First Week Assignments

Fall 2025

First Week assignments

Civil Procedure (LAW 183) | Professor Michael S. McGinniss 

Required Textbook: Second Edition (2024) of HOWARD M. ERICHSON & J. MARIA GLOVER, CIVIL PROCEDURE (Aspen Publishing) (“Textbook”). You are welcome to use either a print copy or an electronic version of the Textbook as you prefer.

Required Supplement: Print copy of A. BENJAMIN SPENCER, FEDERAL CIVIL RULES SUPPLEMENT 2025-2026 (West Academic), which contains the complete Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”), as well as the U.S. Constitution and selected federal statutes.

• Final Examination will be closed book.
• Blackboard site available Monday, August 18.
  • Syllabus and other materials relating to the course will be posted on Blackboard for your additional information and reference.

Class 1 - Tuesday, August 26     

• Introduction to Civil Procedure                
  • Textbook: 1-32 (including Spahr file)
  • Supplement: FRCP 1, 2; U.S. Const. amends. 5 & 14

Class 2 - Thursday, August 28

• Pleadings:                                                            
  • Complaint, Summons, Service                            
  • Textbook: 33-34, 36-66
  • Supplement: FRCP 3, 4(a)-(c),(e),(m); 6(a)(1), 8(a),(d)-(e); 10, 12(b)(6)

 

Evidence (LAW 222) | Professor Margaret Moore Jackson

Required Textbooks:

1. David Alan Sklansky, Evidence: Cases, Commentary, and Problems, (Aspen 6th ed. 2025) (with electronic access to Casebook Connect Study Center). 
2. Daniel Capra, Stephen Saltzburg, Principles of Evidence (West 9th ed. 2022) (includes appendix with full text of the Federal Rules of Evidence).

Each student must obtain the above-referenced Sklansky casebook new (either print or electronic) with the access codes for the Connected eBook with Study Center (the codes are inside the front cover). You do not need to purchase Connected Quizzing. The Capra book can be new or used.

Assignment for first class – Tuesday, August 26, 2025:

• Read Federal Rules of Evidence, Rules 101-105, 401-402 (in the Capra appendix)
• Read Casebook, pp. 1-24 (Sklansky).
• Review the syllabus.
• Check the Expert Panel assignment list to see which group you are in. Group #1 is on call for our second class. If you are in Group #1, you will want to know this as soon as possible, so you can prepare.

 

Family Law (LAW 265) | Professor Ariana Meyers 

Required Textbook: Family Law [Connected eBook with Study Center] by Harris, Leslie Joan; June R.; Rebouché, Rachel (Aspen 7th edition 2023)

Unit 1: Introduction to Family Law 

Class 1 - August 26: Introduction and Syllabus Review. Defining Family

• Pre-Class Assignment: Define “family” in 1-2 sentences (your definition in your words – please do not look this up).
• Reading Assignments:
  • Family Law (FL) Ch. 1 pgs. 1-7;
  • Kohm, Lynne Marie, The Spirit of the Family Law Attorney (May 31, 2023). Virginia Lawyer Vol. 77 No. 1 June 2023, pp 26-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4465125 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4465125. 

Unit 2: Ethics in Family Law

Class 2: August 28: Introduction to Family Law Skills Series; Emotional Aspects of Divorce; Conflicts of Interest and Ethics in Divorce Proceedings.

• Reading Assignments:
  • FL Ch. 11 pgs. 549-559;
  • Disciplinary Board v. Askew, 2010 ND 7;
  • Disciplinary Board v. Hoffman, 2003 ND 161;
  • Disciplinary Board v. Kristin Overboe, 2022 ND 228
• In-Class: Disciplinary scenarios in small groups.

 

Professional Responsibility (LAW 232) | Professor Michael S. McGinniss 

Required Textbook: Eighth Edition (2024) of NATHAN M. CRYSTAL & GRACE M. GIESEL, PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE AND THE PROFESSION (“Textbook”).

Required Supplement: 2025 and 2026 Edition of LISA G. LERMAN, PHILIP G. SCHRAG, & ANJUM GUPTA, ETHICAL PROBLEMS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW: MODEL RULES, STATE VARIATIONS, AND PRACTICE QUESTIONS, which contains the complete ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (with Comments) (“MR”), as well as an excellent selection of multiple-choice questions that will be assigned for class, along with very helpful explanatory answers. You are welcome to use either a print copy or an electronic version of the Textbook and/or Supplement, as you may prefer.

• Final Examination will be closed book.
• Blackboard (“BB”) site available Monday, August 18.
  • Syllabus and other materials relating to the course will be posted there for your additional information and reference.

Class 1 - Monday, August 25     

• Foundations of Professional Responsibility:          
       Lawyers as Responsible Fiduciaries,  
       Officers of the Court, and Persons  
  • Text: 1-20
  • MR: Preamble; Scope; 8.4(a),(c); 4.3

Class 2 - Wednesday, August 27                         

• Going Beyond the Rules:               
      Conceptions of the Lawyer’s Role and  
      Developing Your Philosophy of Lawyering  
  • Text: 21-28, 30-38, 55-59
  • MR: 1.2(b), 2.1, 1.16(b)(4), 6.2(c)
  • BB: Tenn. Bd. on Prof. Resp. Op. 96-F-140
  • Problem: 1-1 (p. 26)