Skills & Values: The First Amendment

The Skills & Values Series is an innovative hybrid of subject-specific, practice-oriented books. Each text is designed as a tool for professors to teach practical and analytical skills that students need to serve future clients competently, skillfully, and in an ethical manner.

Skills & Values: The First Amendment allows students to experience the connection between theory, doctrine, and practice in First Amendment law. The exercises provide an opportunity to study First Amendment concepts from the perspective of a practicing attorney who must not only know the law, but also employ lawyering skills and values—such as legal strategy, factual development, advocacy, counseling, drafting, problem solving, and ethical principles—in zealously representing a client.

Skills & Values: The First Amendment includes the topics covered in most First Amendment law school courses. Each chapter begins with an introduction to help bridge the gap between the actual practice of law and the doctrine and theory studied in class. Students then engage in active learning by working through an exercise that simulates a real-life legal dilemma. These authentic exercises incorporate materials such as legal pleadings, motions, correspondence, judicial opinions, statutes, discovery materials, and deposition excerpts. Self-assessment tools in the teacher's manual can be shared with students to identify the issues and strategies that should be considered in representing a client effectively.

The third edition of Skills & Values: The First Amendment includes the following updates:

• New chapter on the Public Forum Doctrine
• New chapter on the distinction among Content-Based, Content-Neutral, and Viewpoint-Based Regulations of Speech
• Updated discussion of recent cases on: Public school student speech on social media; Government speech; Time, place, and manner restrictions on speech; Expressive associations; Application of the Free Exercise Clause to laws with individualized exemptions, including emergency measures to address Covid-19