May 2008
Yerevan State University Law School (YSU) with ABA ROLI’s assistance has developed and published Armenia’s first textbook on Legal Writing and Analysis. The textbook is intended for practical use and may serve as a guide for the instruction of writing and document drafting rules. As well, it can be used by other Armenian law schools, who intend to incorporate similar courses into their curriculum.
The curricula of Armenian law schools do not have a course addressing the need of developing the writing skills of the students. Today this gap has become even more pronounced, as the process of approximation of the common and Romano-Germanic laws has assumed new magnitude and shape.
Bearing in mind the gaps in Armenian law schools curricula, ABA ROLI initiated a Core Curriculum Reform project with YSU to introduce new practical courses at including Legal writing and Analyses.
Last summer selected professors from YSU underwent an intensive training program at William and Mary Law School in Virginia. The goal of the study tour was to develop well-trained faculty members who will be able to effectively teach the course back in Armenia and to develop a textbook.
The manual was co-authored by Professor James Moliterno from William and Mary Law School and Professors Ruben Melikyan and Davit Melkonyan from YSU. It was based on the textbook by Moliterno and Lederer titled An Introduction to Law, Law Study and the Lawyer’s Role.
At present the Legal Writing course will be offered only to LLM students. In the near future a similar course will be included in the curriculum of the JD program.