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Legal Writing

Legal Writing Prof Blog

By law professors Coleen M. Barger, Sue Liemer and Nancy Soonpaa

Post Frequency: 31.6/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:42:31

William Mitchell faculty "task force" on the future of legal education focuses on "outcome based education"

Posted on May 20, 2009
That's a mouthful - but a tasty one nonetheless. According to this very interesting post on the Best Practice in Legal Education blog, the William Mitchell law faculty formed a task force last fall to discuss and study the best...

Professionalism berserk? Partner says few excuses for being unavailable via email

Posted on May 20, 2009
Get this - the online ABA Journal is reporting that a partner at a major law firm tells his colleagues that using the email "out-of-office" auto-reply function is almost never acceptable unless, for example, the attorney "is on an international...

Advice for your students about how to deal with that "Ornery Partner"

Posted on May 20, 2009
There's an important distinction between an "ornery partner" and an "ornery pard'ner." I reckon that the best way to deal with the latter is to beef him with 'yer Peacemaker. The former? Not so much. Instead, trying killing - um,...

A medical school requires students to buy iPhones - will law schools be next?

Posted on May 20, 2009
We reported back on May 10th that the University of Missouri School of Journalism is requiring students to buy iPhones (or the iPod Touch) just as many law schools require students to buy laptops. Now comes this report from the...

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Global Legal Skills Conference

Posted on May 20, 2009
The fourth Global Legal Skills Conference will be held at Georgetown University Law Center from June 4-6, 2009. Click here for information on the program and registration. (mew)

Microsoft to debut new search engine intended to compete with Google

Posted on May 20, 2009
Oh, the irony! Microsoft is now the David to Google's Goliath - at least in terms of search engines. Details are very hush-hush but the Wall Street Journal is reporting (subscription required) that Microsoft is planning to unveil its new...

Business schools offer courses for lawyers to help them become better managers

Posted on May 20, 2009
Apparently another sign of the economic times and the evolving law firm business model. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that several business schools are offering courses that cater specifically to lawyers who are interested in becoming better managers or...

Report on panel discussion about how to manage Generation Y in the legal workplace

Posted on May 20, 2009
The Idealawg blog is reporting on a continuing blogosphere debate that began at the InsideCounsel's 9th Annual Super-Conference held May 5th to 6th in Chicago. A panel discussion was held on May 5th entitled "Dealing with Gen-Y @ Work." Apparently...

New Zealand court agrees with Australia - service via Facebook is A-OK, mate!

Posted on May 20, 2009
In December, we reported on a story in which an Australian court approved service of process through Facebook, making it the first known court to do so. Several months later In an unrelated case, a New Zealand court ruled in...

More about the website Scribd - the writer's "YouTube"

Posted on May 19, 2009
Professor Liemer blogged about Scribd a few weeks ago. Now comes this article from the NYT reporting that beginning today, Scribd will allow budding authors to upload their manuscripts to the web and charge those want to read it. The...

Don't include these words in your next contract

Posted on May 19, 2009
Kenneth Adams, author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting (ABA Press 2008) also has a blog called, not-so-surprisingly, AdamsDrafting. Today's entry is a list of wordshe recommends you leave out of your next contract because, among other reasons,...

Professionalism alert - can lawyers ethically mark-up electronic research charges?

Posted on May 19, 2009
We reported ten days ago about a lawsuit brought by a client of Chadbourne & Parke alleging that the firm overcharged for electronic research. That story was followed by accusations that the practice is more widespread among law firms than...

One company uses social networking site to hire lawyers

Posted on May 19, 2009
The American Lawyer, via the Legal Blog Watch, is reporting that a Houston company, FMC Technologies, is using the legal social networking site Legal OnRamp to hire outside counsel. FMC developed a three-step process, the first of which requires completion...

Advice on how to avoid email typos

Posted on May 19, 2009
This is very helpful - a post from the Business Writing Blog on how to avoid those pesky email typos. Rethink your attitude toward proofreading. Proofreading is not a luxury. It's as essential as bread and water. The 45 seconds...

Poll shows undergrads are more stressed yet happier than they were a year ago

Posted on May 19, 2009
According to the results of an MTV-Associated Press poll of more than 2,200 students, aged 18 to 24. Generally, the poll found that college students are more worried about finances and finding a job upon graduation but that they are...

The joys and benefits of reading aloud according to this writing teacher

Posted on May 18, 2009
Courtesy of Saturday's Op-Ed page of the NYT. Titled Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud, the author, who is a writing teacher, laments not only the loss of a family tradition at home, but also the loss...

The Top 10 iPhone applications for lawyers

Posted on May 18, 2009
Who can resist a "Top 10" list? I didn't think so. Life is too short for superfluous emotions like guilt - instead go ahead and indulge yourself courtesy of Above the Law which pulled together this list based on the...

And apparently the Massachusetts' Superior Court Justices have never seen Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Posted on May 18, 2009
At least the part about "Bust a deal - face the wheel!" because, according to Above the Law, they just revoked all their clerkships offers leaving a bunch of new law graduates high and dry. Twenty-five new grads who were...

Partners to summer associates - "Welcome to Thunderdome!"

Posted on May 18, 2009
Well, not quite - but it's almost that bad according to several sources including the online ABA Journal blog. Among many factors, shorter summer programs give law clerks even less time to prove themselves and thus any mistakes they make...

kudos to Deborah Mann!

Posted on May 18, 2009
At its graduation last weekend, Albany Law School announced that Professor Deborah Mann won the school's teaching award this year. She is the first Lawyering Professor to win that honor there. Congratulations Debbie! hat tip: Evelyn Tenenbaum (spl)

when they tell you there's no money ....

Posted on May 16, 2009
In these challenging economic times, legal writing professors may be hearing more and more that there's just no money. No money to travel to conferences, no money to hire a teaching assistant, no money to hire the additional faculty that...

newest issue of LWI Journal

Posted on May 15, 2009
The latest issue of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute is hot off the presses. Here's the contents: Editor?s Note, Kristin B. Gerdy In Memoriam, Stephanie Feldman Aleong, James B. Levy Remembering Debbie Parker, Steve Johansen Golden Pen Award...

Judge declares mistrial in case where testifying witness texts colleague

Posted on May 15, 2009
The online ABA Journal blog is reporting an incident in which a Miami trial judge declared a mistrial after discovering that a witness on the stand was texting a colleague during breaks in testimony. The judge reacted by telling the...

Scholarly journals make the move to Facebook

Posted on May 15, 2009
The Boston Globe is reporting that the tony New England Journal of Medicine is following an increasingly common trend among scholarly journals by establishing a presence on Facebook - part of the whole Web 2.0 thing. The NEJM, established in...

A popular press history of West Publishing - public information is big business

Posted on May 15, 2009
Citypages, which seems to be the Minneapolis equivalent of the Village Voice, published this very interesting article about West Publications - which it calls "the most powerful company in the history of legal publications." Inside its 2.8 million square foot...

what to do when the power comes back on

Posted on May 14, 2009
I promised to blog when I got a cup of hot tea again. Six days almost to the minute that the "inland hurricane" hit, we had power restored. (It can't technically be called a hurricane, because that's a coastal storm...

Proofreading - even the best (and sometimes the worst) mess up

Posted on May 14, 2009
Which means, either way, I'm in good company as this item from the Business Writing blog reminds us. Indeed, everyone from an editor at the prestigious National Geographic Magazine (who misspelled "Alaska" as Alaksa) to a check forger (who was...

First schools, now law firms head into cloud computing

Posted on May 14, 2009
We reported a few weeks ago that Amazon is offering free cloud computing services to educators. Now this report from the Legal Blog Watch that says the drive to lower law firm overhead is causing law firms to turn skyward...

Stanford experiments with video office hours on Facebook

Posted on May 14, 2009
From the Stanford University News Service: At most universities, instructors set aside a few hours each week for students to drop by for conversation. Stanford Open Office Hours is a public version of that tradition, an experiment that will bring...

Economic impact on university life - profs report life is getting more stressful

Posted on May 14, 2009
In this column entitled Next Budget Victim? Joy, the Chronicle of Higher Ed reports on the many ways - large and small - the current economic woes are racketing up the stress levels for professors, staff and students. However, some...

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