Caroline, Sophia, David, Ben

Professor Ania Bialas

ENGL297 0101
21 February 2018

Team Charter Final

I. Broad Team Goals
1. Analyze the techniques, styles, and differences in the profession of legal writing from the
perspective of lawyers, judges, and politicians

II. Measurable Team Goals

1. Follow the rubric of the ethnography report 100%
2. Finish assignments a day prior to deadline-- to ensure effective editing
3. Interview at least one Judge (Judge Hecker), one defense attorney (Fred Hecker), one prosecutor
(Sarah David), and a politician (Bobby Zirkin) to account for different perspectives of legal
writing
4. Develop a clear schedule of diffused responsibilities-- what to do at home and when to meet in
person
5. Get an A! :)

III. Personal Goals

1. Caroline: Learn the different techniques used depending on the actor in the legal writing field.
Examine what skills of rhetoric are used depending on the motive of the writer
2. Sophia: Gain a thorough understanding of how rhetoric functions in legal writing through
lawyers, judges, and politicians; improve research skills
3. David: Further improve the skills necessary to communicate technical information to any
audience. Add depth and evidence to the fields of research that govern legal writing.
4. Ben: Improve research skills necessary for the ethnographic report and gain a better
understanding of the rhetorical characteristics unique to legal writing

IV. Individual Commitment

1. Caroline: Interview legal writing professionals (judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors,
politicians) major contributing writer, compile notes taken by others; 100% commitment
2. Sophia: Keep track of logistics, schedules, and deadlines. Make sure everyone has completed
their task on time. Editor of assignments. 100% commitment
3. David: Abide by guiding documents ; 100% commitment
4. Ben: Other major contributor for writing assignments ; 100% commitment
 V. Other Concerns
1. The group as a whole is concerned about bias or being swayed by one political party’s
perspective-- we will be as impartial as possible
2. Sophia is concerned about her technical skills (computer difficulty)
3. Caroline is worried about the overall fluidness of the paper since we all will have different
writing styles
4. We are concerned about “negative contributors!” Each team member will exert as much effort as
possible, be open and positive with the group, and do assigned work
5. David is concerned about not being specific enough in our research and not hitting the points
specified in “Broad Team Goals”
6. Ben is worried about scheduling conflicts for group meetings

VI. Conflict Resolution

1. We will approach problems head-on and in person to resolve it. We will speak to members
directly. We will approach the professor if problem persists.
2. We will provide proper and adequate scheduling to help resolve conflicts; it will all be in writing
beforehand.

VII. Missed Deadlines

1. We will not miss any deadlines, unless extenuating circumstances occur in that case we will
address them in a timely manner so as to ask for an extension before the deadline and not after.
2. We will provide proper and adequate scheduling to allow for assignments to be done in advance.

VIII. Unacceptable Work

1. Each team member will at his/her own discretion examine the work made by others. If the group
as a whole feels the work is not sufficient, we will improve it as needed.
2. To avoid this situation, we will have established standards before the project even starts. For
example, as discussed beforehand, we will not miss deadlines. If a person cannot complete
his/her assigned task, this must be brought up to the group ASAP so that we can resolve it in a
timely manner.
a. EX:
i. To deal with grammatical, syntactical, and structural errors: use the website
“grammarly.com”
ii. To deal with technical aspects of writing : refer to purduewritinglab.org (for help
on citations, and paper format)
iii. All work must thoroughly analyze the legal writing at hand, not simply
examining it at the surface level.