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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

taking a detour

Posted on March 15, 2008
In a recent post to her Business Writing blog, Lynn Gaertner-Johnston wrestled with the question of whether to use incorrect grammar with certain audiences so as to be "accepted" by that audience. In other words, is it possible to alienate...

Teaching Legal Research and Writing with Actual Legal Work

Posted on March 14, 2008
Should legal research and writing teachers always invent their own writing problems, or should they sometimes use actual legal work to generate writing assignments? Two authors contend that working on actual problems can better motivate students to learn the basic...

why I love court websites: Reason 3

Posted on March 14, 2008
For the third installment of this mini-series on judicial websites, I have to admit to a certain amount of laziness and parsimony. Therefore, I like judicial websites that freely provide information that I used to have to trek over to...

why I love court websites: Reason 2

Posted on March 13, 2008
Second in a short series detailing why I love court websites: Appellate courts have begun to provide public links to audio--and in some jurisdictions--to video recordings of oral arguments. These can be compelling teaching tools. For examples, check out these...

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Lost in Translation in the Law School Classroom

Posted on March 13, 2008
Professor Julie Spanbauer of The John Marshall Law School-Chicago surveyed the needs of LL.M. students who speak English as a second language and assessed what law schools have done (or failed to do) to meet the those needs. The survey...

Sex Ed for Legal Writers

Posted on March 12, 2008
Here's a two-page article from Professor David Sorkin that would make a great handout for your legal writing classes. It's called Sex Ed for Legal Writers and it appeared in the Illinois Bar Journal. You can download a copy of...

why I love court websites: Reason 1

Posted on March 12, 2008
I love court websites for so many reasons. I'm going to list them in my next few posts. Here's my first (but only because it's the most recent) reason. This morning I went to my state appellate courts' website to...

When to Footnote?

Posted on March 11, 2008
Here's an article to recommend to student editors (and student writers) on your law journals. It discusses--in an extremely sensible and coherent way--the appropriate use of footnotes. The article by Professor William B.T. Mock, Jr. appeared in the International Journal...

implications of an arbitration clause

Posted on March 10, 2008
If you teach contract drafting or ADR, here's a good lesson on the implications of an arbitration clause in an employment contract. And the article itself (as well as the discussion in some of the linked items) is a good...

Searching The Second Draft

Posted on March 10, 2008
Did you know that you can search through past issues of The Second Draft, the official newsletter of the Legal Writing Institute? Published twice a year, each issue contains a wealth of information for those of us who teach legal...

symposium on plain language jury instructions

Posted on March 09, 2008
Plan now to attend the Symposium on Plain Language Jury Instructions in Topeka, Kansas, April 6-8, 2008. Hosted by the Center for Excellence in Advocacy, in collaboration with Washburn University School of Law's Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program, the...

Global Legal Skills Conference III - Mexico - Photos

Posted on March 08, 2008
Here are some photos from the Global Legal Skills Conference held Febraury 28 to March 1, 2008 in Mexico at the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey. More than 180 people from 11 countries attended the conference. This photo here...

Supporting Africa

Posted on March 08, 2008
Several law schools have stepped up to answer a challenge to sponsor a legal writing professor from Africa at this summer's Legal Writing Institute Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Each school is putting up $2,000 toward the expenses. The schools so...

Congratulations, Laurel Oates!

Posted on March 08, 2008
Laurel Currie Oates, director of the Legal Writing Program at Seattle University, has been promoted to full professor. Laurel was one of the founders of the Legal Writing Institute, the leading organization for teachers of legal writing, reasoning, and research...

top 10 downloads in SSRN Legal Writing Journal

Posted on March 07, 2008
What's hot? Check out the top 10 papers (in numbers of downloads) for the SSRN eLibrary Journal of Legal Writing (covering the period from January 2, 1997 to March 7, 2008) Ruggero Aldisert, Stephen Clowney, & Jeremy Peterson, Logic for...

encourage students to enter Milani writing competition

Posted on March 07, 2008
If you have assigned your students a trial or appellate brief-writing assignment involving one of the following topics, encourage your better writers to enter the 2008 Adam A. Milani Disability Law Writing Competition, sponsored by Mercer Law School and created...

teaching common-law reasoning in Turkey

Posted on March 06, 2008
Is your passport current? The Istanbul Legal Skills Conference will be held August 4-7, 2008, at Bahcesehir Istanbul University. Co-sponsored by the Legal Writing Institute and Bahcesehir Istanbul University, the conference will demonstrate to Turkish lawyers, judges, and law students...

job opening at Duke

Posted on March 06, 2008
Duke Law School seeks candidates for a full-time position teaching legal writing to join the Director and five writing teachers. The legal writing program consists of the first-year course in Legal Analysis, Research, & Writing and a collection of upper-level...

Law Faculty Salary Survey

Posted on March 05, 2008
The Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) has published its 2007-2008 Law Faculty Salary Survey. The link also includes a membership application form for SALT in case you are interested in joining that great organization. Mark E. Wojcik, The John...

an alternative approach to the outline

Posted on March 05, 2008
In "Writing with Precision: How to Write So That You Cannot Possibly Be Misunderstood," Jefferson Bates discusses "the easy way to outline" in chapter 15. Rather than focus on creation of a formal outline as an early drafting activity, he...

maybe Courier is good for something . . .

Posted on March 05, 2008
Last week at the Defense Research Institute's Appellate Advocacy Seminar, I heard Ruth Anne Robbins talk to appellate lawyers about ways to improve their briefs' appearance and readability (based on her research in her well-regarded article, Painting with Print)...

Client names in Legal Writing Problems

Posted on March 05, 2008
Here's something to try in your next legal writing problem: give the characters in your problem names that end in the letter "s." Steven and Kathy Adams are two characters in the problem my students are working on right now....

in solemn observation of . . . National Grammar Day!!

Posted on March 04, 2008
Did you know that today--March 4--is National Grammar Day? Neither did I, but according to SPOGG (the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) and MSN Encarta, it's time to start the festivities. (Even the Prez has endorsed it--as well...

Global Legal Skills Conference III - Mexico

Posted on March 03, 2008
More than 180 persons from 11 countries participated in the third Global Legal Skills Conference last week in Monterrey Mexico. The conference was hosted by the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey (FLDM), one of the leading and most prestigious...

news from JALWD

Posted on March 03, 2008
The Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (JALWD) now has its own web page. Editor Linda Berger describes the latest issue of JALWD and brings other welcome news: Volume 4, When Worlds Collide, is a collection of essays...

Teaching Students About the Importance of Word Counts

Posted on March 03, 2008
One skill that we need to teach our students is to reduce the number of words in their writing without sacrificing the underlying message. Why? Here's one example. The U.S. Supreme Court has just ordered additional briefing in Citizens United...

podcast on effective oral argument

Posted on March 03, 2008
The ABA Section on Litigation offers a podcast on oral argument (and other topics too!). (njs)

Global Legal Skills Conference III - Mexico

Posted on March 03, 2008
The conference was covered by the press in Mexico. Here's a link to a story in today's edition of El Norte, a leading newspaper of record in Mexico. The article is in Spanish, but you might enjoy the photo in...

learning from their mistakes

Posted on March 01, 2008
You're struggling to stay motivated as you read student memos or briefs full of errors. Why do they make this particular mistake? Why do they keep making the same mistakes? A new article by Susan E. Provenzano and Lesley S....

a big thank you to our readers

Posted on March 01, 2008
The shortest month of the year (even with a leap day) saw our largest monthly number of visits since this blog was established a little more than two years ago--4,645 visits and 7,243 page views, to be exact. Your interest...

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