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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

Global Legal Skills Conference Starts Today in Monterrey Mexico

Posted on February 24, 2010
The fifth Global Legal Skills Conference (GLS-V) starts today in Monterrey, Mexico. The conference is being hosted by the Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey, which hosted the conference two years ago. (Last year the Conference was hosted by Georgetown...

Model jury instructions now prohibit jurors from using social media during a trial

Posted on February 24, 2010
According to the Law Librarian Blog, "the Judicial Conference has drafted new model jury instructions in which a laundry-list of social networks are added to the restrictions on juror communication:" You may not communicate with anyone about the case on...

Lexis sees revenue and profits decline in 2009

Posted on February 24, 2010
Why does this matter? Among other reasons, Lexis is a very good friend to legal writing profs everywhere since it sponsors the publication and distribution of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute. In a very detailed post, Joe Hodnicki...

Scholarship alert: "What's on your playlist? The power of podcasts as a pedagogical tool"

Posted on February 24, 2010
This article is by Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson and is available at 2009 U. Ill. J.L. Tech. & Pol'y 405-428. From the abstract: It is six in the morning and a law student is walking her dog before beginning a...

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Hey, I'm Going to the LWI Conference at Marco Island. Which Airports Can I Fly To?

Posted on February 23, 2010
The closest airport to Marco Island is RSW Fort Myers Airport (RSW). That's 52 miles away (about an hour's drive). The LWI conference website has information about transportation from here to Marco Island. Click here for that transportation information...

University's online writing lab is co-opted by commercial tutoring service

Posted on February 23, 2010
Insider Higher Ed is reporting that an online writing lab developed by Purdue University to help undergrads improve their writing skills has been co-opted by a commercial tutoring service called Tutor.com through a web-practice called "framing." University officials are upset...

Scholarship alert: "Lawyer as Professional Writer."

Posted on February 23, 2010
By Brandon J. Harrison, esq. and available in 62 Ark. L. Rev. 725 (2009). From the introduction: Lawyers are professional writers. If you practice law in Arkansas or anywhere else in the world, then you are by any practical definition...

ALI honors for Brad Clary

Posted on February 23, 2010
Legal writing colleague Brad Clary, from the University of Minnesota School of Law, was recently elected to the American Law Institute. Election to the ALI is considered one of the highest honors in legal education. hat tip: Professor Pamela Lysaght,...

Legal Writing Institute Summer Conference at Marco Island

Posted on February 22, 2010
OK, we're going to be at a resort. But if you think for a minute that there will be any less content at this summer's LWI conference, you would be sadly mistaken. Click here to see the extraordinary program of...

Studying Error in Legal Writing (Terri LeClercq commends an article for your reading)

Posted on February 22, 2010
Terri LeClercq (who is visiting Chicago this week and making presentations at both The John Marshall Law School and Chicago-Kent College of Law) strongly recommends the following article, written by Professor Aida Alaka (pictured at right) of the Washburn University...

"Top 10 Courtroom Movies of All Time"

Posted on February 22, 2010
Looking for a list of good courtroom movies? The court reporters' blog offers one. hat tip: Carol Brown, editor, Court Reporter Schools Blog (njs)

good news from North Carolina!

Posted on February 22, 2010
from Ruth McKinney at UNC. . . First, Craig Smith has accepted our Dean's offer to join our faculty beginning this July as our Director of Writing (directing the first-year program) in the rank of Clinical Professor of Law. Many...

Terri LeClercq Visits Chicago This Week as the First Ralph Brill Distinguished Visitor

Posted on February 21, 2010
We reported last year about the appointment of Terri LeClercq as the first Ralph L. Brill Distinguished Visitor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Click here to read that post. The law school actually established a Ralph L. Brill Professor of...

More commentary on teaching novice researchers to use WestlawNext

Posted on February 21, 2010
Last week we blogged about how the algorithm used by WestlawNext to lead legal researchers from search terms to search results doesn't take into account the perspective of novice law students. For legal research scholar Chris Wren, it raises again...

Scholarship alert: "The Ethics of Contract Drafting"

Posted on February 19, 2010
This article is by Professor Gregory M. Duhl of William Mitchell College of Law. It's forthcoming in the spring edition of the Lewis and Clark Law Review but for now can be found on SSRN here. From the abstract: This...

Inside the belly of the beast - the Chicago Manual of Style's scary online forum

Posted on February 19, 2010
The Chicago Manual of Style recently launched an online forum where you can get answered any and all of your writing style questions. The problem is, as Inside Higher Ed reports, many people are so intimidated by the forum's fastidious...

Anthony Niedwicki Named as New Director of The John Marshall Law School Legal Writing Program

Posted on February 19, 2010
The John Marshall Law School in Chicago announced today that Anthony Niedwiecki will be the next Director of the school's Lawyering Skills Program. Anthony is presently an Associate Professor and Director of the Lawyering Skillsa and Values Program at Nova...

LWI President-Elect (in a New Orleans Saints Football Jersey)

Posted on February 19, 2010
Why is Ken Chestek, a legal writing professor at the University of Indiana-Indianapolis and President-elect of the Legal Writing Institute, wearing a New Orleans Saints football jersey? Because he made a bet with Mary Algero, a legal writing professor at...

Law Librarian BlogTalkRadio hosting discussion of WestlawNext

Posted on February 19, 2010
From the Law Librarian Blog: The Law Librarian Blogtalkradio program will discuss WestlawNext, NCCUSL and other timely topics of concern to law libraries, law librarians, legal bibliography and the profession during today's episode at 2:00 PM Central...

Scribes Program on "Legal-Writing Tips from Top Experts"

Posted on February 18, 2010
Scribes--The American Society of Legal Writers--will hold a free legal writing seminar from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 5, 2010 (to be followed by a reception). The program will offer "sound, practical tips for writing clearly in all...

Is WestlawNext properly callibrated to allow novice legal researchers to find the results they need?

Posted on February 16, 2010
On today's Law Librarian Blog, Joe Hodnicki has reprinted a message from Westlaw sent to the law librarian satisfiers responding to questions raised by bloggers about the new WestlawNext research platform. Although I haven't yet taken it for a test-drive,...

Another update from Westlaw on when academics can expect to receive their WestlawNext passwords

Posted on February 16, 2010
Westlaw has been monitoring the blogosphere buzz on WestlawNext and knows both law librarians and profs are anxious to learn when they'll be getting new passwords. As reported by the Law Librarian Blogtoday, a Westlaw representative responded with a message...

Green Bag announces legal writing awards for 2009 - Ginsburg, Roberts and Souter make the list.

Posted on February 16, 2010
File this story under "better late than never." Somehow I missed the original announcement back in early January so thanks to our good friend Mitch Rubinstein of the Adjunct Law Prof Blog for tipping me off to this. The Green...

the neuroscience of persuasive legal writing

Posted on February 15, 2010
The ABA had published a new book on How Brain Science Can Make You a Better Lawyer, by David Sousa. It seems like information we should start incorporating in legal writing instruction. Here's a summary of the boo, from the...

quotable

Posted on February 15, 2010
Here's one I wish some legal writing students would take to heart.: "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." ~ Elmore Leonard

Modern Language Association looking for speakers on professional writing

Posted on February 13, 2010
Proposals are now being accepted for the four technical and professional communication sessions to be held at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA) Conference in Albuquerque, NM, October 14-16, 2010. Proposals for presentations should include a 200-word abstract and...

Another blogger kicks the tires on WestlawNext and lives to tell about it

Posted on February 11, 2010
Contract drafting expert and commentator Ken Adams of the Adams Drafting blog travelled to Eagan, Minnesota earlier this week to get a firsthand look at WestlawNext. Here's a portion of his report: You can search on WestlawNext using ?natural language?...

When the Legal Writing Prof Blog talks, Westlaw listens.

Posted on February 11, 2010
While extremely doubtful, I'd still like to believe it's true anyway The other day I complained on this blog that I don't yet have an academic pass for WestlawNext - the new legal research platform from West that's been five...

fun with collective nouns

Posted on February 11, 2010
After I had read a number of student drafts, I felt compelled to administer a short quiz on pronoun agreement and collective nouns. In the course of my research, I came across the following entertaining sites: http://idiocrasiesoflanguages.blogspot.com/2007/11/collective-nouns-humorous-outlook...

Are law profs lazy?

Posted on February 10, 2010
Maybe, according to this article in the National Jurist (a magazine targeting law students and law students-to-be). According to the author: As in most other aspects of life, the ?Seven Deadly Sins? manifest themselves in legal education. There?s plenty of...

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