Legal Writing Prof Blog: Legal Writing

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Writing Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

First it was fake Rolexes and Prada, now China makes knock-off academic papers

Posted on April 13, 2010
There have been a couple of times over the years when I've come across a student paper in my legal writing class that I was sure had been ghostwritten by someone else. After teaching for more than a decade, one...

U.S. News 2010 Ranking of Legal Writing Programs

Posted on April 13, 2010
We have just received what seems to be the U.S. News & World Report's 2010 Rankings of Legal Writing Programs. Click here. Some people like these rankings, others not so much. In a way it is actually crazy that we...

Another update from the recently concluded Future of Legal Education conference

Posted on April 13, 2010
On Sunday we blogged about Elie Mystal's report from this weekend's conference sponsored by Harvard and New York Law School that was attended by approximately 75 deans, law faculty, employers, consultants, and other interested parties. In his second report, Mystal...

Free legal research tips and legal research on-the-go.

Posted on April 13, 2010
Here are a couple of legal research tools you can add to your quiver (or pass them along to your students) courtesy of brother Mitch Rubinstein at the Adjunct Law Prof Blog. The first is an article from the ABA's...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Another update from the recently concluded Future of Legal Education conference

Thank you, friends! Readership for Legal Writing Prof Blog continues to grow.

Posted on April 13, 2010
Professor Paul Caron, co-owner of the Law Prof Blog network, published stats this morning on his Tax Prof Blog showing that among all blogs edited by law professors, with a publicly accessible site visitor meter, the Legal Writing Prof Blog...

The future of legal education conference at Harvard: "Apocalypse now?"

Posted on April 12, 2010
Over at Above the Law, Elie Mystal will be reporting during the next few days about his impressions of the recently concluded "Future of Education" conference at Harvard (co-sponsored by New York Law School). In his first post entitled "Corporate...

mindful writing

Posted on April 12, 2010
Everyone knows that writing is hard work and comes with its own special flavors of angst. Over on the idealawg, Stephanie Allen has written a very helpful post, with tips from a conference on how to approach writing more mindfully...

The worst year ever for faculty salaries.

Posted on April 12, 2010
Several media sources are reporting that faculty salaries grew on average an anemic 1.2% over the past year which is the worst figure since the American Association of University Professors began collecting such data 50 years ago. As reported by...

Preview of the 2010 LWI Conference - Day 1

Posted on April 11, 2010
The 2010 Legal Writing Institute Conference opens on Sunday, June 27, 2010. Many of you will arrive Sunday morning (and many of you are coming on Saturday or even earlier). To help you plan your arrival, here are the events...

Linda Edwards Voted "Faculty of the Year" at UNLV

Posted on April 10, 2010
Linda Edwards (University of Nevada at Las Vegas) has won the "Faculty of the Year" award at her school. Here colleague Terrill Pollman tells us that the award is voted on by the students at UNLV and is "a real...

2010 LWI-ALWD summer research grants

Posted on April 10, 2010
The Legal Writing Institute and Association of Legal Writing Directors have announced their 2010 LWI-ALWD Summer Research Grants. LexisNexis generously agreed to donate $10,000 this year to promote two of the scholarship projects by legal writing professors, while LWI and...

Is the fax machine dead?

Posted on April 09, 2010
Do our students even know what a fax machine is? According to this article from the LegalBlogWatch, while it may be time to pull-the-plug (literally) on fax machines, faxing itself isn't dead, "just different." [H]as the fax become a relic...

Scholarship alert: "Lessons in drafting from the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure"

Posted on April 09, 2010
This article is by Professor Joseph Kimble of Thomas Cooley School of Law and can be found at 12 Scribes J. Legal Writing 25 (2008-09). From the introduction: December 1, 2007, was a historic day in the long, hard fight...

Friday fun - vote for your favorite post-Easter peeps.

Posted on April 09, 2010
I'm not sure why this contest is being held post-Easter but, no matter, the entries are fun and very creative. It's the ABA Journal's annual peep contest (diorama division) and by clicking here you can vote for your favorite. Here...

Have you thought about texting deadline reminders to your students?

Posted on April 07, 2010
It's a technique used by this prof, according to the Chronicle of Higher Ed. An English teacher got frustrated with his students inability to remember assignment deadlines so he started using their own technology against them: He blasts his classes...

Take an ellipses to lunch

Posted on April 07, 2010
Because after reading this post, it's going to need some comfort food and a little ego-boosting. According to our friend at the Business Writer blog Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, you should (almost) never use ellipses. Really? I love them. Indeed, I can't....

Google makes another boo-boo

Posted on April 07, 2010
Google Scholar that is. We reported earlier on a glitch with Google Scholar caught by eagle-eyed and rapier-witted Chris Wren that created an inconsistency between the footnote numbers in the GS version of a case and the official version. Google...

An exercise intended to show students the limitations of Wikipedia as a research tool.

Posted on April 07, 2010
No matter how much we warn students about the limitations of Wikipedia as a research tool (law students use it for both legal and fact research), they're going to disregard those warnings and use it anyway. You can't blame them,...

Professionalism alert: Florida appellate court reverses ruling holding court spectator in contempt for ringing cellphone.

Posted on April 07, 2010
When Michelle McRoy's cellphone rang during a Florida juvenile court proceeding, the presiding judge ordered the phone confiscated, destroyed and then held Ms. McRoy in contempt of court. The appellate court just reversed the trial court's ruling finding that although...

Scholarship alert: "Legal Reading and Success in Law School: the Reading Strategies of Law Students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)"

Posted on April 05, 2010
This article is by legal writing professor Leah M. Christensen and is available at 12 Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues 177 (2010) and here on SSRN. From the abstract: The new reality in legal education is that...

Article alert: "May it please the classroom: using pending United States Supreme Court cases to teach appellate advocacy and persuasive writing"

Posted on April 05, 2010
This one is by Ohio practitioner Greg Johnson and can be found in 12 Scribes J. Legal Wrting 99 (2008-2009). From the introduction: Over the years, the legal-writing academy has developed a rich array of ways to teach persuasive writing....

Advice to students on writing good post job-interview thank you letters.

Posted on April 05, 2010
You'd think that students who get jobs interviews in this train-wreck of an economy wouldn't need to be reminded of the importance of writing a nice "thank you" letter but it never hurts to be safe rather than sorry by...

more LRW job security

Posted on April 05, 2010
Michigan State University College of Law is adding to the trend of enhanced job security in legal writing teaching jobs. Deanne Lawrence, Nancy Costello, and Daphne O'Regan (alas no photo) have been awarded rolling three-year contracts as associate clinical professors...

Law school clinics under attack; U. of Maryland clinic may get a partial reprieve.

Posted on April 04, 2010
This story has been burning up the legal academic blogosphere for a couple of weeks. Although the U of M website is reporting on a compromise bill introduced on Friday that drops the threat to end funding to the environmental...

Writing tips for academic writers (and students)

Posted on April 04, 2010
Here's a great column from Inside Higher Ed called "30 Tips for Writers." While it's directed at academics, some of the suggestions apply equally well to students. You can read the full list (with explanations) on your own but in...

national moot court rankings

Posted on April 03, 2010
Brian Koppen's Law School Advocacy Blog recently released this year's final moot court rankings. I'm very proud to note that Tech placed second! Way to go, Rob Sherwin (our advocacy director) and all our fine students! Here is this year's...

What neuroscience can tell us about why we read fiction

Posted on April 02, 2010
Here's an interesting story from the New York Times that asks whether there's an evolutionary reason why we read and enjoy fiction (you can probably guess that it has to do with getting our genes into the next generation). Among...

Part-time writing prof loses lawsuit to obtain tenure track job

Posted on April 02, 2010
A federal district judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former part-time writing professor at U. of Iowa School of Law who claimed she was denied a tenure-track position due to her conservative political views. We first brought you the...

from legal writing to lieutenant governor?!

Posted on April 02, 2010
After 12 years as a legal writing professor at Southern Illinois University, Sheila Simon has been tapped to be the Democrat's nominee for Illinois Lieutenant Governor. Shortly after the announcement, she took off on a whirlwind tour of the state....

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Update on AILF's Legal Action Center Visa Bulletin Litigation (Updated 7/10/07)
The following is the latest update from AILF regarding its pening ...

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center Legislative Forecast
The ILRC Forecast on Immigration ReformJudith Golub, Executive Dir...

The Christian Legal Society and "discrimation": Response to Susan
In response to Susan's post, I'm inclined to think that, yes, the ...

Stacy Scnheider Legal Commentator Apprentice

Catholic Legal Theory and life and death
Tom Berg’s question regarding the propriety or not of capital pu...