319 Analytical Methods
Lawyers constantly evaluate and make legal arguments based on facts about the world. In litigation, for example, lawyers often must engage and depose expert witnesses who are hired to conduct empirical analyses to establish facts that serve as the basis for the case. Often, however, such empirical “facts'' are not universally accepted by the parties to the case. The debate over these facts is usually a debate about the empirical analysis itself. Empirical methods can be difficult to understand, but a lot of today’s empirical analyses use only a handful of methods. In this course, you will learn about these methods, how they are applied in litigation, and the main legal questions that they have been applied to address. The goal of this course is not to become a producer of empirical analyses, and students will not attempt to conduct any empirical analysis. But because the goal of the course is to become a better consumer of empirical analyses and evidence, most of class time will be devoted to understanding the intuition of empirical methods and how they should be applied. We will use math every single class, but the math we will use is not beyond what you learned in high school. With better intuition about the common empirical methods and how they should be applied, students will be able to better engage with expert witnesses hired to conduct empirical analysis in litigation and to ask the right questions if presented with arguments based on empirical research.
Course Areas of Practice |
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Evaluation Methods |
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Degree Requirements |
JD elective
LLM-LE (JD) required
IntlLLM-SJD-EXC elective
IntlLLM Business Cert
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Course Type |
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Learning Outcomes |
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Sample Syllabi |
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Fall 2024
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. The areas of focus include:
This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2023
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. The areas of focus include:
This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate. Syllabus: 319-01-Fall2023-syllabus.pdf184.62 KB Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2022
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. The areas of focus include:
This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2021
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. The areas of focus include:
This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate. Syllabus: 319.01.Fall2021-syllabus.pdf187.86 KB Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2020
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. The areas of focus include:
This basic introductory survey course is aimed at students who have only a basic background in math (basic high school algebra) and may have majored in humanities and social science as an undergraduate. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2019
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students should be comfortable with numbers and graphs. The areas of focus include:
The course grade will be made up of (roughly) weekly problem sets, and a final examination. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Spring 2019
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.02 | 2 |
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Michael D. Frakes | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. In these and many other situations, lawyers tend to learn on the job, and even then the pressures of the moment often means that they learn just enough to move on to the next problem. This course is designed to help all lawyers develop a more systematic way of thinking about their work. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students should be comfortable with numbers and graphs. A high school level of mathematics is required and students should be ready to use algebra, fractions, exponents, and the like. There will be no calculus. The areas of focus include:
The course grade will be made up of class participation, (roughly) weekly problem sets, case analyses, and a final examination. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2018
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
319.01 | 2 |
|
John M. de Figueiredo | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. In these and many other situations, lawyers tend to learn on the job, and even then the pressures of the moment often means that they learn just enough to move on to the next problem. This course is designed to help all lawyers develop a more systematic way of thinking about their work. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students should be comfortable with numbers and graphs. A high school level of mathematics is required and students should be ready to use algebra, fractions, exponents, and the like. There will be no calculus. The areas of focus include:
The course grade will be made up of class participation, (roughly) weekly problem sets, case analyses, and a final examination. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2017
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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Larry Chavis | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. In these and many other situations, lawyers tend to learn on the job, and even then the pressures of the moment often means that they learn just enough to move on to the next problem. This course is designed to help all lawyers develop a more systematic way of thinking about their work. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students should be comfortable with numbers and graphs. A high school level of mathematics is required and students should be ready to use algebra, fractions, exponents, and the like. There will be no calculus. The areas of focus include:
The course grade will be made up of class participation, (roughly) weekly problem sets, case analyses, and a final examination. Degree RequirementsPre/Co-requisitesNone |
Fall 2016
Course Number | Course Credits | Evaluation Method | Instructor | ||
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319.01 | 2 |
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John M. de Figueiredo, Larry Chavis | ||
Lawyers face non-legal, analytical issues every day. Business lawyers need to understand a business in order to represent their client properly. Litigators need to judge the best route in adopting a litigation strategy. Family lawyers routinely need to value a business. Environmental lawyers need to understand economic externalities. Social lawyers need familiarity with financial instruments that have positive and negative attributes. In these and many other situations, lawyers tend to learn on the job, and even then the pressures of the moment often means that they learn just enough to move on to the next problem. This course is designed to help all lawyers develop a more systematic way of thinking about their work. Students taking this course will find it foundational in running a business, advising a business, or litigating business matters that go beyond the strict letter of the law. In this sense, this is not your standard doctrinal law school course. Rather, it is designed to give students the tools necessary to interact with the business community and run a company or firm. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students should be comfortable with numbers and graphs. A high school level of mathematics is required and students should be ready to use algebra, fractions, exponents, and the like. There will be no calculus. The areas of focus include:
The course grade will be made up of class participation, (roughly) weekly problem sets, case analyses, and a final examination. Pre/Co-requisitesNone |