1. Creating a Course Outline
Jeffrey Minneti
Associate Professor of Legal Skills and Director of Academic Success
Stetson University College of Law

2. Presentation Objectives
Explain the purpose of a course outline
Discuss the content of a course outline
Suggest a process for creating a course outline
Suggest forms for course outlines

3. Course Outline Purposes
Learning theory perspective
Building schema
Creating a tool to facilitate problem solving
Pragmatic perspective
Structure major premise of syllogism
Consolidate information in one place
Capture the structure of the law
Macro level
Micro level
Template for memorization of law

4. Course Outline Content
Vocabulary
Concepts
Rules
Policy
Examples and non examples of law in factual contexts

5. Course Outline Content
Vocabulary
Latin phrases
Stare decisis
In rem
Mens Rea
Language of the law
Remand
Appellee
Cause of action
Service of process

6. Course Outline Content
Concepts
Ideas
Contract formation
Terms of art
Meeting of the minds
Offer
Acceptance
Consideration
Promissory Estoppel

7. Course Outline Content
Rules
Sources
Primary
Constitution
Statutes
Court decisions
Administrative Regulation
Secondary
Restatements
Treatis/hornbook

8. Course Outline Content
Synthesized Rules
Types
If, then
Elements
Disjunctive
Factors
General Rule + Exceptions
Hybrid

9. Course Outline Content
If, then rule
If you capture or mortally wound a wild animal on public lands, you have a property right in the wild animal.
If you engage in an act, knowing with substantial certainty the consequences of the act, for the purpose of tort liability, you have acted with intent.

10. Content of Course Outline
Elements
Law broken into discrete units
each has its own test or definition
each must be proven for the rule to apply
Example
An actor batters another when he intends to cause harmful or offensive contact with the person of another and such contact actually occurs
Intent
Causation
Harm or offense
Another person
Actual contact

11. Course Outline Content
Elements
Example
Contract formation
Offer
Acceptance
Consideration

12. Course Outline Content
Disjunctive rules
Battery includes harmful OR offensive contact
Damages for breach of contract may include money damages OR specific performance
Delivery of a gift can be actual OR constructive

13. Course Outline Content
Factors
Personal jurisdiction analysis
Several layers to the test
Minimum contacts
Purposefully direct actions to forum?
Product placed in stream of commerce?
Business relationship with forum state business?
If internet contact, how interactive is the web business with the forum state?
Reasonableness
Burden on the defendant
Burden on the plaintiff
Interest of the forum state

14. Course Outline Content
General Rule + Exceptions
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought, unless, the actor acted in self defense

15. Course Outline Content
Hybrid rules
Contract formation
Subject Matter Jurisdiction

16. Course Outline Content
Review rule structures:
If, then
Elements
Disjunctive
Factors
General Rule + Exceptions
Hybrid

17. Course Outline Content
Policy
The ideas that animate the law, give it purpose, guide its evolution
Judicial process
Firm v. flexible rules
Slippery slope
Flood of litigation
Normative
Freedom of contract
Individual v. Altruism
Economic
Cost-benefit analysis

18. Example of Policy
Adverse possession forces real property owners to pay attention to uses of their property and benefits those who put real property to productive use.

19. Course Outline Content
Examples and non-examples of rules in factual context
Cases (including note cases)
Holding
Rule + dispositive facts
Hypotheticals that professors present in class

20. Course Outline Process
Starting point
Utilize your case book’s table of contents and/or course syllabus as templates for the major topics covered during the class
Next Step
For each topic, pool together pre-class notes, during class notes, post class notes, and readings from supplemental sources
Final Step
For each topic, synthesize rule structures

21. Starting Point: Table of Contents and/or Syllabus
If your professor proceeds sequentially through the case book, utilize the case book’s table of contents to structure your outline
If your professor “jumps around” sections of the case book, utilize the professor’s syllabus to structure your outline

22. Next step: Pool information
For each topic, pre-class, gather information from assigned and supplemental reading relevant to the topic you are studying
For each topic, during class, edit and add to the information you gathered pre-class
For each topic, post class, review the information gathered pre and during class:
Identify patterns and structures in the information
Identify gaps in the information
List questions about the information and create a plan for addressing them

23. Final Step: Synthesize Rule Structures
Generally legal synthesis requires inductive thought
Discern rule structures from a number of sources, each of which individually reveals only a portion of the rule’s structure
Inductive thinking derives general principles from specific cases and materials covered in case book and in class

24. Course Outline Process
Suggestions to improve your inductive thinking about cases
Know the purpose for reading the case
Reduce the case to 1-2 sentences that explain the law of the case in light of the facts and the purpose
Gather the 1-2 sentences from the cases together and make a cumulative list of the legal principles and policies related to the purpose for which you read the case
Discern form, structure, hierarchy among the principles and policies

25. Final Step: Synthesize Rule Structures
On occasion, information is delivered in a structured form
Need only record the structure of the rules, noting their development from general idea to more specific

26. Course Outline Forms Traditional outline Concept map Timeline
Comparison chart
Comparison diagram
Flow chart

27. Review Presentation Objectives
Explain the purpose of a course outline
Discuss the content of a course outline
Suggest a process for creating a course outline
Suggest forms for course outlines