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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 Recent Entries: 2529
Go to Legal Writing Prof Blog, find other Legal Writing blogs, or browse all law blogs.
job openings at Seattle, Brooklyn, and Montana
Posted on March 01, 2008A variety of job postings for a variety of legal writing jobs, including adjunct, visiting, full-time, and fellowship positions: Seattle University School of Law is currently accepting applications for two visitors to teach Legal Writing: one for the 2008-2009 academic...
thank you for teaching us, Joseph Williams
Posted on February 28, 2008Joseph M. Williams passed away last weekend. The author of several editions of Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace greatly influenced my writing and my teaching, as he did so many others in this profession. In 2006, the Legal...
call for proposals
Posted on February 28, 2008CALL FOR PROPOSALS: PODCAST SERIES TRANSITIONING FROM 1L TO SUMMER LEGAL WORK We are pleased to announce a Call for Proposals for a new podcast series intended to provide 1Ls with advice on applying the legal research and writing skills...
Greenhouse steps down
Posted on February 28, 2008Respected Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse, another of the LWI's Golden Pen award winners (2003), is retiring, having accepted a buyout offer from the New York Times. hat tip: SCOTUS blog (cmb)
online repositories of recorded oral arguments
Posted on February 26, 2008State appellate courts--with the assistance of law libraries--are beginning to maintain archives of recorded oral arguments, reports Brian Barnes at the Law Librarian Blog. Among these are archives of arguments before the Mississippi Supreme Court and Mississippi Court of Appeals...
LWI conference info!!
Posted on February 25, 2008Get it here! Looks like a great conference--see you in Indianapolis in July! (njs)
. . . whatever will blog, will blog
Posted on February 25, 2008Looking for innovative ways to teach? Here's a creative idea. In connection with Peter Friedman's Legal Analysis & Writing Course at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, the students are writing cross-motions for summary judgment in a fictional lawsuit...
Ross Essay Contest
Posted on February 23, 2008The American Bar Assocation wants to know: "Why do you believe the legal profession is the greatest profession in the world?" The ABA is accepting answers--in 600 words or less--from ABA members (which would include most law professors who are...
the impotence of proofreading
Posted on February 23, 2008Here's a great YouTube video that may get your sutdents to profread there trail breifs more closelely. (It's another Taylor Mali great, for you fans out there.) (cmb)
the standard-of-review continuum
Posted on February 23, 2008"[A]ppeals in the federal court system are usually arrayed along a degree-of-deference continuum, stretching from plenary review at one pole to highly deferential modes of review . . . at the opposite pole.? In re Extradition of Howard, 996 F.2d...
oral argument: say it like you mean it!
Posted on February 22, 2008Here's how NOT to speak with conviction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4 hat tip: Suzanne Rowe, University of Oregon School of Law (njs)
getting a handle on abuse of discretion
Posted on February 22, 2008I haven't found any catchy imagery for describing the abuse-of-discretion standard of review. The difficulty in defining that standard is demonstrated in this oft-cited (88 times, according to Westlaw) definition from James v. Jacobson, 6 F.3d 233, 239 (4th Cir...
job opening at Widener
Posted on February 22, 2008Widener University School of Law seeks applicants for a one-year renewable contract position as Legal Methods Professor beginning in Fall 2008. The Legal Methods program is a three-semester, seven-credit sequence of courses. The first-year course covers basic legal analysis and...
position at University of Iowa
Posted on February 22, 2008The University of Iowa College of Law seeks candidates to join its Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research Program faculty. Faculty in the program teach a course in legal analysis and writing to first-year students in small sections, and law librarians...
a particularly smelly standard of review
Posted on February 21, 2008Challenging an issue of fact on appeal? In Parts & Electric Motors, Inc. v. Sterling Electric, Inc., the Seventh Circuit describes the "clearly erroneous" standard of review: To be clearly erroneous, a decision must strike us as more than just...
tall men & the mixed question of law and fact
Posted on February 21, 2008In preparing for this semester's lesson on standards of review, I'm using the explanation written by federal circuit judge Thomas Ambro for reviewing mixed questions of law and fact. He wrote: A question of fact can be answered solely by...
New Book on Statutory Construction Default Rules
Posted on February 20, 2008The Statutory Construction Blog announced publication of a new book on Statutory Construction, called "Statutory Default Rules: How to Interpret Unclear Legislation." The book is by Einer Elhauge and will be published later this month by Harvard University Press...
Semicolons Spotted in the NYC Subway
Posted on February 20, 2008The New York Times has a great article on the proper use of a semicolon on a sign in the New York City subway. You'll want to share a copy of that article with your students. One of my favorite...
American Justice School of Law - Kentucky
Posted on February 20, 2008The American Justice School of Law, a for-profit law school in Paducah, Kentucky, was reportedly sold last week, according an article by Charles Huckabee in the Chronicle of Higher Education and another article in The Courier-Journal, a Louisville Kentucky newspaper...
online Bluebook
Posted on February 19, 2008from Tax Prof Blog http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/02/harvard-publish.html Harvard Publishes Online Bluebook The Harvard Law Review has launched an online version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. From the press release: The citation guide for American law, The Bluebook is a...
Congratulations Drexel
Posted on February 19, 2008Drexel University College of Law has been provisionally accredited by the American Bar Association. There are now 198 law schools that have been accredited or provisionsally accredited by the ABA. Approximately 170 of those schools are also members of the...
if I had two billion dollars . . . on lawyers, law firms, and priorities
Posted on February 18, 2008Law firm breaks the two-billion-dollar mark in revenues . . comments from the blog Law 21. Apparently serving clients is secondary to money-making and "being a player" . . . see the quote from the linked ABAJournal article. (njs)
director position
Posted on February 18, 2008Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University seeks applicants for the full-time position of Director of Legal Writing. The person hired is eligible for an initial five-year appointment of annually renewable eleven-month contracts. The Director reports directly to the dean;...
Conference on Language Learning and Assessment
Posted on February 18, 2008The University of Illinois-Chicago, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University are hosting a conference on "Reconciling Language Learning and Assessment" on April 25-26, 2008. The conference will not focus on legal writing, but many of us are teaching students...
International Conference on the Future of Legal Education
Posted on February 18, 2008Georgia State University is hosting an International Conference on the Future of Legal Education. Get details here. The conference will be February 20-23. Here's a link to the program. Mark E. Wojcik, The John Marshall Law School-Chicago (Hat tip: Gene...
Jessup Super Regional Results - Midwest
Posted on February 18, 2008Many legal writing professors coach moot court teams. One of those competitions is the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which involves more than 500 law schools in 80 countries. This year, the U.S. rounds of the Jessup...
Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference
Posted on February 18, 2008Need information on the Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference? Click here. The conference will be held March 21 and 22 at the University of Utah. Here's a link to the conference program. Mark E. Wojcik, The John Marshall Law School
debut of Millennial Law Prof
Posted on February 16, 2008Touro Law Center's Tracy McGaugh has just launched her new blog, Millennial Law Prof. Tracy is well-known for her expertise on the generation gap and the problems arising when law professors (boomers, Xers, etc.) encounter strange beings from another generation...
job openings at Suffolk, Southwestern
Posted on February 16, 2008Suffolk University Law School may have an opening for a full-time, non-tenure-track Assistant Professor of Legal Writing to teach three sections of a required first-year course on legal research, analysis, writing, and oral advocacy. The position is a one-year contract...
I love you, for now
Posted on February 14, 2008Boilerplate language of undying devotion in courtship letters in which future husband promised to care for future wife and to look after her did not create an express contract to support her for life. Bridgeman v. Bridgeman, 182 W.Va. 677,...
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Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
Can a probation officer make a decision that involves a medical decision and prohibit a person from leaving a state to get medical help?
well if you could get him to a mental health facility they could screen him for ...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...

Did I harass someone?
Oh, yes. This can be taken in as so many things, especially since you had testif...
How to evict a roommate?
First, in most jurisdictions "self-help" is not a remedy available to any party ...
I have worked for this employer for only three weeks. The employer makes up his own rules as to what he chooses to report for the purpose of property taxes. He tells me to "let them come after us". He defines Entertain
He arrogantly insists, "let them come after us." Well, if you are invo...
Can a probation officer make a decision that involves a medical decision and prohibit a person from leaving a state to get medical help?
well if you could get him to a mental health facility they could screen him for ...
This has happened 3 or 4 times a month now- they have turned the electric off 2 days consecutively, the water off about 9 or 10 times now, and our heat has broken 5 times (once it would not shut off, and we were forced t
i say stick with the apartment. eventually, everything possible will be replaced...








