99253 - LABORATORIO: LINGUA E SCRITTURA GIURIDICA AVANZATA

Learning outcomes

Laboratorio Lingua e scrittura giuridica avanzata 4 32 F ULTERIORI ATTIVITÀ GIUDIZIO L’obiettivo del laboratorio è rafforzare le competenze di scrittura di studentesse e studenti lavorando sulla costruzione logica degli argomenti, sull’efficacia espositiva e argomentativa, e sull’apprendimento degli elementi della scrittura accademica (citazioni e bibliografia) per scrivere testi – e in particolare saggi brevi e tesi di laurea – efficaci.

Course contents

In the Advanced Legal Language and Writing Lab, you will become familiar with the most common genres of legal writing and learn the fundamental principles of plain language.

After an introductory class on the general principles of plain language, the course will consist of 10 theoretical and practical sessions devoted to applying these principles to professional and academic legal texts.

In particular, you will practise how to:

• simplify a legal text;
• summarise a legal text (the case headnote genre);
• write an analytical legal text (the legal opinion genre);
• write a persuasive legal text (the genres of written pleadings and academic essays).

Readings/Bibliography

You will find handouts and teaching materials on Virtuale.

For further references or additional reading, you may consult:

• G. Carofiglio, Con parole precise. Manuale di autodifesa civile, Feltrinelli, 2025;
• L. Carrada, Guida di stile. Scrivere e riscrivere con consapevolezza, Zanichelli, 2017;
• U. Eco, Come scrivere bene (1997), now in La bustina di Minerva, La nave di Teseo, 2020, or, more conveniently, online;
• B.A. Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English, The University of Chicago Press, 2023;
• E. Lesina, Il Nuovo Manuale di Stile, Zanichelli, 2009.

For academic writing, you may also refer to the texts recommended for the Methodology and Tools for Legal Research and Thesis Writing Lab.

Teaching methods

The course combines learning by doing with collaborative learning strategies.

Activities will consist primarily of legal writing exercises designed to foster the development of practical skills.

Some of the texts produced during the course will undergo peer review to strengthen students’ critical assessment skills.

Some exercises will involve the use of generative artificial intelligence systems.

Assessment methods

If you attend the Lab, you will be assessed on the basis of the assignments completed in class. The assessment will also take into account your overall improvement over the course of your individual learning path.

You will be considered to have attended the Lab if you participate in at least 7 out of 10 exercises.

If you do not meet the attendance requirement, or if you decline the grade awarded on the basis of your coursework, you will be required to take a written examination consisting in the drafting of a legal text.

During the written examination, you may consult only the sources provided by the instructor and may not use artificial intelligence systems.

The written examination will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• 27–30: ability to write a legal text that is very clear, precise, and concise;
• 24–26: ability to write a legal text that is clear, precise, and concise;
• 21–23: ability to write a legal text that is moderately clear, precise, and concise;
• 18–20: ability to write a legal text that is not entirely clear, precise, and concise.

Teaching tools

If you have special needs, we will work with the relevant University offices to arrange appropriate accommodations so that you can attend classes or take the final assessment.

Please note that all teaching activities are conducted in Italian.

Office hours

See the website of Pier Francesco Bresciani