Waitlists open for 6-week online summer courses! ADJU 101/90631 & ADJU 102/90609

Take your studies to the next level with honors work

Honors Objectives

Our Honors course variant offers:

Higher degree of involvement and participation
Higher standard of performance than expected of regular students
Advanced supplemental reading, especially of primary sources
More opportunities for writing, and at a higher standard
Stronger enhancement of skills in critical thinking, analysis and interpretation

Learn more about the Honors program here

Questions About Honors?

Email:

Dr. Carmen Carrasquillo
Professor Marcella Osuna

How to Draft and Support Motions

Honors Coursework

In addition to completing all regular coursework, honors students will engage more deeply in our mock trials, and they will also draft persuasive motions, with supporting and opposing motions and briefs, and a new mock trial scenario, to be submitted in electronic (Google Doc) or paper format. This will require each student to:

CREATE A MOCK TRIAL SCENARIO: DUE 5/3

Review our How to Create a Case Scenario slide show
Include the following:
Police report(s)
Criminal complaint
Witness statements for 3-4 witnesses for the prosecution and defense
Exhibit list, identifying evidentiary issues
Relevant statutes and jury instructions
Stipulations
Verdict forms

Please use the mock trial scenarios linked in our "How to Conduct a Mock Trial" slide show as examples for how to create your mock trial scenario.

DRAFT MOTIONS AND SUPPORTING PERSUASIVE BRIEFS: DUE 5/10

Review our How to Draft & Support Motions slide show and select a motion scenario from those listed below.
Using relevant statutes, constitutional provisions, jury instructions and case law, formulate legal arguments to analyze the legal issues presented in the scenarios.
For each selected scenario, draft:
- a notice of motion, motion and proposed order
- a supporting persuasive brief
- a responsive brief
Meet with your professor each week (Zoom Q&A or after class on campus) to go over the status of your work

Motion Scenarios

People v. Awbrey - Human Trafficking - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
People v. Campbell - School Bombing - The pretrial issue in this case involves the First Amendment.
People v. Caufield - Carjacking - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on the 3 Strikes Law and due process.
People v. Clevenger - Computer Crimes and Vandalism - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.
People v. Cobey - Murder - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on the Fourth Amendment.
People v. Davidson - Murder - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on whether the government obtaining routinely collected GPS location data from a third-party GPS provider constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.
People v Klein - Cyberbullying, Swatting - The pretrial issue in this case involves whether threatening speech is protected under the First Amendment.
People v. Matsumoto - Murder - The pretrial issue in this case focuses on the Fourth Amendment.
People v Palmer - Murder - The pretrial issue in this case involves the admissibility of novel expert testimony and evidence.

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