Academics (Overview)

TJSL’s Student Handbook is your personal guide to navigating law school from orientation to graduation. The handbook will help you get the most out of your law school experience.

It has sections on planning your course selection, paying for law school, law school policies and a lot more important law school survival information.

View the Student Handbook

We offer an exciting Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports Law Fellowship Program. 

Testimonials

The Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports Fellowship Program provides a wealth of opportunities for students interested in all aspects of business law and particularly those dealing with entertainment and sports. This Fellowship Program is definitely NOT limited to those with technical backgrounds. The “soft IP” areas of trademark, copyright, rights of publicity, trade secrets, and even many aspects of patent law are open to anyone with the interest and drive to succeed in a rapidly expanding area of law that has become essential for anyone with a business or corporate practice.

If you are a prospective law student with an undergraduate or advanced degree in the hard sciences or engineering, this program would provide you a wealth of opportunities to incorporate your existing skills into a package that is in high demand in the legal community.

Our program provides access to entertainment, sports, and intellectual property law in the classroom and in the field. Fellows typically attend a multi-day, for-credit seminar introducing various aspects of entertainment, sports and IP law, including the basics of patents, copyrights, and trademarks as well as how these bodies of law interact with other areas such as contract and antitrust law. The program in the past has included members of the bench and bar, many of them alumni of the law school, who provide real world flavor to the academic experience.

In the second and third years, Fellows may:

• Take a variety of electives focusing on all aspects of Intellectual Property, Entertainment & Sports Law; 
• Take Introduction to IP Practice where they learn to prepare a variety of documents such as cease and desist letters, non-disclosure agreements and search reports that form the core of a practicing IP lawyer’s workload whether in the sports or entertainment industries or other areas where IP law is involved;  
• Take a series of sports-law courses covering all aspects of professional and amateur sport in the US and abroad;  
• Receive preference to register for advanced IP, Entertainment & Sports Law classes;  
• Work one-on-one with professors on sports, entertainment, and intellectual property-related scholarly projects;  
• Participate in sports, entertainment, and IP-related interschool competitions, including the National Sports Law Negotiation Competition hosted by TJSL; and  
• Organize and attend many scholarly and practice-oriented programs dealing with various aspects of sports, entertainment, and intellectual property through the Fellowship Program and active student organizations such as the Intellectual Property Law Association and the Entertainment and Sports Law Societies.

The best parts of the Fellowship Program, however, are the opportunities to engage in real-world practice. This happens in two ways:

First, Fellows have the opportunity to work in the Law School’s Small Business Law Center prosecuting patent and trademark applications for small business, non-profits, and independent inventors. Students have the unique opportunity to interact with PTO staff while representing clients under the direct supervision of licensed California attorneys. The PTO also grants special privileges to certified clinics that enable matters to move through the process faster, giving students a better chance to see the project through. Clinic graduates comment on their experiences here. 

Second, many Fellows work in intellectual property related externships, earning Law School units for working with a corporation or law firm.

 

Nadia Akwaweih

3L

“One of the best decisions I ever made was attending Thomas Jefferson School of Law to take part in the IP Fellowship Program. Through the program, I have drafted patents for low-income inventors in the Small Business Law Center, worked as a student patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and am currently a paid legal intern at Maxwell Technologies working in conjunction with a leading national patent law firm, Knobbe Martens. Additionally, I have competed amongst the best of the best in the American Intellectual Property Law Association Giles Rich Moot Court competition representing TJSL and have received the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Sidney B. Williams Jr. Intellectual Property Law Scholars Program Scholarship for $10,000. Without the guidance, encouragement, and support of the IP staff at TJSL, none of this would have been possible.”

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Diana Laranang 

3L

“Working in the school’s Trademark Clinic was such a great experience. I learned what working in a law firm would be like. I had my own set of clients and worked with them on different stages of their trademark applications. Some clients were brand new, and others had already submitted a trademark application and needed help with upkeep or responding to office actions. So, I was able to work on a variety of things with each client and their situation. From working in the clinic I wanted to see what the other side was like and was fortunate enough to get an internship with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) working in their trademark division. I really appreciate the opportunity that the Trademark Clinic gave to me, including the ability to transfer the skills I learned there over to my current firm where I do IP litigation. ”

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Dustin Fox 

Former Extern Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, currently Associate Justinian PLLC

“I was exposed to the entire patent prosecution process ranging from taking the paperwork [that a] scientist would give the patent attorney; turning that into claims for the patent application; and taking a patent to license agreements between Pfizer and its licensees. This included filing U.S. and foreign patent applications as well. It was truly an extraordinary experience, and it is certainly something I am proud to have done. My mentor was very knowledgeable and showed patience with a novice like me. I couldn't have asked for a better summer.”

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Jennifer McCollough 

Law Clerk at United States District Court for the District of Delaware

“I cannot emphasize enough the real-world practical experience you will gain from working in the patent clinic,…you can tell your potential employers that you already have experience doing many of the things that will be required of you, something that many law school students do not have the opportunity to say….I believe experience in the patent clinic is the single most important thing a TJSL student interested in patent law can do….”

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Sumant Pathak 

Intellectual Property Associate & Patent Attorney at Rosenberg Klein & Lee and May 2014 TJSL grad

“The Intellectual Property Fellowship Program at Thomas Jefferson was extremely helpful to me because it allowed me to develop practical skills while also taking insightful classes that focused on various aspects of intellectual property. The USPTO Patent Clinic was integral to my initial learning of various skills required to be a successful patent practitioner. I was able to hone these skills with a local San Diego IP law firm through the school’s externship program. I was also able to partake in intellectual property classes ranging from Trademark and Patent Law to one on Open Source. I was thus able to blend the intellectual rigor of the IP classes at the school with practical skills to present myself as a viable candidate to various firms. Moreover, the keen interest and help from the IP fraternity at the school, ranging from professors to alumni, allowed me make a seamless transition from the technical field to the legal field.”

 

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Transcript Ordering Procedure and Form

A signed request must be received in the Registrar's Office. Submission may be done in person or by mail. The transcript request form is available for download.  Email requests to registrar@tjsl.edu are acceptable only if a PDF file with a signature is attached.

On your signed request you must provide the following:

1. Social Security Number or Student I.D. Number
2. Date of Birth
3. A contact phone number, incase there are questions
4. The exact address you wish the transcript(s) to be sent to
5. Your name used when in school
6. Your signature (electronic signature not accepted)

Please specify if you are requesting official or unofficial transcript(s) as well as the number of transcript(s) you are requesting.

There is no fee for processing transcript(s).

Need a transcript?

The staff in the Registrar’s Office is happy to help you not only with registration, but they will also provide information and forms to receive transcripts and applications for some of the law school’s special programs.

Legal Writing I Workbook - Plagiarism Policy Statement

PLAGIARISM AND UNAUTHORIZED ASSISTANCE

You will be violating the ethical standards of Thomas Jefferson School of Law if you do either of the following:

1. turn in any work, graded or ungraded, that is plagiarized; or

2. give or receive any unauthorized assistance.

I. PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is defined as follows:

Plagiarism is a violation of the ethical standards of Thomas Jefferson School of Law. According to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, plagiarism is (1) "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own" or (2) to "use (a created production) without crediting the source." All written assignments in this class must be the product of your own research, analysis, writing, and editing. You must not steal and pass off as your own the work of any other person. You will, of course, use cases and statutes as authority for your analysis. You must credit those sources.

Obviously, copying another student's paper is plagiarism because it is stealing and passing off the ideas and words of another person as your own ideas and words. Another obvious example of plagiarism is to use ideas or words or both from a statute, case, or other authority without crediting the source.

You must use a citation to the source for both precise quotations and paraphrases. Whenever you use the precise wording of a statute, case, or other authority, use quotation marks around the words quoted and credit the source. When you paraphrase a statute, case, or other authority, credit the source. Changing one or two words within a sentence written by another does not eliminate the need to use quotation marks or the need to provide a citation. Err on the side of giving credit.

A. PRIMARY AUTHORITY

Consider the following ways that a student might use this excerpt from a case.

SOURCE:

[T]he fireman's rule is based on a principle as fundamental to our law today as it was centuries ago. The principle is not unique to landowner cases but is applicable to our entire system of justice--one who has knowingly and voluntarily confronted a hazard cannot recover for injuries sustained thereby. We have consistently applied this concept in our recent pronouncements in other cases of basic tort doctrine. The principle denying recovery to those voluntarily undertaking the hazard causing injury is fundamental in a number of doctrines, including nullification of the duty of care, satisfaction of the duty to warn because the hazard is known, contributory negligence, and assumption of risk, as well as in the fireman's rule. It is unnecessary to attempt to separate the legal theories or to catalog their limitations. The rule finds its clearest application in situations like that before us--a person who, fully aware of the hazard created by the defendant's negligence, voluntarily confronts the risk for compensation.

Walters v. Sloan, 20 Cal. 3d 199, 204 (1977).

VERSION A APPEARING IN STUDENT'S PAPER:

The fireman's rule is based on a fundamental principle, a principle that is not unique to landowner cases but applies to our entire system of justice: One who has knowingly and voluntarily confronted a hazard cannot recover for injuries sustained in confronting the hazard. Courts have consistently applied this concept. The principle has been used to nullify the duty of care and to satisfy the duty to warn because the hazard is known. It also has been used in the doctrines of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fireman's rule. The rule finds its clearest application in situations where a person who, fully aware of the hazard created by the defendant's negligence, voluntarily confronts the risk for compensation.

QUESTION: Is version A plagiarism?

COMMENT: Clearly plagiarism. Although the ideas conveyed may not be unique to Walters, the stolen phrases are. It makes no difference that some parts of the case are paraphrased and some parts are precisely quoted. Both paraphrases and precise quotations should be followed by citations.

QUESTION: Does the interweaving of the writer's own words with the source's words render the writer innocent of plagiarism?

COMMENT: No. Using some of the writer's words simply makes portions of Version A a paraphrase; both the precise quotations and the paraphrases should be attributed to their source.

VERSION B APPEARING IN STUDENT'S PAPER:

The fireman's rule is based on a fundamental principle that is not unique to landowner cases but applies to the entire system of justice. As the court in Walters v. Sloan, 20 Cal. 3d 199 (1977) points out, someone who has knowingly and voluntarily confronted a hazard cannot recover for injuries sustained in confronting the hazard. Courts have consistently applied this concept. The principle has been used to nullify the duty of care and to satisfy the duty to warn because the hazard is known as well as in the doctrines of contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and the fireman's rule. The rule finds its clearest application in situations where a person who, fully aware of the hazard created by the defendant's negligence, voluntarily confronts the risk for compensation.

QUESTION: Now the source is cited. Is version B plagiarism?

COMMENT: Still plagiarism. The correct citation of Walters does not excuse the failure to cite the case in other parts of the passage where the writer has taken some of the court's words and ideas and presented them as the writer's.

VERSION C APPEARING IN STUDENT'S PAPER:

Many California courts have precluded recovery by plaintiffs who were injured by a risk that the plaintiff knew about and disregarded. See, e.g., Walters v. Sloan, 20 Cal. 3d 199, 204 (1977). This principle has been used to nullify the duty of care and to satisfy the duty to warn because the hazard is known as well as to justify the defenses of contributory negligence and assumption of risk. Id. "The rule finds its clearest application in situations where a person who, fully aware of the hazard created by the defendant's negligence, voluntarily confronts the risk for compensation." Id.

QUESTION: Is Version C plagiarism?

COMMENT: No plagiarism. The writer's conclusion has been influenced by the Walters opinion, but the writer has not tried to pass off the court's conclusion as the writer's conclusion. The source for each sentence is properly acknowledged.

B. SECONDARY AUTHORITY AND DOCUMENTS ACCESSED THROUGH ELECTRONIC SOURCES

The same rules of attribution apply to secondary sources such as law review articles. What some students fail to realize is that these rules apply with equal force to both primary and secondary sources that are accessed electronically, such as documents found on websites and on Westlaw and Lexis. This principle runs counter to common notions of cyberspace as being a domain where information flows freely and belongs to all. Nonetheless, whenever you quote directly from or paraphrase the words of another author, you must cite to that author's work, whether that work appears in print or online. In other words, you may not cut and paste material found in an online document unless you quote and cite the source correctly.

When citing to primary or secondary authority that appears both in print and online, you generally should cite the print source because it is more permanent. For primary authority (mostly cases) that appears only online, proper citation formats are set forth in Rules 12.12 and 12.15 of the ALWD Citation Manual. The ALWD Citation Manual also provides proper citation formats for secondary sources that appear only online. Particular attention should be paid to Chapters 38, 39, and 40, which cover proper citation formats for documents accessed through electronic sources. For example, citation formats for sources on the World Wide Web almost always include the full Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the document cited.

EXAMPLE: Sierra Club, Stop Sprawl: Transportation Issues, http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/transportation/ (accessed June 6, 2002).

II. UNAUTHORIZED ASSISTANCE

Giving or receiving unauthorized assistance also is an ethical violation. Students often are unclear about what constitutes "unauthorized" assistance. The rule for your legal writing classes is simple: All assignments in this class must be the product of your own research, analysis, writing, and editing.

Students MAY NOT receive assistance on their graded assignments from any person working in the Thomas Jefferson Writing Center. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, assistance with analysis, organization, grammar, spelling, research or citation format for any outline, draft or final version of any document that will be graded. If you are referred to the Writing Center for tutoring in any of these areas, you may only work on problems or exercises that will not be evaluated as part of your course grade.

The following examples are offered to help students determine what assistance they may not ethically give or receive.

A. ANALYSIS, WRITING, AND EDITING:

All analysis, writing, and editing must be your own. "Analysis" includes thinking, evaluating, and concluding. "Writing and editing" includes outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. Although you may discuss your written assignments with others, the analysis that is reflected in every step of your writing process must be your own. No other person may have any part in writing and editing your papers, including proofreading.

The only person who may review your written work for analysis, organization, and writing is your professor. Unless you are given specific instructions by your professor, you may not share any of your written work with another student. You may not ask for or obtain another person's work on similar law school assignments unless such papers have been placed on library reserve or are within sources to which the public has access. You may not give your written work to another person for review until the course is completed or until your professor has placed on library reserve sample answers for that particular assignment.

If you do not type your own papers, your typist must be instructed to type your papers exactly as written or dictated. If your typist is your secretary and is accustomed to correcting your grammar, spelling, and punctuation, your typist should be instructed NOT to make corrections for your law school papers.

You may use software to check your spelling and grammar. You may use your papers as writing samples for job applications.

QUESTION: A student says, "Jenny and I discussed the issue of negligence per se, and we disagree about whether the statute was intended to include the conduct of the defendant. Is it OK if our papers come to different conclusions?" Have the students committed an ethical violation?

COMMENT: No. An ethical violation would have been committed, however, if one student simply took the conclusion of another student and used that in the first student's written work rather than doing independent analysis.

QUESTION: A student says, "I sent this draft to my brother-in-law Mort, an attorney, and he read it over. He says my analysis is brilliant and I deserve a higher grade." Has the student committed an ethical violation?

COMMENT: Yes. The student has committed an ethical violation by receiving unauthorized assistance. Mort has given the student substantive commentary on an assignment before the course was completed.

QUESTION: Another student says, "Boy, I'm going to yell at my husband. Look at all the typos he missed." Has the student committed an ethical violation?

COMMENT: Yes. The student has committed an ethical violation by having someone else proofread her paper.

B. RESEARCH:

All research done for this course must be your own work. Unless you are given specific instructions by your professor, you may not share the results of your research with another student. You may not ask for or obtain the results of another person's research.

You may discuss the research process with your fellow students, and you may ask librarians, library assistants, or teaching assistants such questions as where particular library resources are located and how to use those resources. You may not ask them to find the answers to specific legal questions or to find specific cases or statutes for you.

The above descriptions are examples only; they are not a full list of all instances of plagiarism or unauthorized assistance. If you are ever unsure whether something constitutes unauthorized assistance or plagiarism, ask your professor before engaging in the behavior. It would be better NOT to engage in behavior which might be acceptable than to engage in behavior which is NOT acceptable.

Download Plagiarism Policy

Resources on Legal Writing, Research, and Citation

Words: On Writing

Legal Reasoning and Writing

Writing Scholarly Articles

Legal Research

General Legal Research

Legal Research Resources from the TJSL Law Library:

Legal Authority - Primary

Legal Authority - Secondary

Legal Citation

Upper Level Writing Requirement

In the second and third years, students complete an upper level writing requirement. This requirement allows students to develop advanced lawyering skills in a field that is of particular interest. The requirement may be satisfied by taking a doctrinal seminar course or a professional skills course, by working on a Moot Court brief or law review note, or by completing an independent study project.

In addition, students may further develop their lawyering skills by taking an advanced legal research course or a course designed to improve rhetorical skills such as Law and Literature or Appellate Advocacy.

Advanced Property Topics

Appellate Advocacy

Bioethics

Copyright Law

Entertainment Law

International Intellectual Property

Law & Literature

Sexuality, Gender & the Law

Women & International Human Rights Law

World Trade Organization Law

Legal Reasoning, Research, & Writing

Recognizing that language is a lawyer's most important tool, the first year of the legal writing curriculum helps students begin to become experts in working with the language of law. Recognizing that lawyers rank skills in oral and written communication, legal analysis, and legal reasoning as the most important components in the successful practice of the law, the first-year curriculum helps students acquire and develop those skills. Students learn to research, read, analyze, and apply the law. They practice with the methods needed to effectively communicate and persuade: how to create and test arguments, how to organize a legal document, how to draft and revise for an audience.

Students are assigned to small sections of about 25 students each for the two legal writing courses in the first-year curriculum. Professors who teach the curriculum work closely with students throughout the writing process, providing individual feedback on drafts and outlines through written comments and writing conferences.

The required legal writing curriculum at Thomas Jefferson totals seven units in the first year plus completion of an upper-level writing requirement. The core writing course, Legal Writing I, is taught by tenured and tenure-track professors augmented as needed by highly qualified visting professors or TJSL Faculty Fellows. The first-year advocacy course, Legal Writing II, is taught by a combination of full-time faculty and experienced practitioners. After the first year, students continue to develop lawyering skills and methods through advanced work in specific areas of the students' interest.

Legal Writing I

In Legal Writing I, students are introduced to the basic lawyering skills used by practicing attorneys. All first-year students take Legal Writing I, a four-unit course, in their first semester. Students are assigned to small sections of about 25 students each. In this course, students learn to read, brief, and analyze different sources of the rules of law, particularly case law made by judges and statutory law made by legislatures. Students learn how to research in primary and secondary sources, both through print and online sources. Students learn how to effectively organize a typical written document, most often an interoffice memo, and how to develop and evaluate the arguments that could be made about the application of a particular rule to a client's legal problem. They learn to draft and revise an interoffice memo predicting the outcome or answering a supervisor's questions.

Second- or third-year teaching assistants are available to first-year students through Legal Writing I. The teaching assistants are available to help guide students through their early assignments, particularly in research, but they also can provide advice and assistance with other challenges of the first year.

Legal Writing II

The second required course in the legal writing curriculum is Legal Writing II, usually taken in the second semester. In Legal Writing II, a three-unit course, students deepen their understanding and practice their use of the basic lawyering skills acquired in the first semester. They apply those skills to the task of persuasive written and oral advocacy, following a client's lawsuit from the trial court to the appellate court. In this course, students work with experienced faculty, including active practitioners, to conduct research, craft thoughtful arguments, draft and revise trial court and appellate briefs, and prepare to present a case in oral argument before a panel of moot court judges. Following a client's legal problem from trial to appellate court helps students grasp procedural as well as substantive issues, learn to research more broadly and more thoroughly, and experiment with different persuasive methods as the lawsuit progresses.

Legal Research

In the first year, legal research is incorporated within the curriculum of both Legal Writing I and Legal Writing II. Students learn to use legal research sources, both print and online. Emphasis is placed on learning efficient techniques and effective strategies for legal research within the context of a particular assignment.

Because the legal writing faculty at Thomas Jefferson includes teachers who have become expert in a number of fields through their practice, their teaching, and their scholarship, they are especially qualified to help students begin to construct a foundation for their own practice of law.

Leah Christensen, who practiced medical malpractice and school law, focuses her scholarship on cognition, goal orientation and legal reading. She also writes in the area of education law.

Ilene Durst, who has extensive litigation and immigration law experience, focuses her scholarship on language and narrative theory and their applications to advocacy, immigration, and literary representations of the legal culture.

Linda Keller, who served as a Fellow at the University of Miami Center for the Study of Human Rights, publishes in the area of international human rights and criminal law.

Sandy Rierson, formerly a partner practicing intellectual property law with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, pursues scholarship in legal history and women's history, intellectual property, and civil procedure.

Jeff Slattery draws on his years in the music business and his experience as a practitioner in art and entertainment law to study the protection of cultural property.

Priscilla Vargas Wrosh has practice experience in the areas of corporate restructuring and securities fraud litigation.

Amy Day, who worked in political communications prior to attending law school, has experience in corporate litigation and family law.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Legal Writing?

Although "legal writing" sounds as if it concerns only writing, the course is an introduction to a range of basic lawyering skills that are essential to producing legal documents. The legal writing classes cover research, analysis, organization, reasoning, and oral presentation skills as well as the process of drafting and redrafting documents. In addition, they include discussion about ethical and other issues that come up in the practice of law.

2. How does the legal writing curriculum prepare me for law practice?

The legal writing courses focus on the kinds of documents you will be expected to produce as a practicing lawyer. The first year curriculum includes writing objective interoffice memos and persuasive trial and appellate court briefs and delivering appellate oral arguments.

3. Is Legal Writing a required course?

You are required to take seven units of legal writing in your first year -- four units in the first-semester and three units in the second semester. After that, you are required to complete an upper-level writing requirement, which may be satisfied in a course or in a variety of other settings.

4. How is Legal Writing graded?

Legal Writing is graded the same as all your other classes at Thomas Jefferson -- anonymously and using the same grading curve.

5. What should I look for in a legal writing curriculum?

A good legal writing program should be taught primarily by professors with a long-term commitment to teaching the class as well as extensive practice and teaching experience. Legal writing sections should have low student to professor ratios to allow for the kinds of one-on-one conferences, small group collaboration, and practical hands-on learning that should occur when you learn a new skill. A comprehensive legal writing curriculum fits together well and allows students to advance in their own interest areas.

6. How does Legal Writing fit in with the rest of my law school courses?

The first-year legal writing courses at Thomas Jefferson focus on the same analysis, reasoning, organization and writing skills that are needed in your other classes. Legal writing gives you many opportunities to practice and get feedback on those skills during your first year.