Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-26-2020

Abstract

One thing many law students ' and practicing lawyers ' often struggle with is critically thinking about the entirety of the case they are working on Shallow analysis of the full range of possible legal issues presented by a situation can lead an advocate to be unprepared when new issues arise unexpectedly in a case My article proposes OODA ' Observe Orient Decide Act ' as a useful way to approach litigation planning and strategy formationbrbrOODA was conceived by military strategist Col John Boyd as a way to outthink and outmaneuver an enemy But it turns out that OODA is a good strategy for solving any kind of problem including legal ones The common law evolves through an endless series of OODA processes This article describes OODA then shows through a hypothetical legal problem how a lawyer can use OODA to clearly analyze the problem in all of its nuancesbrbrThis article adds not only to legal writing pedagogy but clinical teaching as well It demonstrates a useful tool that could be used in case rounds to help students anticipate opposing arguments or unforeseen legal issues

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