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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

Who proofreads these things?

Posted on May 29, 2008
I was on the phone yesterday with an insurance company, asking questions about my homeowners insurance renewal. In front of me I had the Declarations page that the company had sent, with its summary of coverage and costs. Among the...

regional LRW conference in December

Posted on May 29, 2008
St. John?s University School of Law will host a Legal Research and Writing Conference on Friday, December 5, 2008 in New York City. Titled ?Practice Meets Pedagogy,? the conference will explore how legal research and writing as taught in law...

David Sorkin - Not the Same Old Complaint

Posted on May 29, 2008
A complaint is the document that initiates a legal action by providing the defendant and the court with notice of the nature of the plaintiff's case. But an effective complaint also identifies the legal issues for the court, clarifies the...

subtle persuasion

Posted on May 28, 2008
On the legal writing professors' listserve, there's a discussion going on about using advanced persuasive writing techniques so subtly and effectively that readers don't realize what you're doing. Some listserve participants have offered such excellent quotes, I'm forwarding them here...

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holding or dictum?

Posted on May 28, 2008
A post on Prawfsblog about yesterday's age-discrimination-employment-retaliation case, Gomez-Perez v. Potter, makes an interesting observation about Justice Alito's rather casual use of the word "holding" to refer to a point that most of us would classify as dictum...

Blawgs

Posted on May 28, 2008
The Illinois Bar Journal (the monthly magazine published the Illiniois State Bar Association) has an article on "Keeping Up with the Bloggers." It's by Tom Gaylord, a law librarian at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He notes that blawgs have become...

LWI Conference Preview - Wednesday Session 5

Posted on May 28, 2008
Continuing with the preview of the Legal Writing Institute summer conference in Indianapolis, the fifth session on Wednesday will be from from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. I only have the titles of the three sessions, but these titles are fairly...

A New Blog

Posted on May 28, 2008
There's a new blog for those who teach international law, coach international law moot court teams, or have students from other countries. Click here for a quick look. (mew)

Congratulations to Jane Kent Gionfriddo!

Posted on May 28, 2008
In my stack of mail I've just come across a reprint sent to me by Jane Kent Gionfriddo, an Associate Professor of Legal Reasoning, Research and Writing at Boston College Law School in Newton, Massachusetts. The reprint was of her...

LWI Conference Preview - Wednesday Session 4

Posted on May 27, 2008
This post continues the preview of sessions at this summer's Legal Writing Institute Conference in Indianapolis. [This post also includes links at the end to earlier posts about the LWI conference sessions on Monday and Tuesday.] The fourth round of....

podcast series: Transitioning from One-L to Summer Legal Work

Posted on May 27, 2008
Suffolk University Law School?s Legal Practice Skills Program is hosting on iTunes U a new podcast series, ?Transitioning from One-L to Summer Legal Work.? Legal writing faculty from around the country are contributing to the podcasts, each outlining a different...

teaching tips in The Second Draft

Posted on May 27, 2008
The Second Draft is the newsletter of the Legal Writing Institute, and as you might imagine, each issue contains news of interest to legal writing professionals. Many issues also contain short essays on teaching legal writing, focusing on a single...

Congratulations to Natalie Tarenko!

Posted on May 26, 2008
Dr. Natalie Tarenko of Texas Tech University School of Law was announced as the first recipient of the Deborah Hecht Memorial Writing Contest Award, which will be given out for the first time this summer by the Legal Writing Institute...

LWI Conference - Other Activities and Special Events

Posted on May 25, 2008
Baseball? Professional tennis? A 5-K run? A visit to the Indianapolis Speedway and the Speedway Museum? Click here for a selection of non-legal writing activities that you (and your family) can pursue when you go to Indianapolis for the Legal...

Central States Law Schools Association conference

Posted on May 24, 2008
If you are working on a scholarship project this summer and think it will be ready for some feedback from other scholars this fall, consider attending the Central States Law Schools Association (CSLSA) conference. The conference is for legal scholars...

using index cards to construct a Table of Authorities

Posted on May 24, 2008
Nancy's post about using index cards to create an outline spurs me to offer another classic use of index cards, creating a brief's Table of Authorities. For readers unfamiliar with this instrument of torture, a Table of Authorities is an...

AALL Photo Contest Winners - A Day in the Life of a Law Librarian

Posted on May 24, 2008
The Law Librarian Blog reported that the American Association of Law Librarians (AALL) has announced the winners of its photo contest. Click here for a link to that story and then click on the link to the AALL website to...

Legal Writing as a Disciplinary Sanction

Posted on May 23, 2008
Our friends at the Legal Profession Blog have found an order from a federal district court judge who ordered an attorney to write an article on civility for the Oklahoma Bar Journal. It is an example of legal writing as...

Foreign and International Legal Citations

Posted on May 23, 2008
In 2006, the New York Journal of International Law and Politics announced the publication of the first edition of its Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citation. Sue Liemer posted about it on this legal writing prof blog. I am...

U.S. News and World Report Rankings - Should They Have a Competitor?

Posted on May 23, 2008
Some posts on the Law School Innovation Blog lament the effect of U.S. News and World Report law school rankings. One post notes that the rankings discourage innovation in legal education. One post suggests that there should be a competing...

ah, the vagaries of proofreading

Posted on May 23, 2008
Start your long Memorial Day weekend off on a lighter note, still related to legal writing, by checking out the YouTube offering on The Impotence of Proofreading. hat tip: Professor Ann Nowak (spl)

U.S. Supreme Court Rulings

Posted on May 23, 2008
Linda Greenhouse, who was awarded a Golden Pen Award from the Legal Writing Institute in 2003, writes today in the New York Times about a surprising development at the U.S. Supreme Court. She notes that the U.S. Supreme Court justices...

Legal Writing Institute

Posted on May 22, 2008
We've been writing a lot about the Legal Writing Institute, but we recognize that not everyone who reads this blog may be familiar with what it actually is. The Legal Writing Institute is a nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to...

shifting WAC into reverse

Posted on May 22, 2008
Professor Susan Thrower at DePaul University has published an article with much food for thought, in volume 13 of The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute. Entitled Teaching Legal Writing through Subject-Matter Specialities: A Reconception of Writing across the Curriculum,...

Foreign Legal Research

Posted on May 22, 2008
Here's a link to a comprehensive list of foreign law sources. It was compiled by Lyonette Louis-Jacques at the University of Chicago Law School. Hat tip to Danice Kern. (mew)

Counsel wins for his client, then takes a personal hit.

Posted on May 20, 2008
From an opinion issued today by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals: Although we resolve this issue in the County's favor, we take issue with its brief. We understand corporation counsel's obvious frustration over repeated litigation with Bettendorf, particularly in light...

negative vs. positive teaching

Posted on May 19, 2008
An interesting anecdote from the world of legal writing continuing education classes shows the importance of setting up your class for a positive experience. hat tip: Prof. Lou Sirico, Villanova University (spl)

How do you teach statutes?

Posted on May 19, 2008
If you can describe in 650 words or less how you teach statutory analysis, consider submitting your written description to The Second Draft, the newsletter of the Legal Writing Institute. The Fall 2008 edition will feature essays on Techniques for...

Research and Writing Courses for International Students

Posted on May 18, 2008
In light of the wide range of visitors to the website from around the world, I'm sharing a link to a short article on designing research and writing courses for international students. U.S. law schools continue to admit an ever-increasing...

A World of Visitors

Posted on May 18, 2008
86% of our readers are in the United States, but we also have readers from around the world. Thank you to our readers in the countries listed below, and the other countries that we might not know about. We're happy...

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