IL Introduction to Legal Analysis

Law students soon discover that there are key differences between their educational experiences prior to law school and what occurs in law school. This course is designed to help with this transition and assist all students, whatever their background, to begin their legal studies with the foundational knowledge necessary to thrive and succeed in law school.

This course focuses on the development of the skills essential to law school learning. It involves completing exercises in analyzing, synthesizing, communicating, outlining, and exam-taking skills. The course also addresses study habits and time management.

This is an asynchronous online course on Canvas. The students are required to complete a set number of modules. The modules feature video lectures, short exercises, hypotheticals, and activities to facilitate students' learning of the particular topic.

An asynchronous course means that students will not attend class live or synchronously online with a professor or peers in real-time. Instead, students will access pre-recorded lectures and digital curriculum materials at their leisure.

This is a non-credit bearing course, but completion of this course is required.

For students who complete the modules and exercises and engage thoughtfully in the activities, they will be able to:
  1. enter their classrooms prepared to maximize the learning experience;
  2. understand how case briefs, class notes, and outlines relate to each other in the learning process;
  3. practice and develop basic skills of law school learning, such as: critical reading, issue spotting, rule explanation, legal analysis and synthesis;
  4. appreciate and implement IRAC (i.e., Issue-Rule-Analysis-Conclusion) as an organizational tool to provide structure for legal thinking and writing;
  5. properly prepare for and successfully take law school assessments and exams;
  6. develop an individualized study plan that works from the individual's strengths while accounting for weaknesses; and
  7. develop habits of professionalism by following directions, managing one's time, completing tasks, and submitting assignments in a timely manner.