The JD Written Work Requirement
During either the second
or third year, JD students must satisfy the Written Work Requirement by writing
a paper supervised by an HLS faculty member. The paper may be either (a) an
independent project for at least two writing credits or (b) a paper in
connection with a Law School course or seminar that in scope earns a minimum of
1 writing credit beyond the work required within the course or seminar. This experience of sustained, intensive,
personal work on specific legal problems is a substantial aspect of your legal
education, and there is considerable evidence that the experience is more
rewarding for students who choose a topic and start work on their papers before
the end of their second year, completing it early in the second semester of
their third year.
Format and Scope
The
format of the written work, and the sources on which it draws, may vary within a
wide range. For example, empirical investigations may constitute an important
part of the research. Or you may seek to draw in part on your own clinical
experience. Or materials from disciplines other than law may be central to your
research and analysis. The work may take the form of a scholarly article, of a
proposal for law reform with supporting explanation and commentary, or of a
dialogue or series of hypothetical judicial opinions; or, with the approval of
your faculty supervisor, a brief, a memorandum in support of a complaint,
legislative analysis, or any other vehicle appropriate for presentation of your
themes. Students submitting papers to satisfy the Written Work Requirement
should seek to make a significant contribution regardless of the format chosen:
(1) the topic should be sufficiently novel, important, or interesting to be
suitable for inclusion in a law journal; (2) the paper should reflect research
of sufficient substance to provide a reader familiar with the issues or the
field with valuable knowledge and insights. Such research could draw on case and
statutory law, historical or philosophical materials, empirical data, material
from other disciplines, or a combination of the above; (3) the paper should
analyze the material and issues presented; (4) the presentation should be clear
and finished.
The work is to be comparable in scope to that of writing a
law review article. You should expect that in writing a paper of scope and
quality sufficient to satisfy the Written Work Requirement, you will find it
desirable and perhaps necessary to use the equivalent of at least a fourth of
your working time for a semester. Some students in fact use a still greater
percentage of their time on the paper, and the faculty encourages this practice,
believing that the benefits you gain from the experience will be substantially
greater if you make the Written Work Requirement project a central part of your
educational experience. As noted above, spreading the work over the second and
third years also tends to increase those gains.
Credit
Ordinarily a paper satisfying the Written Work Requirement independent
of a course or seminar receives two writing credits. However, if you intend to
do work of appropriately greater scope, effort, or magnitude of research, you
may apply for additional credit by making arrangements in advance with your
faculty advisor.
Ordinarily a paper satisfying the Written Work
Requirement in connection with a course or seminar receives one writing credit
in addition to the number of seminar credits. However, if you intend to do work
of appropriately greater scope, effort, or magnitude of research, you may apply
for additional credit by making arrangements in advance with the professor.
Supervision
In 2007-08 each faculty
member (except as noted) listed in the Supervision
of Papers list will be available to supervise at least six students writing
papers in fulfillment of the Written Work Requirement in the fields indicated.
The number of students a faculty member can undertake to supervise and
enrollment for each seminar is limited. Faculty members on leave for one semester
will be available to supervise three papers and will be indicated with a
footnote in the List of Supervisors, which identifies the semester in which they
are on leave. A faculty member on leave may require a deadline for submitting a
paper that accommodates his or her individual schedule. In the case of someone
on leave in the spring term, the instructor might require the completion of the
paper well in advance of the end of the fall term. Writing credits under the
supervision of visiting faculty must be registered to the term(s) of the
visitor's appointment.