The Law Simulation Series: Bankruptcy

BOOKMARK

Authors

Stephen P. Parsons

Series / Law Simulation Series

BOOKMARK

Publication Date

2013-05-14

Description

The Law Simulation Series is a series of simulated, experiential learning environments designed to provide students with an interactive law office environment suitable for the development and refinement of competencies needed for the real-world legal workplace.

Working as an intern at the Anytown, USA law firm of Murphy, Miller & Dorn, the student will assist one of the office’s attorneys in handling bankruptcy matters for two different clients. Assigned work is part of a supplied Task List that is designed to first indoctrinate and then challenge the student. The simulation provides a realistic environment in which the student may learn how a law office deals with a variety of ethical and substantive legal issues.

The instructor may follow the Task List directly, which will simulate approximately 15-20 hours of work, or customize the assignments by selecting only those client files and/or tasks that relate to the course material. The instructor may also supplement the work by uploading additional tasks, sample forms, and documents.

During their days at the office, students will participate in interviews with avatars of clients and their attorney and will learn, first hand, of the hardships these clients face and how the law office will help them. The student will be tasked with the preparation of forms and plans that will ultimately be filed with the court. Classroom lessons will take on new meaning as the student applies what he has learned to realistic client scenarios. Audio and video files will be available to the student for replay in order to reinforce lessons. In addition, the student will also have access to the firm’s policies and procedures manual and an extensive form bank of the law office’s administrative forms and sample documents.

In order to monitor the student’s work product and provide learning and feedback, conferences with the instructor (referred to in the simulation as the “Supervising Attorney”) are included in the task timeline. The flexibility and multiple uses of the simulation allow for those conference times to be one-on-one, by email, or during class time as an entire class works within the law office environment. An instructor resource center includes rubric/grading guides, links to additional teaching resources and supplemental assignments and projects that can be used to customize the student’s daily assignments.

Among the skills The Law Simulation Series will develop and refine are:

Understanding the role of the paralegal in the delivery of legal services
Knowledge of the basic principles of law in the course area
Ability to understand the purpose of documents and filings and their application to specific client needs
Ability to communicate effectively with clients
Ability to perform critical analysis of client legal issues
Ability to practice effective time management

Professor Materials

Please sign in or register to view Professor Materials. These materials are only available for validated professor accounts. If you are registering for the first time, validation may take up to 2 business days.

About the authors

Stephen P. Parsons

Professor Emeritus

Appalachian School of Law

Stephen P. Parsons has been licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee for more than 40 years. He was a partner in the Stophel, Caldwell and Heggie law firm in Chattanooga, Tennessee and later in the Wagner, Myers & Sanger firm in Knoxville, Tennessee, specializing in commercial law and tort litigation. Thereafter he was the principal in The Parsons Law Firm in Greeneville, Tennessee. From 2006 to 2015 he was a professor of law at Appalachian School of Law in Buchanan County, Virginia, where he taught Evidence, Contracts, Sales, Debtor-Creditor Law, Civil Trial Practice, and Appellate Advocacy. He retired from the school of law in 2015 as Associate Professor of Law Emeritus. Prior to service at the school of law, he was active in paralegal education having served as the initial program director for the Paralegal Studies Program at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tennessee where he was a tenured professor and chair of the Legal Studies Department. Parsons received his B.A. degree from David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee with a double major in Speech and Religion. He received his J.D. from The University of Tennessee College of Law, finishing first in his graduating class and was selected for inclusion in the Order of the Coif. While a law student, Parsons received book awards for achieving the high grade in five different courses: Torts, Evidence, Corporations, Administrative Law, and Bills & Notes. He also won the Advocates Prize Moot Court competition as a law student and was named Best Oralist in the competition. In addition to iInterviewing and Investigating: Essential Skills for the Legal Professionali, now in its eighth edition, Professor Parsons is the author of iThe ABC’s of Debt: A Case Study Approach to DebtorCreditor Relations and Bankruptcy Lawi, now in its sixth edition. He is also author of iConsumer Bankruptcy Lawi and co-author of iBusiness Bankruptcyi, both titles in the Wolters Kluwer Focus Casebook Series.

Product Information

Publication date

2013-05-14

Simulation

9781454837077

Subject

Bankruptcy and Debtor/Creditor Law

Select Format Show Hide

Select Format Hide

$51.00

Simulation Immediate Access

Are you a professor?