Class Participation
Participation is graded. 15% of the Contracts I grade in the fall and 10% in the spring. The mechanic is the same both terms: names drawn at random, a tier scored on the card, an end-of-term tier average folded into the course grade.
What counts
- Cold-call performance. The tier you earn when your name is drawn.
- In-class skills exercises. Brief structured exercises when they run, scored on the same tier scale.
- Holistic engagement. Voluntary contributions that move the discussion forward, follow-up questions, and the read on whether you came in prepared.
Random draw
Names are drawn at random from a printed deck. Every student is on the deck. The goal is at least one substantive call per student per semester; most students get two or three. You may pass once per semester with no grade effect; the second pass counts as Developing. A request to come back later in the same class period is honored once and counts at the tier you earn on the return.
Cold-call rubric
Each call is scored on a three-tier scale.
| Mark | Tier | What that looks like |
|---|---|---|
| ✓+ | Excellent | You give the answer the doctrine calls for, in the form the call type demands, and you handle a follow-up without losing your footing. |
| ✓ | Proficient | You give the core of the right answer. A piece is missing or imprecise, but a careful listener leaves the exchange knowing the rule and where it came from. |
| ✓- | Developing | You engaged the question and produced something the class can build on, but the answer is partial: the holding without the reasoning, a conclusion without the rule, or a rule statement without a source. |
Anchors by call type
The same tiers, applied to the six call types. What it takes to earn Excellent depends on what was asked.
| Call type | Excellent anchor |
|---|---|
| Brief | Facts, holding, and the reasoning the court actually used. |
| Rule | Rule statement, source section, and the limitation or exception that bounds it. |
| Application | Every element mapped to the fact pattern, and a clean call on the close question. |
| Comparison | Identifies the doctrinal axis on which two cases diverge and explains why the divergence matters. |
| Critical | States the doctrine, names a real cost or beneficiary it serves or harms, and proposes a next-best alternative. |
| Counseling | Identifies the client's actual interest, the legal constraint, and the next move you would recommend in plain language. |
Professional judgment
This is where professional judgment is cultivated and noticed. The doctrine you learn on the page is one thing; the way you hold yourself when a senior person asks you a question you have not fully thought through is another. Cold calls are the rehearsal. Treat them that way and the grade follows.