Miscellaneous

"Just the Facts, Ma'am"?

Posted on September 11, 2009
Kenneth D. Chestek, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, has published "Judging by the Numbers: An Empirical Study of the Power of Story." Here is the abstract.The recent debate about whether 'empathy' is a desirable trait in Supreme Court Justices begs a more fundamental question: are appellate court judges in fact persuaded by appeals to pathos? This article attempts to answer that question by reporting the results of an empirical study the author conducted that investigates whether narrative reasoning, or 'stories,' are persuasive to appellate judges...

Brief Writing As Story Telling

Posted on September 11, 2009
Helen A. Anderson, University of Washington School of Law, has published "Stories about Storytelling: 100 Years of Brief Writing Advice." Here is the abstract.This essay looks at examples of brief writing advice from the early to mid-twentieth century...

A Conference On Law and Love

Posted on September 10, 2009
From Professor Linda Meyer, Quinnipiac Law SchoolWe invite you to join us for a one-day conference on Law and Love, to be held at Quinnipiac Law School on Saturday, October 3, 2009.While some of the most significant and provocative interdisciplinary legal scholarship over the last two decades has emphasized the constitutive relation between law and violence, with this conference we hope to engender a new engagement with questions that may be said to be repressed in the concerted focus on the law-violence dyad...

Idris Elba Will Star In New BBC1 Crime Drama

Posted on September 04, 2009
The Wire's Idris Elba will star in a new crime drama written by Neil Cross for BBC1. Mr. Cross describes the series, called Luther, as "an intense psychological thriller which examines not only human depravity but the complex nature of love...." The series "will turn the crime genre drama on its head," by revealing the killer at the beginning of the episode, says the BBC...

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Business Law and Narrative

Posted on September 02, 2009
Michigan State University College of Law is hosting a symposium on business law and film called the Business Law and Narrative Symposium. The symposium takes place in East Lansing on September 11. Here's a description.Narratives are stories. Narratives both reflect and influence society, from the broadest popular cultural viewpoints down to the private communications between individuals...

Law In Willy Wonka

Posted on September 02, 2009
Jeanne C. Fromer, Fordham Law School, has published "Trade Secrecy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory," in The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (Rochelle C. Dreyfuss and Katherine J. Strandburg eds.; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)...

The Culinary and Contract Law

Posted on September 02, 2009
Marjorie Florestal, McGeorge School of Law, has published "Is a Burrito a Sandwich? Exploring Race, Class and Culture in Contracts," in volume 14 of the Michigan Journal of Race and Law (Fall 2008). Here is the abstract.A superior court in Worcester, Massachusetts, recently determined that a burrito is not a sandwich...

Lawyers, Lawyers, Everywhere

Posted on September 02, 2009
Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, Florida State University College of Law, has published "There's a Pennoyer in My Foyer: Civil Procedure According to Dr. Seuss." Here is the abstract.This is what it purports to be: a Seussian take on civil procedure. It?s a short, fun essay that covers (1) the iron triangle of civil procedure - the role of lawyers, judges, and juries, and (2) prominent civil procedure doctrines, such as personal jurisdiction, Erie, pleading, discovery, joinder, and preclusion...

Chocolat and Mediation

Posted on September 02, 2009
If you missed it, check out Jennifer L. Schultz's Confectionery and ConflictResolution? What Chocolat Reveals about Mediation, Negotiation Journal, July 2006, at 251. Here's the abstract.A close analysis of the film Chocolat discloses a new metaphor for themediator ? the mediator as cook...

Call For Papers

Posted on August 31, 2009
Israeli Law and Society AssociationInternational ConferenceSecularism, Nationalism and Human Rights: Law and Politics in the Middle East and EuropeDecember 20-21, 2009Short descriptionSecularism as the separation between religion and politics, nationalism as the ethnic premise of the modern state, and human rights, are commonly identified as fundamental attributes of modern law and politics...

Happy Birthday, Johann Wolfgang

Posted on August 28, 2009
Happy Birthday to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born this day in 1749, died March 22, 1832. Goethe was the son of a lawyer, and studied law in Leipzig as a young man. Legal themes abound in his major work Faust. Check out this site for more about him.

A Popular German Crime Drama

Posted on August 27, 2009
Michael Kimmelman examines the popular German police drama Tatort (Crime Scene) for the New York Times here. Notes Mr. Kimmelman,?Tatort? is a little akin to what Johnny Carson's ?Tonight Show? was in America. It?s one of those modest pop-culture symbols and long-standing common experiences that can be hard for outsiders to translate but that speak to, and of, a nation...

Dominick Dunne Dies

Posted on August 27, 2009
Writer Dominick Dunne has died. Mr. Dunne was the author of a number of popular novels taking society and crime as their theme, including The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, A Season in Purgatory, and An Inconvenient Woman. He wrote regularly for Vanity Fair. Here is more from the New York Times and from Newsday about Mr...

Academic Fiction

Posted on August 26, 2009
In her current column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Ms. Mentor discusses some academic novels of note, including those that kill off some of the more notorious characters we've all run across in our years (short or long) going around in academic circles...

Law, Popular Culture, and The Wizard of Oz

Posted on August 25, 2009
MSNBC.com has this interesting article on the influence of L. Frank Baum's classic The Wizard of Oz and its iconic characters on popular culture. That Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard, and the Witches, good and bad, still have the power to transport us is fairly clear, even after seventy years, but how many of us analyze the law in that classic tale?As it turns out, some people do...

Call For Papers/Abstracts/Submissions

Posted on August 25, 2009
8th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities January 13 - 16, 2010 Waikiki Beach Marriot Resort & Spa and Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel Honolulu Hawaii, USASince many people have individually asked for an extension of the submission deadline, we are extending the deadline for submissions to Saturday, September 12th, 2009...

NBC Tries Out "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer"

Posted on August 24, 2009
NBC has ordered a pilot of the legal drama offered up by Andrew Leeds and David Lampson. "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer" is the second try at a legal series by the Peacock Network, which passed on the David E. Kelley-created "Legally Mad" last year.

Call For Papers

Posted on August 21, 2009
From Professor Andrew Majeske, Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal JusticeCall For Papers Second Biennial Literature and Law Conference When: April 16, 2010 (Friday)Where: John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY) (59th Street and 10th Avenue?near Lincoln Center in Manhattan) Conference Organizer and Contact Person: Andrew Majeske, This conference aims to bring scholars of literature and law into an interdisciplinary setting to share the fruits of their research and scholarship...

Publication Opportunities

Posted on August 21, 2009
From Professor Andrew Majeske, Department of English, John Jay College of Criminal JusticeManuscripts SoughtThe Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series in Literature and Law Fairleigh Dickinson University Press invites the submission of proposals for books, monographs, or essay collections in the interdisciplinary field of literature and law...

Fall 2009 TV Discussed On NPR's "Talk of the Nation"

Posted on August 20, 2009
Talk of the Nation has this feature on fall's shows.

Iconographies of Crime

Posted on August 18, 2009
Russell D. Covey, Georgia State University College of Law, has published "Criminal Madness: Cultural Iconography and Insanity," in volume 61 (2009) of the Stanford Law Review. Here is the abstract. Law relies on a well-developed and constantly evolving iconography to tell its stories...

LatCrit Conference Scheduled For October 1-4

Posted on August 17, 2009
From Anthony Varona, American University School of LawIn case you have not yet received it, here is the full preliminary conference schedule for LatCrit XIV and the LatCrit/SALT New Faculty Development Workshop in Washington, October 1 through 4, hosted by American U...

Mad Men

Posted on August 15, 2009
The new season of Mad Men premieres Sunday on AMC.

Writing Domestic Violence Scholarship

Posted on August 15, 2009
Lively discussion between Nancy Lemon and Christina Hoff Sommers over Myths or Facts in Feminist Scholarship? in The Chronicle Review.

And the Beat Goes On

Posted on August 14, 2009
The latest craze: "auto-tuning" the news, courtesy of Antares Audio Technologies. Here's a clip from CNN. The creators include social commentary in their tune-ups, creating clips one can then deconstruct. Included here is part of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech...

New Film From Women Make Movies

Posted on August 11, 2009
From Women Make MoviesWMM NEW RELEASE! MRS. GOUNDO'S DAUGHTER A new film about a young Malian mother's fight with the U.S. legal system to protect her daughter from female genital mutilation"Heart-wrenching testament to the integrity and solidarity of women in the face of staggering adversity...

Star Trek Time: Ethics In Space

Posted on August 11, 2009
The New York Times has an interview with NASA bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe here.

Call For Papers

Posted on August 10, 2009
Call for Papers: ?Ah Got De Law in My Mouth?: Black Women Writing Justice41st Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)April 7-11, 2010Montreal, Quebec - Hilton BonaventureThis panel seeks papers which consider the representation of law, rights, and justice in African-American women?s literature...

Call For Papers; Conference

Posted on August 09, 2009
From Susan Sage HeinzelmanFor details on the joint conference from Dec 2 to Dec 5th 2009, in brisbane, Australia, and the call for papers, please see:http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/translegalityand http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/translegality/call-for-papers

Fellowship Opportunity

Posted on August 09, 2009
From Susan Sage HeinzelmanLaw & Society Post-doctoral Fellowship2010-11 Academic YearInstitute for Legal Studies ? University of Wisconsin Law School~~~ Application Deadline: January 8, 2010 ~~~ Eligibility: While non-U.S. citizens may apply, this fellowship is intended for early career scholars who plan to compete for a University teaching position in the U...

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