Legal Research

Creative Writing on the Bench

The Judge as an Author/The Author as a Judge
Ryan Witte's The Judge as an Author/The Author as a Judge [SSRN] starts with the premise that an appointment to the federal bench is a life-long publishing deal. Recognizing that some judges stay faithful to the rigidous framework of judicial opinion writing, some don't -- some judges summon their inner novelist or poet to add life to the pages of the print and online reporting system. From the abstract:

The use of humor, poetry, and popular culture in judicial opinions is not without its criticism. This paper is divided into two main topics; the first discusses the judge as an author. The section will begin with an examination of the audience of judicial opinions and an outline of the different styles of judicial opinion writing. The section will also examine the advantages and disadvantages of using literary tools to advance the law.

The second section addresses the role of the artist as a judge. This section will study a small segment of judges who, in addition to the law, maintain an outside career as an author or artist. Judges who fit into this group include authors of books, operas, and magazine articles, and their opinions are often written in a manner which reflects their experience. This section will also discuss the advantages (and potential drawbacks) of having these unique judges deciding cases dealing with a wide range of author's issues, including copyright and free speech, both substantively and stylistically.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Full post as published by LexLibris on March 24, 2009 (boomark / email).