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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

Legal Writing Institute Opposes Abolishing Interpretations 402-1 and 402-2 of the ABA Standards for Accrediting Law Schools

Posted on December 03, 2008
There is a proposal to abolish Interpretations 402-1 and 402-2 of the ABA Standards for the Accreditation of Law Schools. What are those? In part, they say that if you teach legal writing and are not on the tenure-track or...

Law and Rhetoric Conference on January 6, 2009 in San Diego

Posted on December 03, 2008
Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law will hold a workshop called "Legal Writing Through a Rhetorical Lens" on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 in San Diego, California. It's on the day before the first full day of the annual...

tips for writer's block and procrastination

Posted on December 02, 2008
Recently on a listserve Natalie Tarenko, Writing Specialist at Texas Tech University School of Law, recommended two books: Neil Fiore's The Now Habit and Al Secunda's The 15 Second Principle. Excerpts of interviews with each author, each with a helpful...

another take on storytelling

Posted on December 02, 2008
The article summarized in the author's abstract below explains another helpful perspective on the importance of storytelling to the law: "Politics, Privilege, and the Profession: Adventures in Lawland, Chapter 1: The Decline of Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann" NICK J...

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Garner on Language and Writing

Posted on November 30, 2008
The ABA website is promoting a new book by Bryan Garner called Garner on Language and Writing. The foreword was written by Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The book is being published by the American Bar Association....

Interesting and entertaining new book to add to your "writer's bookshelf."

Posted on November 30, 2008
As recently reported in this New York Times Sunday book review, humorist and NPR personality Roy Blount Jr. has just published "Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof" by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Described...

Evaluating On-Line Course Evaluations

Posted on November 29, 2008
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on an experiment in on-line student course evaluations. Although this experiment seems to have been ill-fated, the concept does have potential. hat tip: Prof. Debbie Borman, The John Marshall Law School (Chicago) (spl)

Drafting Issue Statements

Posted on November 29, 2008
The (New) Legal Writer Blog has posted a summary of work by Professor Judith Fischer, who analyzed 50 appellate briefs from six states. Although Professor Fischer does not conclude that one format is better than another, she comes up with...

The Library Chronicles

Posted on November 29, 2008
Our friends at the Law Librarian Blog have posted a trailer for "The Library Chronicles," with characters such as the Enigmatic Librarian. It's just over two minutes long if you would like to take a look at it by clicking...

Don't get between a first year law student and his course outlines!

Posted on November 27, 2008
Now for a walk on the lighter side. The legal blogosphere has been burning up with a story about an ASU first year law student who successfully fended off an armed burglar when the intruder tried to steal his laptop...

AALS Announces Winner of Scholarly Writing Competition

Posted on November 26, 2008
We like to celebrate winners of writing competitions here on the Legal Writing Prof Blog. So we are happy to post news that the Association of American Law Schools announced the winner of the 2009 competition for scholarly papers, and...

Federal Register Announces Launch of New Electronic Public Inspection Desk

Posted on November 26, 2008
The Office of the Federal Register announced that it has created an Electronic Public Inspection Desk to provide free worldwide electronic access to public documents. For the first time in the 72-year existence of the daily Federal Register, documents on...

1st presidential Thanksgiving Day proclamation

Posted on November 26, 2008
As this blog's editors are likely to be suffering from turkey coma tomorrow, click here today to read George Washington's Thanksgiving Day proclamation. (spl)

Obama's rhetoric

Posted on November 25, 2008
Last week on the legal writing professors' listserve, there was a lively exchange about President-Elect Obama's campaign speeches and what our legal writing students might learn from them. Now Professor Judy Fischer has blogged about The Rhetoric of Obama's Election-Night...

handling plagiarism -- Texas style

Posted on November 25, 2008
An interesting article describes Vigilante Justice for Plagiarism. It's hard not to suspect that most professors have wished they could do the same at some time. hat tip: Prof. Tracey McGaugh (spl)

Another great McElhaney column: "Stop Sounding like a Lawyer: Plain Language Works Best."

Posted on November 25, 2008
If you aren't already familiar with him, Professor James McElhaney authors a great monthly column on trial practice in the ABA Journal. Often focusing on effective communication skills, this month's column entitled "Stop Sounding Like a Lawyer: Plain Language Works...

Texas appellate court holds that Wikipedia too unreliable for purposes of judicial notice.

Posted on November 24, 2008
In State v. Flores, an unpublished decision by the Texas Court of Appeals for the 14th District dated October 23, 2008, the court refused the appellant's request to take judicial notice of a Wikipedia entry describing the "John Reid interrogation...

podcast showcases West case editing

Posted on November 23, 2008
If you haven't yet had the chance to visit operations at West headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota (and even if you have), you may enjoy this podcast (with jazzy soundtrack) that shows how a case (in this instance, District of Columbia...

taking STEPPS to improve skills training for law students

Posted on November 23, 2008
Deans, law faculty, law librarians, and law school staff interested in curricular reform, professional responsibility training, and skills training are invited to learn more about a new program for legal educators: Skills Training for Ethical and Preventive Practice and career...

Second Draft seeks articles on teaching reasoning, news

Posted on November 23, 2008
Editors of the Legal Writing Institute's newsletter, The Second Draft, are calling for submissions for the Fall 2009 issue. The theme of that issue is "Implicit Reasoning.? How do you teach your students to recognize implicit reasoning and to incorporate...

more new scholarship

Posted on November 22, 2008
The abstracts below arrived courtesy of SSRN and LWI. The full texts of the articles are just a click away. "The Power of Brevity: Adopt Abraham Lincoln's Habits" JULIE A. OSEID, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota) This...

AALS Section nominees

Posted on November 20, 2008
Congratulations to the new officer nominees of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Research, and Reasoning: Martha Pagliari as Chair-Elect and this blog's own Mark Wojcik as Section Secretary. Martha has been teaching at the DePaul University College of Law...

blog personality type

Posted on November 20, 2008
According to Typealyzer, a Swedish website that purports to analyze the Myers-Briggs personality type of a blog's author, we collectively add up to INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging), or as the site describes us, "Scientists": The long-range thinking and individualistic...

Marquette Law Professors Start Legal Writing Column for the Wisconsin Lawyer Magazine

Posted on November 19, 2008
Grammar, punctuation, and style are enjoying a renaissance today, so lawyers have more choices than ever before about guides to help them. That's the word from Jill Hayford at Marquette University School of Law, whose column in the November 2008...

kudos Amy!

Posted on November 19, 2008
Congratulations go out to Professor Amy Langenfeld, at Arizona State University, who received a unanimous faculty vote this week, both for both tenure and for promotion to full Clinical Professor of Law. In addition to Amy, legal writing professors Chad...

JALWD Invites Articles . . . for 2010!

Posted on November 19, 2008
The Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (JALWD) is a group that REALLY knows how to plan ahead. They are inviting articles for their Fall 2010 issue on the theme of ?Metaphor and Narrative.? That?s right. We?re not...

typography for lawyers

Posted on November 18, 2008
Attorney Matthew Butterick has created a website now that's an excellent source on typography for lawyers and law students -- and why you should care about typography. hat tip: Professor Ruth Anne Robbins, typography mavin (spl)

say what?

Posted on November 18, 2008
Over on Geniocity the other day, Professor Peter Friedman offered some food for thought on the opacity of legal language. Anyone who can address the language of both patent law and Sarah Palin in the same post has got my...

Scalia and teaching legal writing

Posted on November 18, 2008
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke at Texas Tech on Monday, and I had an opportunity to talk with him for a few minutes. When I mentioned our Legal Practice Program, he told me that he had taught legal...

125,000 Visits to the Legal Writing Prof Blog

Posted on November 17, 2008
It wasn't that long ago when we announced our 100,000th visitor to the Legal Writing Prof Blog. We're now at more than 125,000 visits. Thanks, readers! (mew)

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