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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

Did a State University Barter Jobs for Law School Grads in Exchange for Law School Admission of Under-Qualified, Politically Connected Students?

Posted on June 29, 2009
This isn't strictly about legal writing but it is of great interest to legal writing professors and other professors who work in state schools. All law schools should consider admission factors other than a student's grades or LSAT scores when...

Scalia, Garner Discuss Legal Writing at Texas State Bar Meeting

Posted on June 29, 2009
Law.com picked up a story from aTexas Lawyer Blog (Called "Tex Parte") about a talk that U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and legal writing expert Bryan Garner gave in Garner's home state of Texas at the annual meeting...

More on the private sector apprenticeships to make-up for lack of adequate law school training

Posted on June 29, 2009
We'd previously reported here that a few BigLaw firms were slashing new associate pay and instead offering them a one to two year apprenticeship to teach new grads what the law schools are apparently not. At a time when job...

Photos from the 10th Anniversary Burton Awards for Legal Writing Excellence

Posted on June 28, 2009
The Burton Awards were given out on Monday, June 15th, at a grand event at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. This is a major national event in the legal writing community. This year's event also marked the 10th...

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Foolish or not, consistency is what winds the clock of "word nerds"

Posted on June 26, 2009
Although I teach legal writing, I've never considered the course to be much about the technical aspects of writing rather than teaching students to "think in ink." As clear writing guru William Zinnser has said: "Fuzzy writing is almost always...

The changing methods and definitions of cheating

Posted on June 26, 2009
While I was off the grid last week, my former Dean Joseph Harbaugh sent me this interesting story from USA Today describing how high school students are using cellphones to cheat. Here's an excerpt: One-fourth of teens' cellphone text messages...

The "Top 10" most ridiculous lawsuits ever filed

Posted on June 26, 2009
Who doesn't like a "Top 10" list? And with this one, you might even be able to find some good hypothetical research and writing problem material (in fact, I've used a problem based on # 8 for years - whether...

Scholarship alert: "Practitioners Beware: Under Amended TRAP 47, "Unpublished" Memorandum Opinions in Civil Cases are Binding and Research on Westlaw and Lexis is a Necessity"

Posted on June 26, 2009
This article comes to us from our good buddy Professor Andrew Solomon at South Texas College of Law. Practitioners Beware: Under Amended TRAP 47, "Unpublished" Memorandum Opinions in Civil Cases are Binding and Research on Westlaw and Lexis is a...

A survey of university "Netiquette" policies relating to classroom laptop use

Posted on June 26, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Ed has compiled a helpful survey of university policies regarding student laptop use in the classroom. While the policies described may not necessarily reflect the prevailing practice at most schools, the ones included (as well as...

transactional conference

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Emory Center for Transactional Law and Practice will hold its second bi-annual conference on transactional training on June 4 and June 5, 2010. Save the dates. A request for proposals will be distributed in the early fall. hat tip:...

Jenoff joins Rutgers faculty

Posted on June 24, 2009
In July, Pam Jenoff will be joining the legal writing faculty at Rutgers-Camden. Pam has a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, a Masters from Cambridge University, and a BA in International Affairs from George Washington University. She currently is...

Legal OnRamp founder offers advice for fixing broken legal education system

Posted on June 24, 2009
Paul Lippe, the founder of the lawyer-social networking site Legal OnRamp, offers some advice on how law schools can do a much better job preparing students for the practice of law. And guess what? Adding more skills training into the...

Debt relief for our students is on the way

Posted on June 24, 2009
Courtesy of the College Cost Reduction & Access Act. The online ABA Journal breaks it down this way: On the public interest side, loan forgiveness works like this: After making loan payments for 10 years on government-backed loans, the government...

Attention legal researchers - Lexis to offer June 30 webinar on how Headnotes work

Posted on June 24, 2009
This is a webinar for law school faculty taking place on June 30. It's entitled "Search by Topic or Headnote" and I think it's free but can't tell for sure from the link I received. E-registration is required and you...

More critiques of Judge Sotomayor's writing style

Posted on June 24, 2009
We had previously reported on some early critiques of the Supreme Court nominee's writing style here. The National Law Journal has gathered reactions from several more factions here. This is an excerpt: Stephanie Mencimer in Mother Jones magazine panned Sotomayor's...

Some universities start a valet parking service for students (and faculty)

Posted on June 24, 2009
File this under "you gotta be kidding me!" But yes, friends, it's true - some universities have started to offer a valet service to assist students, faculty and visitors who are either having trouble finding a parking spot or are...

Five ways attorneys can make use of a Kindle in practice

Posted on June 24, 2009
Kindle (and similar devices) will likely be coming to law school classrooms soon (it would be presumptuous to say this is a "definite" since trying to predict which technologies the legal academy will wholesale embrace is foolhardy). Here's a brief...

More on the Firing of DePaul's Law Dean

Posted on June 24, 2009
We posted previously on the unbelievably stupid decision by DePaul University�s Provost to fire DePaul Law School Dean Glen Weissenberger. Click here and here to read our previous posts on that. DePaul University announced that Illinois Appellate Court Justice Warren...

Change is here: BigLaw slashes salaries and offers new associates "apprenticeships" to supplement inadequate law school training

Posted on June 24, 2009
This is a very positive and inevitable move. You don't really need to be Peter Lynch to know that paying new law grads $160K to start is not a sustainable business model. In light of that, Washington D.C.'s Howrey has...

First law grad from online law school admitted to Massachusetts bar

Posted on June 24, 2009
A student who graduated from the unaccredited Concord Law School, which is an online law school, recently won the right to be admitted to the Massachusetts bar after successfully challenging that rule that required a degree from an ABA accredited...

What's worse than an "F"? Canadian university comes up with an answer

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Chronicle of Higher Ed is reporting that good 'ol Simon Fraser U. in British Columbia (aka "Beautiful B.C.") has approved a new grade called "FD" which stands for "failure for academic dishonesty." The new grade is intended to serve...

Persuasive Writing for Lawyers

Posted on June 23, 2009
Helen Gunnarsson, who writes for the Illinois Bar Journal (published by the Illinois State Bar Association) has taped a CLE course, "Persuasive Writing for Lawyers," at www.MentorCLE.com. You can watch it at your convenience for free; if you like it,...

Institute for Law Teaching and Learning - Summer Conference on Teaching Skills and Professionalism

Posted on June 23, 2009
We extend our best wishes for a successful conference to Gonzaga University Law School in Spokane, Washington. The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning that is housed there is holding its 2009 Summer Conference this week on "Implementing Best Practices...

Wow! We Have a VIDEO of the Burton Award Presentation to Professor Richard Neumann for Outstanding Contribution to Legal Writing Education

Posted on June 22, 2009
Professor Richard K. Neumann of Hofstra Law School received the 2009 Burton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Legal Writing Education. It is one of the highly prestigious Burton Awards for Legal Achievment are presented annually in Washington DC at the...

DePaul Names Illinois Appellate Court Justice Warren Wolfson as Its Interim Dean

Posted on June 22, 2009
DePaul University has just named an interim dean to replace Glen Weissenberger. It is Warren D. Wolfson, a justice on the Illinois Appellate Court. Judge Wolfson will reportedly assume the position as interim dean for a two-appointment starting on August...

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