To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), to pass on the vibrant culture and spirit of CUPL, and to highlight the characteristics of training international legal talents, the China-EU School of Law (CESL) launched the ‘CESL Featured Courses Series’, an introduction to some featured courses from CESL.

Legal Research and Writing is one of the core courses for first-year master students of CESL, which is taught by Professor Susan Wintermuth. The course has been taught for nine years since it was first offered in 2012. The course is a regular course in foreign law schools, but not many law schools in China currently offer such courses. When asked about how life in CESL has helped him in his work, Jiang Xuan, an alumnus of the 2012 double master's program, said, "CESL also has a special course on legal writing and research. Professor Wintermuth's course was of high quality, and the methods of footnote and writing skills that I learned from it are beneficial until this day."

Content of the Course

The course includes: 1) Legal research in CISG database, Kluwer Arbitration, etc.; 2) Footnote and bibliography format under Bluebook style; 3) Case study, including case brief and legal memo writing; 4) Paper writing skills, etc. In addition to these, Professor Wintermuth also introduces some foreign culture in class, which helps the students develop an international perspective. Although Professor Wintermuth could not come to China in the past year to teach face-to-face with the students due to the pandemic, her profound knowledge and variable teaching methods still keep a high quality of teaching online.

Teaching Methods

In the class, Professor Wintermuth adopts a combination of teaching methods, including lectures by professor and group discussion by the students. The professor divides students into small groups and lets them fully discuss the point she just taught within their groups, so that the students are able to overcome language barriers and understand the contents of the class more deeply. Meanwhile, it can also promote mutual assistance and communication amongst the students. At the same time, Professor Wintermuth encourages and welcomes all kinds of questions from students. Although the lectures are given online, the communication between the professor and the students is not reduced.

Professor Wintermuth designs a variety of in-class exercises and after-class assignments, which are not heavy burdens for students but help students consolidate what they have learned. In-class exercises include IRAC (common method of writing legal documents in the common law system) practice in groups, case-brief practice with time-limitation, etc. After-class assignments include searching for foreign language books and taking notes in the library, and practicing the use of indexing in books. There are 5-6 assignments in total, each corresponding to a different lecture topic. The purpose of the Legal Research and Writing course is to improve the skills of the students in order to be able to successfully "express", and the appropriate amount and intensity of assignments will help the students to improve their research skills and to build a solid foundation for writing papers while learning European law. The assignments are submitted to the professor by email or by scanning, and the professor evaluates and gives feedback to the students in a timely manner.

In addition to the exercises and assignments, the professor also sets two quizzes to check the students work. The quizzes give students appropriate motivation to review what they have learned. In order to further improve communication between students and teachers and to answer their questions, two teaching assistants with previous experience in the course are assigned to this course. The teaching assistants are mainly responsible for collecting assignments, correcting quizzes and answering students' questions. In addition, there are two class representatives, who are responsible to collect and organize students' questions every week, and the professor will give answers in time before class.

Objectives and Effects of the Course

CESL places great emphasis on the training of students’ writing skills and international legal competence. The LRW Course effectively enhances students’ core legal skills by learning legal research, training analytical skills and legal writing skills. Professor Susan Wintermuth is not only very knowledgeable and highly qualified, but also very kind and friendly. There is a good relationship between the professor and the students, and the students have benefited a lot in the wonderful classroom atmosphere.

Welcoming the 70th Anniversary of CUPL: CESL Featured Courses Series
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Written by: Li Jiashan, CESL double master from 2020 intake