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Joseph F. Rice School of Law

  • Susan Kuo teaching class

Litigation

When people think of the practice of law, they often picture lawyers arguing in a courtroom for their client in front of a judge and jury. This is classic litigation. In criminal litigation, governments prosecute defendants for committing crimes. In civil litigation, plaintiffs sue defendants for causing them harm.  

Litigation is much broader than just courtroom trials. It also involves counseling clients, obtaining evidence (including through a process called discovery), interviewing witnesses (including by taking depositions), negotiating with the other side on potential plea deals or settlements, conducting legal research, drafting legal memos, and appealing the decisions of lower courts to higher courts—maybe even to the US Supreme Court. Lawyers serve their clients, and sometimes this involves impact litigation that seeks to change how courts interpret relevant law. 

Litigation touches almost every substantive area of the law—criminal, tort (including personal injury, products liability, and medical malpractice), contract, administrative, environmental, family, intellectual property, insurance, tax, and many more. Sometimes litigators specialize in a particular area, and other times they are general practitioners. Sometimes they are in front of judges, and sometimes they are behind the scenes.  

We offer a wide range of relevant courses. Not every course is offered regularly, and to be a well-rounded lawyer you should take many other courses as well.    

Courses foundational to litigation generally 

  • Administrative Law 
  • Civil Procedure
  • Interviewing, Counseling, and Negotiation 
  • Problems in Professional Responsibility 

Courses focused on litigation generally 

  • Advanced Evidence: Law and Strategy 
  • Advanced Trial Advocacy 
  • Appellate Advocacy 
  • Children and the Courts
  • Electronic Discovery
  • Evidence
  • Federal Courts
  • Going to Court in South Carolina
  • Judicial Externship
  • Public Interest Law Externship
  • Trial Advocacy
  • Trial Advocacy Competition 

Courses focused on civil litigation 

  • Administrative Law 
  • ADR In Employment Workshop 
  • Advanced Civil Procedure 
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution 
  • Appellate Advocacy 
  • Bankruptcy 
  • Business Torts 
  • Civil Litigation Capstone 
  • Conflict of Laws 
  • Discovery Drafting
  • Employment Discrimination
  • Enforcement of Judgments and Liens
  • Family and Small Business Externship
  • Legal and Equitable Remedies
  • Products Liability
  • Restitution and Unjust Enrichment
  • Topics in Insurance Law 

Courses focused on criminal litigation 

  • Criminal Adjudication 
  • Criminal Law Externship  
  • Criminal Law Externship 
  • Criminal Practice Clinic 
  • Criminal Trial Practice 
  • Domestic Violence Clinic 
  • Eighth Amendment Law and Litigation 
  • Federal Criminal Practice Capstone 
  • Juvenile Justice Seminar 
  • South Carolina Criminal Law and Procedure 
  • Veteran’s Legal Clinic 
  • White Collar Crime
  • Wrongful Convictions Seminar
  • Youth Defender Clinic 

Other Relevant Courses 

Because of its broad substantive scope, many of our other courses are also relevant to litigation. 

Our relevant student organizations include: 

  • Mock trial (trial-level cases)
  • Moot court (appellate-level cases)
  • Vis International Business Arbitration
  • Lincoln-Douglas Society 

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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