Class record · LAWS · LAW

LAWS 4483

Advanced Legal Writing: Appellate Litigation · 1 instructor on record · 5 sections

What the course score is made of

90BC evaluations5 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

50thMore challenging than 50% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

90BC — “Intellectually Challenging”5 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

60BC — “Workload”5 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

This course will provide an overview of the basics of appellate procedure and introduce participants to the nuances of appellate writing offering students the opportunity to hone their writing skills in the process.Over the course of the semester, students will research and author their own appellate brief on a fixed record presenting a discrete legal topic. Throughout the drafting process, we will walk through the constituent parts of a brief and describe best practices. Beyond the drafting specifics, the course will introduce students tobig-picture issues in appellate writing. We will cover the substantive(how the standard of review influences the entire brief) to the stylistic(typography and the great font debates) and everything in between (how to structure and style argument headers to create an effective table of contents).We will review standout examples of legal writing, dissecting good briefs to examine what makes them work so well. We will also review ineffective briefs to illustrate potential pitfalls. Finally, we will discuss common issues encountered in appellate writing everything from recurring grammatical issues to effectively managing jargon and defined terms. This course is an ideal fit for students interested in judicial clerkships,appellate practice, or further developing their research and writingskills. Ideally, by the course's end, students will have a firm grasp ofthe fundamentals of appellate writing and a polished writing sample on a sophisticated legal topic.

The only instructor on record

5 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Andrew ButtaroLaw	925 records	78th	50th

There is no ranking to read here: Andrew Buttaro is the only instructor with evaluation records for LAWS 4483, so the number is a record, not a position.

Other LAWS classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
LAWS 2110Critical Perspectives: Law, Context, and Professional Identity	3080 records	66
LAWS 8667Legal Practice Externship	251 records	91
LAWS 2150Law Practice 1	1032 records	84
LAWS 2155Law Practice II	1032 records	83
LAWS 8130Advanced Legal Research	829 records	92
LAWS 2190Professional Responsibility	926 records	74

The line

All 13 items · means across 5 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9562nd pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9345th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9453rd pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9557th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9467th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9363rd pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9887th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9367th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9889th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9677th pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

6078th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9050th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

9043rd pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

5 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Andrew Buttaro	Fall 2025	01	100	98	60
Andrew Buttaro	Fall 2024	01	91	89	60
Andrew Buttaro	Fall 2023	01	96	92	60
Andrew Buttaro	Fall 2022	01	80	74	60
Andrew Buttaro	Fall 2021	01	93	95	60

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.