing Coordinator, for organization, grammar, critical thinking, etc. Grading for the papers will be on a scale of 1 to 5, with a grade of 1-2 signifying acceptable content, a grade of 3-4 signifying acceptable content, organization, grammar, etc., and a grade of 5 signifying both exemplary content & writing skills. The LSC will provide a writing tutor for any students whose skills indicate the need for on-going individual attention.  Note that by failing to turn in 2-3 assignments, the student risk not passing the course!
• FINAL EXAMINATION: The final for this course will consist of a paper in which the student addresses how her/his views of the legal profession & law school have changed as a result of attending the class. The paper should also cover some of the topics addressed by the guest lecturers. Grading criteria for the final will be the same as the 8 reaction papers.  The paper should be 1-2 pages in length.

About the Instructor: Kevin R. Johnson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law and Chicana/o Studies at the University of California at Davis.  Johnson has published extensively on international migration, immigration law and policy, and civil rights, with a particular focus on Latinas and Latinos.  He has published Mixed Race America and the Law: A Reader (NYU Press, 2002) and a Reader on Race, Civil Rights, and the Law A Multiracial Approach (Carolina Academic Press, 2001).  Johnson’s first book How Did You Get to Be Mexican? A White/Brown Man’s Search for Identity (Temple University Press) was published in 1999 and was nominated for the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. A graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Johnson earned his undergraduate degree in economics from UC Berkeley.  He grew up in the Los Angeles area.  After graduation from law school, Johnson clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Los Angeles and worked as an attorney at a San Francisco law firm.  He has taught at UC Davis since 1989.