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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

No more photos of the constitution

Posted on January 27, 2010
This story reminds me of the following snippet of dialog from Spinal Tap between mockumentary-maker Marty DiBergi and Nigel Tufnel regarding one of Nigel's guitars: Nigel Tufnel: Look... still has the old tag on, never even played it. Marty DiBergi:....

Legal research on the go? There's an app for that.

Posted on January 27, 2010
Fastcase is about to release an iPhone application that lets users do legal research on the go and according to one blogger who's tried it, it not only works well, but's free (both the app. and the research!). Several sources...

where in the world is ... ?

Posted on January 24, 2010
Mark Wojcik, one of the co-editors of this blog, and his colleague at John Marshall, Steve Schwinn, who has also taught legal writing, are in Amman, Jordan this coming week. They'll be leading a one-week ABA Workshop on Teaching Essential...

Rebakah Hanley promoted!

Posted on January 24, 2010
Congratulations to Rebekah Hanley, recently promoted to Senior Instructor by unanimous vote of the University of Oregon law school faculty. This promotion recognizes Rebekah's excellence in teaching, service, and scholarship (including her leadership of the Northwest writing conference last summer)...

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McElroy on Millionnaire!

Posted on January 24, 2010
If you missed legal writing professor Lisa McElroy's exciting TV debut, you can link to it here. Even The Donald gets in the act! (spl)

Do we need to re-think how legal research is taught?

Posted on January 23, 2010
Courtesy of the Law Librarian Blog: It's common knowledge that that most law schools provide 'legal research instruction that is not only ineffective in teaching basic research skills but is potentially hazardous to students attempting to learn legal analysis' according...

Legal Writing Prof Blog wins most improved player award redux

Posted on January 22, 2010
Although we posted this story back in October, blogmaster Paul Caron has published the official rankings on the TaxProf Blog so we think that gives us another excuse to toot our own horn (again): Here are the largest percentage increases...

Scholarship alert: "Confronting cliches in online instruction: using a hybrid model to teach lawyering skills."

Posted on January 22, 2010
This article comes to us from Professor Joseph Rosenberg of CUNY Law School and can be found at 12 SMU Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 19 (2008). From the introduction: There is no longer a debate about the value of...

what's really on their laptops

Posted on January 22, 2010
Ever wonder what students are really looking at when their laptops are open during class? Some NYU law students posted a video last spring that provides some insight. hat tip: Paula Lustbader (spl)

Article alert: "E-mail Netiquette for Lawyers"

Posted on January 21, 2010
This article is authored by Judge Gerald Lebovits of the New York City Housing Court and an adjunct law professor at Columbia and St. John's. The article is available on SSRN here. In addition, you can find other relevant articles...

Photos from the Friends of Legal Writing Luncheon

Posted on January 20, 2010
David Austin, a new professor of legal writing at California Western School of Law, was the photographer for the Friends of Legal Writing Luncheon in New Orleans during the AALS Annual Meeting. Click here to see more than 60 photos...

100 tips for dramatically improving your writing

Posted on January 20, 2010
This list is courtesy of OnlineColleges.net and includes, in no particular order: Remember your audience: Become a better listener Read more Write all the time Tell a story Worry about spelling and grammar in your second draft: Don?t rely on...

Would more math at the undergraduate level help students better succeed in law school?

Posted on January 19, 2010
I'm guessing most law school profs would say yes. Especially legal writing profs who teach an organizational model (whether it's called IRAC, CREAC or something else) that has a mathematical-like elegance and simplicity to it. Here's an essay from the...

Top 20 movies for law students

Posted on January 19, 2010
Here's a list of the best legal movies every law student should see based on an informal survey of some law profs as published in the National Jurist Magazine: To Kill a Mockingbird Twelve Angry Men Anatomy of a Murder...

quotable

Posted on January 19, 2010
"Gobbledygook may indicate a failure to think clearly, a contempt for one's clients, or more probably a mixture of both. A system that can't or won't communicate is not a safe basis for a democracy." Michael Shanks, former chairman of...

academic writing conference in Israel

Posted on January 18, 2010
Legal writing professors are invited to participate in Academic Writing and Beyond in Multicultural Societies, Israel?s first international conference on academic writing, July 28-29, 2010, organized by The Israel Forum for Academic Writing (IFAW) and the Institute of Research, Curriculum...

"bottomheavy" legal writing

Posted on January 18, 2010
Joan Magat at Duke has written an article on the problem of Bottomheavy: Legal Footnotes . Yes, I can hear many legal writing professors cheering. Here's her abstract: "For decades, legal footnotes have been the deserving target of both ample...

nominate someone for the Burton Awards

Posted on January 17, 2010
You can submit nominations for the prestigious Burton Awards until January 30, 2010. New this year are awards for Author of the Decade in Law Fiction and Nonfiction. Criteria for each award include the quality of the author's writing and...

Why We Should Teach First Year Writing Students about Tribal Nations (Preview of an LWI Panel at Marco Island)

Posted on January 16, 2010
Believe it or not, we're going to start previewing panel presentations that you will be able to attend at the Legal Writing Institute's summer conference at Marco Island. One of those panels will be on a subject that most of...

The sad demise of Vassar's creative writing program

Posted on January 15, 2010
Here's a good essay courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Ed explaining how much is lost when a school makes cuts to its creative writing program. I am the scholarship dude. (jbl)

The Law and Harry Potter

Posted on January 15, 2010
Carolina Academic Press has published a new book on The Law and Harry Potter, with over 20 chapters by law professors on various aspects of the law in the popular book series. At least three legal writing professors contributed chapters,...

RFP -- transactional skills conference

Posted on January 14, 2010
Emory University School of Law?s Center for Transactional Law and Practice has announced its second biennial conference on the teaching of transactional law and skills, Transactional Education: What?s Next? The conference will be held at Emory Law on Friday, June...

job opening in Texas

Posted on January 14, 2010
South Texas College of Law is inviting applications for two full-time, tenure-track positions beginning in the 2010-2011 academic year, teaching Legal Research and Writing. 1. The position advertised is a tenure-track appointment. 2. The professor hired will be permitted to...

Scholarship alert: "Foundational Competencies: Innovation in Legal Education"

Posted on January 14, 2010
Dean David Van Zandt of Northwestern, who authored the above found at 61 Rutgers L. Rev. 1127 (2009), has also authored an article from the recent issue of the ABA's Litigation Magazine called "Client-Ready Law Grads." I'm trying to obtain...

Justice Scalia admonishes lawyer: "Choate ain't a word"

Posted on January 13, 2010
During an oral argument back in November, Justice Scalia admonished an attorney that there's no such adjective as "choate." You know, the opposite of inchoate. Apparently Justice Scalia has been grinding this axe since at least 1992 and "is disgusted...

A list of book recommendations for attorneys interested in improving their writing

Posted on January 13, 2010
A few weeks ago, the law librarian listserv conducted an informal survey of book recommendations for attorneys, not students, who are interested in improving their writing. Here's the list, in no particular order, sent to me by the Law Librarian...

Updated scholarship alert: "Without stigma: using the JURIST method to teach legal research and writing"

Posted on January 13, 2010
The article we'd previously mentioned here by Abigail Salisbury of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law is now available on SSRN. Here's the abstract: Common to every practice area of the law is the need for clear, concise writing...

Advice from Washington Post on writing angry letters

Posted on January 12, 2010
Columnist Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post has compiled a list of tips for writing more effective angry letters. He was prompted to do so by one such angry letter he received over the summer in response to his comments...

Fear of writing

Posted on January 12, 2010
Over at the (new) legal writer blog, our good buddy Raymond Ward suggests that "fear" may be at the root of my bad writing. (Mr. Ward relies on this post from the Illinois L@wyer blog): I was reviewing my notes...

the wedding story posted below reminds me . . .

Posted on January 12, 2010
When I read my co-editor's post about the student who got married and then went to class, I was reminded of one of my favorite Texas Tech stories: A few years ago, we had two graduating 3-L's who planned on...

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