Legal Reasoning and Argumentation
Course content
This course provides a general introduction to the theory of
legal practice. Whilst law school provides a good understanding of
legal doctrine, legal practitioners often lack clear guidance on
the broader philosophies underlying the profession, and in
particular, the theoretical underpinnings of the core apects of how
to argue as a lawyer. As such, this course is an introduction to
both a ‘craft’ and a ‘philosophy’ that draws from research
undertaken by the course instructors and close reading of academic
texts on how to be a better lawyer in making legal arguments. These
texts will be used to better understand how legal arguments are
made in legal practice and how some arguments come to prevail over
others.
The course is structured around principal legal theoretical
categories (formalism and pragmatism) and their application within
discrete fields of law (contract and private transactions,
constitutional politics, human rights) and also addresses
fundamental emerging issues on the role of science in adjudication
and pursuing social issues through cause lawyering. The course does
not focus on the law of a specific jurisdiction, but rather
addresses cross-cutting issues which are common amongst
contemporary legal systems, and ultimately, timeless lynchpins of
lawyering skills. The first half of the course provides an
introduction to the basic skills of lawyering, whilst the second
half delves into cross cutting special topics.
Throughout the course, students will develop a solid understanding
of the main argumentative ‘tools’ of contemporary lawyering –
rhetorics, interpretation, reasoning, precedent, the law/fact
distinction and concept formation – which they will further learn
to implement through extensive class exercises and case work on
both domestic and international legal cases. The assessment for
this course will consist of student’s writing an individual written
assignment in the form of a shadow plea or a shadow judgment, that
addresses the theories underlying lawyering in practice. Students
will be instructed to write both a formal (shadow) plea/judgment
and to explicate how/why the chose the wording used in that
exercise.
This course thus offers a good choice for those students who want
to ‘master’ the art of lawyering by completing existing studies at
the BA/Bachelor level on general introductions to law and legal
philosophy. Students that take this course will be thus not only
well equipped for making good legal arguments as a member of the
legal profession, but will also gain a solid understanding of the
theoretical construction of the social world to support academic
legal research.
Knowledge:
- Understanding of key argumentative techniques underlying legal practice
- Knowledge of basic distinctions between formalism and pragmatism in approaches to legal theory and practice
- Understanding key concepts of lawyering such as: rhetorics, interpretation, reasoning, authority, the/law fact distinction, and how these are operationalized in argumentative practice
- Understanding of the social implications of law and the social role of being a lawyer
Skills:
- The ability to construct and use argumentative techniques to produce persuasive legal arguments
- The ability to analyze legal arguments for persuasiveness and weaknesses, and to respond to them with counter arguments
- The ability to translate social grievance into to justiciable claims
- The ability to write rhetorically strong pleas and judicial arguments in a formal legal language
- The ability to convincingly build a legal justification for a
decision in a concrete dispute
Competences:
- Competence to apply techniques of legal interpretation to a variety of contexts
- Competence to apply techniques of distinguishing to analysis of precedent
- Competence to reflect on the theoretical basis of lawyering across a range of contemporary issue areas (e.g. expert witnessing, climate litigation, cryptocurrency, etc.)
- Competence to craft a legal judgment that applies the foundational skills of being a lawyer
- Competence to critically reflect on the role of lawyers in society Competence to assess the quality of legal academic writing
The course is an interactive class, where the lecturer sets the
themes through presentation, followed by periodic but extensive
discussion and group work. Students will undertake many and varied
class work exercises under the principal topics. The course will
include a number of case work sessions and a final debate
concerning the use of law as a social instrument. Students will be
expected to present oral arguments in every class (except the first
introductory session.)
The course syllabus runs as follows:
1. What is legal argumentation
and why is it important for practice?
2. Formalist and pragmatic
theories as applied in legal argument
3. Legal interpretation:
textual, historical, and evolutionary methods
4. Legal rhetoric: ethos,
pathos, and logos
5. Legal reasoning: formal
logic and inductive and deductive models
6. Arguing from legal
authorities: precedent and bindingness
7. Arguing about facts: the
fact/law distinction and discursive constructions
8. Theory of a contract and the
philosophy of private law
9. Constitutional
interpretation and legal politics
10. Science in adjudication: expertise and
policy
11. Critique and cause lawyering
12. Revision and exam
preparation
Reading will be a maximum of 800 pages as per 15 ECTS.
There is no set textbook for the course as it presents cutting edge
research specifically chosen with respect to the learning
obbjectives. However students wishing to gain a deeper
understanding of the course material are encouraged to consult:
- F Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer: a new Introduction to Legal
Reasoning (HUP, 2009)
- P Schlag and A Griffin, How to Do Things with Legal Doctrine
(UCP,2020)
It is illegal to share digital textbooks with each other
without permission from the copyright holder.
- Students enrolled at Faculty of Law: Self Service at KUnet
- Students enrolled at other UCPH faculties or Danish universities, who holds a pre-approval from their Study Board: Credit student application form
- All other students or professionals: Single subject application form (tuition fee apply)
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Home assignment
- Type of assessment details
- Individual written assignment
The examination is an individual written assignment where students are required to write a ‘shadow judgment’ of a written decision or pleading that provides an alternative explanation/argument for the legal grounds and reasoning from a case provided by the course instructors, using theories and techniques derived from the teaching program. - Aid
-
Read about the descriptions of the individual exam forms, including formal requirements, scope and deadlines in the exam catalogue
Read about practical exam conditions at KUnet
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
- Exam period
-
Hand in date: June 04, 2025
- Re-exam
-
Hand in date: August 14, 2025
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Preparation
- 356,5
- Seminar
- 56
- English
- 412,5
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- JJUA55323U
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
Full Degree Master choice
- Duration
-
1 semester
- Placement
- Spring
- Price
-
- Students enrolled at Faculty of Law or holding a pre-approval: No tuition fee
- Professionals: Please visit our website
- Schedulegroup
-
Please see schedule for teaching time
- Studyboard
- Law
Contracting department
- Law
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Law
Course Coordinator
- William Hamilton Byrne (22-7d6f72726f6773346e67736f727a757434687f78746b46707b7834717b346a71)
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