BA270 - Legal Analysis Project
The Legal Analysis Assignment for this course relies upon a fact pattern, retelling the story of Charlotte McMann. A fact pattern is simply a story. It is written to highlight facts that reflect legal issues. This fact pattern includes numerous legal issues covering a range of topics covered in our course.
A critical component of this course, and understanding the legal environment, is the ability to identify facts that may trigger a cause of action. A cause of action is, taken quite literally, any act or failure to act that may give another party cause to take action in a court of law. A cause of action is narrowly framed by not only the parties to the suit, but also the specific reason for the suit. In some cases one plaintiff may sue one defendant on a single complaint for many causes; each of those would be considered a cause of action. In this course, we cover causes of action from a number of different areas of the law including: Torts, Contracts, Agency, Product Liability, Business Organizations, and Intellectual Property, among others. This assignment hinges on your understanding of these legal areas and the individual causes of action within each area.
Legal Analysis, for the purpose of this assignment, requires the detailed review of facts, determination of applicable laws, analysis of the laws in light of the given facts, and the identification of weaknesses in the positions available. The goal of this assignment is to exercise your skills in each of these areas. (This is not a suggested format for your submission)
1) Review of facts: A thorough reading and several re-readings of the fact pattern to develop a DETAILED understanding of the circumstances presented; following which, you should be noting and distinguishing the facts relevant to a potential action by one of the parties.
2) Determination of applicable laws: Reviewing legal theories to select those most appropriate for the facts you have determined to be likely to actionable by one of the parties ( a cause of action.) This stage may result in more than one possible cause of action for a given scenario presented in the fact pattern.
3) Analysis of the laws and facts: This step is the most important and should be reflected in the BULK of your submission. In this step, each law and it’s elements are described in terms of the facts identified in the case. The facts must be woven into a discussion of the applicable laws show how that particular cause of action follows logically from the facts presented. This discussion should, necessarily, include BOTH SIDES OF THE CASE. This means that you should be exploring the facts from the perspective of both the plaintiff and the defendant; which means your discussion should also include any applicable defenses.
4) Conclusion: Legal analysis in general requires a conclusion, or a determination of the prevailing (winning party.) This conclusion should follow from the analysis you provide. This segment of the submission will play a part in the grading process, but not to a great extent. This means, your conclusion is not as important as how you got there –“It’s not the destination, but rather the journey” if you will.
SCOPE
The assignment is to complete a legal analysis for Charlotte McMann and any of her acquaintances and associates. You are required to find five (5) causes of action to discuss in your submission. Each cause of action needs to be fully analyzed and considering all areas listed above.
You are limited to TWELVE (12) double-spaced pages or SIX (6) single-spaced pages.
You will do the project with your assigned groups. Your team must operate together to produce the full document. No matter how you divide the work, be certain that you all feel confident in the final product. If a team member is not pulling their weight, your team is charged with making efforts to involve that person(s). If a problem persists or if the student is not making efforts, the instructor may choose to force that individual to make their submission separately from the remainder of the group.
