The required class materials are: (1) MARCUS, REDISH AND SHERMAN'S CIVIL PROCEDURE: A MODERN APPROACH, 4TH ED. (WEST 2005); (2) West's Federal Rules of Civil Procedure—2007-2008 Educational Edition, Amendments Received to May 21, 2007 (purple cover). Because the examination is "open rules," you must purchase the designated Federal Rules supplement. No other supplement will be allowed in the examination room.
Office Hours: I will have regular office hours, on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. My office is in Room 337. You may also see me after class or schedule appointments, subject to my having available time. Take advantage of office hours as early as possible in the semester. Do not wait until the end of the course to review material and bring your questions to me. Review material regularly, at least as we finish different sections. Additionally, if you feel lost, or if you have doubts that cannot be resolved during class or during the period immediately following it, please do not hesitate to come and see me. Office time is also a good opportunity to explore matters that are not directly related to the material being discussed in class. Class preparation means that I will not be available for any meetings before class on Mondays and Tuesdays. On other dates, I may be available by appointment.
E-mail. You may communicate with me by e-mail, but only for administrative matters. I rarely answer substantive questions by e-mail because I find it a very inadequate medium to discuss course content. My address is MALAVET@LAW.UFL.EDU. E-mail messages from students must include the student's full name, so that I may ensure that I am communicating with a member of the class. I rarely reply to attendance-related messages, since I check that at the end of the semester. If I do not reply to a request for an appointment, please assume that I do not have the time to schedule a meeting.
Web Page. This Syllabus and the currently-available weekly Assignment Sheets will be posted on my web site (http://nersp.osg.ufl.edu/~malavet). I do not place materials on reserve in the library and I will not print out the material posted on the web site. It is your responsibility to review the website regularly for updated class information.
Testing: An open-rule, proctored, written final exam will be given on the date set by the administration; this will cover 100% of your testing score.
Open-Rules: "Open rules" means that you may only have with you during the examination your own Federal Rules of Civil Procedure supplement. No substitutions will be allowed. Your supplement may be annotated with handwritten notes, but shall not have any attachments other than tabs to mark the location of specific material (the tabs may have on them numbers and the short titles of the referenced material and nothing more). Only handwriting may cover the blank spaces and the original printing on the supplement. The use of stick-on labels or paper, white-out or any other method to eliminate any of the original printing is prohibited. Other than the addition of handwritten notes and tabs, the supplement shall be in its original condition, no material may be added nor may any material be removed in any way. Violations of the University Student Code of Conduct, the College of Law Honor Code or of the exam rules should be reported to me before or during the examination. Violation of these rules shall result in a failing grade and in my referring the matter to the pertinent university or college authorities.
Grading and Class Participation:
When determining your final grades, I will consider class participation, to
adjust your testing score, in two ways:
(1) Minimum participation. (10%
of the overall grade.) Each student will be required to participate in class
discussion, probably at least three to five times during the semester -the
exact number depends on the size of the class, and will be announced early in
the semester- in order to meet minimum participation requirements. My
basic system for class participation requires that you sign-up to participate
in the discussion during an upcoming class, using forms that I will bring to
class every week; volunteers will be chosen for each class session. Signing up
should be done during the entire semester. Students may not sign up more than
once every three weeks. The advantages of this system are that you know you are
"on call," the material that we will be covering, and it only happens
a few times during the semester. Students who sign-up, are called upon, and
answer correctly, get a participation credit, if they are unprepared, they will
suffer an automatic deduction. I may call upon students at random as
well. Additionally, you may raise your
hand and offer to answer questions at any time. But you must still comply with
the minimum participation requirements, unless I instruct you otherwise.
(2) Quality of Participation. I
will consider the quality of student participation and conduct to further
adjust final grades, as I deem appropriate.
Class Attendance and Conduct: Attendance is mandatory. Additionally, students arriving late or leaving the room during class are an undue distraction. I will take roll daily by passing around a sign up sheet. It is the student's responsibility to initial the sign-up sheet in the appropriate place whenever they are in class, i.e., the roll does not have to come to you, you must come to the roll. Failure to sign the roll will be treated as an unexcused absence. Signing the roll for another person is inappropriate and may result in dismissal from the course. Each hour of our two-hour sessions will be treated separately for all pertinent purposes. Signing the roll for both of the day’s sessions and leaving during the break is inappropriate and I will treat it as an unexcused absence, provided however, that a student who falls ill or needs to leave for emergency reasons during the break may correct the roll entry by sending me an email message explaining the absence. I will allow four (4) hours worth of unexcused absences per semester on a no-questions-asked basis (provided however that none of them may occur during the last eight hours, i.e., two weeks, of the semester). Additionally, I am willing to be flexible about allowing a few excused absences, late arrivals or early departures, for good cause -such as a doctor's appointment, child-care problem or job interview- provided that the good cause is brought to my attention beforehand or as soon as possible thereafter in the case of unanticipated occurrences. Excuses must be submitted in writing or via e-mail. Students will have no more than seven days after the time of the unanticipated occurrence to bring excuses to my attention, provided however that I will not accept any excuses offered after our last session of the semester. Signing an attendance sheet for a classmate, or having a classmate sign an attendance sheet for you shall result in administrative removal from the course. There will be seating chart for our course. Students are required to get their names on the chart and thereafter to abide by the seating arrangement designated therein.
Professionalism in the Classroom. Naturally, you are all bound by the University Student Code of Conduct, the College of Law Honor Code and my rules. But more than obeying rules, classrom behavior is about showing proper professionalism. Proper conduct in the classroom is intended to encourage everyone to participate in, to derive benefit from, and ultimately to enjoy the class. It is perfectly acceptable, and indeed professionally required, that you demand professional behavior of your classmates in and out of class. If you see conduct that is unprofessional and that affects your quality of life in the classroom or at the college of law, you should privately approach the offending student and ask that they modify their behavior. If private discussion is impractical or unsuccessful, you should bring the matter to the attention of the instructor or an appropriate official at the College of Law or the University of Florida. You should do so privately, though not anonymously, but you are strongly encouraged to bring serious matters to my attention, or that of other pertinent authorities, as soon as possible, so that I, or they, may take appropriate measures. Examples of inappropriate conduct are:
1. Students speaking loudly in private conversations during class (such conversations are disruptive, distracting, and have a negative effect on classroom atmosphere).
2. Students in any way commenting on or expressing their approval or disapproval of the class participation of other students (or their approval or disapproval of any student for any reason).
3. Students preparing to leave the classroom, often audibly, before the session is over. I will announce when each session is over, getting ready to leave before then is inappropriate.
4. Laptop misuse. Laptop computers are wonderful tools for class-related note-taking and reference, however, during class time it is inappropriate to use laptops for any other purpose (e.g., to download music or any other files, to play games, to watch DVDs, to access inappropriate web sites -such as sexually-explicit web sites-, or to write notes in large type that is visible to students sitting in the vicinity of the computer user). In addition to any other appropriate sanction, laptop use in class is a privilege and I will rescind it, individually or collectively, if it is abused.
5. Pagers and cellular telephones should be turned off during class (unless you need to be "on call" for serious matters such as child-birth, parenting challenges or other emergencies; in such cases, however, please put the phone or pager on "vibrate only" mode).
Sanctions. Absences, tardiness and any other unprofessional conduct will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, at the discretion of the instructor; excessive absences -even if an excuse is offered*- tardiness or any undue conduct in the classroom may result in administrative removal of the offending student from the course or in a reduction of his/her grade. I will be especially strict with students who distract or harass other students in any way.
* While I would not reduce someone's grade for excessive excused absences, I might administratively remove them from the course, although I would ensure that this was done on a "passing" basis. I would do this if, in my judgment, the person has missed so much of the semester that he or she cannot really benefit from the course.