1L - First Year Lesson Topics

This lesson deals with the duration of offers. The existence of an offer is often an essential element of the bargaining process. Sometimes the offeree's power of acceptance will end so that the offer is no longer valid. This lesson will look at termination of the power of acceptance by termination of the offeror, revocation and counteroffer, rejection, death and lapse.

This lesson explores the duress and undue influence defenses to contract formation.

This lesson covers the subject of the duty to retreat as a requirement for the justification defense of self-defense. The lesson reviews the common law and current status of the duty to retreat. This subject matter is not particularly complicated, but there are some details that require close scrutiny.

This lesson covers the historical evolution of Congress's authority to enact legislation pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Congress's contemporary Commerce Clause authority is covered in a separate lesson.

This lesson examines the distinction between easements appurtenant (easements that exist to benefit another parcel of land) and easements in gross (easements that benefit an individual or business entity without regard to his or its ownership of land). The distinction is a crucial one in determining who is entitled to the benefit of the easement and how the easement may be used.

This lesson introduces the law of easements by describing the typical scenario in which the need for an easement arises, examining alternatives to the creation of an easement, offering a legal definition of an easement and summarizing the key sub-issues that arise in this legal area.

This lesson examines the circumstances under which the law will imply an easement from prior existing use of the dominant and servient parcels. Each of the required elements for such implication: common ownership, prior use, severance and reasonable necessity are addressed specifically. The lesson also describes the different burden imposed when the common owner claims the benefit of the easement from that imposed when the grantee claims that benefit.

Discovery is the court-related process during litigation through which the parties exchange information relevant to the dispute, including "documents" and "things." In 1970, the rule was amended to add "data compilations." As digital methods of communication and data storage became increasingly common, the discovery rules changed again. They now include a separate category called "electronically stored information" (ESI).

This is one in a series of lessons directed at the ethical and professional considerations associated with the production of particular lawyering documents. This lesson is intended to introduce first year law students to the ethical and professional considerations associated with email correspondence in law practice. No prior instruction in professional responsibility is required.

The lesson concerns the applicability of the Equal Protection Clause to the federal government, a constitutional doctrine often known as "reverse incorporation." It can be used as class preparation, review, or as a supplement.

This exercise gives a basic overview of the types of equitable remedies. You need not have read any particular materials or taken any particular law school courses in order to complete the tutorial. It can be used to provide background in your courses where equity is especially relevant or to review the types of equitable remedies for use in a remedies course.

The Erie Doctrine has befuddled Civil Procedure students for decades, but this lesson will take you through the basics: Why is there an Erie Doctrine? When does it apply? How does it apply? How do you tell the difference between substantive and procedural law?

This lesson is designed to introduce you to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is one of a number of lessons on the religion clauses (which include the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause), and the first of several lessons on Establishment Clause issues. It is intended for students who have studied these issues and wish to refine their knowledge.

This lesson will introduce students to the estate in fee tail, one of the traditional estate in land recognized by Anglo-American Law. While the fee tail has been abolished in most American jurisdictions, it continues to be recognized in modified form in a few states. Understanding the fee tail will give you a better understanding of the system of estates in land as a whole.

This lesson and Basic Future Interests are designed to provide a comprehensive interactive tutorial with a scope corresponding to the usual coverage of estates and elementary future interests in the typical first-year property course. They are designed to be useful either for review or as a "first learning exposure" to the subjects covered. The lessons consist of text screens that are regularly interleaved with questions to stimulate thought and reinforce students' learning as they go.

This review exercise consists of 100 questions about the estate system. It should be attempted only after studying the material in class or in other CALI lessons.

This is one in a series of lessons directed at the ethical and professional considerations associated with the production of particular lawyering documents. This lesson is intended to introduce first year law students to the ethical and professional considerations associated with the preparation of predictive, interoffice memoranda. It is assumed that students are familiar with predictive, interoffice memoranda. No prior instruction in professional responsibility is required.

This lesson provides an overview of the history and structure of the European Union, followed by an introduction to researching European Union documents, specifically EU treaties, regulations, directives, and opinions of the European Court of Justice. The European Union is a truly unique structure which represents over half a century of cooperation between select nations.

This lesson will provide the student with the tools to effectively judge the content of web pages. Included in the exercise are four criteria for evaluation: authority, accuracy, comprehensiveness and currency. Each of these concepts is defined through the use of descriptive text followed by screen images of actual law-related web sites to illustrate the concepts.

This exercise has two purposes. The first is to engage students actively in legal analysis. Hence, the exercise contains some difficult questions that require careful thought. The second is to provide a survey of the rules of evidence in order to give students a deeper understanding of other subjects studied in Civil Procedure courses.

CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts.

CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts.

CALI's Director of Curriculum Development, Deb Quentel, spoke with six law professors about outlines, studying for class, preparing for exams, time management, and how professors grade exams. The conversations were recorded as podcasts.