294.03 sec. 001 - Listening and Communicating:Stagecraft for Lawyers (Fall 2025)
Instructor: Mohit Gourisaria (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meetings:
F 3:10 PM - 6:10 PM
Location: Morrison Foerster Room
From October 03, 2025
To October 10, 2025
Sa 09:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Location: Morrison Foerster Room
From October 04, 2025
To October 11, 2025
Course End: October 11, 2025
Class Number: 33209
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 14
Waitlisted: 15
Enroll Limit: 20
As of: 05/31 11:43 PM
The objective of this course is to train and empower students to be active listeners (who don’t simply wait for their turn to speak), effective communicators (who embody their physical and vocal presence), and inclusive team players (who can collaborate across backgrounds and hierarchies) as they embark on a career in the law.
The course will bridge the gap between academic preparation and its successful application in practice. It will combine workshops from the theatre - tailored specifically to address challenges that young lawyers face - with seminar-style discussions to help align the intellectual rigor of legal education with the communication skills necessary to succeed as a practicing attorney. The curriculum will span five aspects of communication: “Listen”; "Process"; "Include"; “(Story)Tell”; and "Collaborate." Every few lessons, we will invite prominent Bay Area lawyers to participate in our class and share personal learnings from their careers.
The assignments for this course will include journal entries, readings, and presentations, including developing a theme and telling the story of two assigned cases (typically one criminal and one IP).
Mohit Gourisaria has taught legal writing and oral advocacy to law students at Berkeley and Columbia. He clerked on the Second Circuit and practiced as a corporate litigator and federal prosecutor. Mohit studied Theatre Arts in college and performed professionally in Boston before attending law school at Columbia and the London School of Economics.
We also have special academic rules for these condensed courses:
-Students must attend each course session and cannot attend any course session remotely (even for illness or emergency situations).
-The Registrar’s Office will drop a student who does not attend each course session.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
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Requirements Satisfaction:
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Exam Notes: (SP) Presentations that count for a significant portion of the grade
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Course Category: Simulation Courses
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