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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.
Carnegie conference to address legal education reform
Posted on May 29, 2009Yes, We CArNegie: That's the theme and title of a one-day summer conference in Chicago on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at The John Marshall Law School. Designed to bring together scholars, deans, and law professors in doctrinal and skills-based disciplines...
Lex Opus - Free Online Submission of Your Law Review Articles
Posted on May 29, 2009LexOpus is a new service at Washington and Lee Law School offering free online submissions to law journals. Authors can submit articles to all interested law journals, inviting journals to make offers. Journals are able to limit by subject matter...
Arkansas appellate cases going totally--and officially--online
Posted on May 28, 2009A per curiam opinion issued this morning by the Arkansas Supreme Court announces that as of July 1, 2009, appellate opinions issued by that court and the Arkansas Court of Appeals will no longer be printed in official print reporters....
Appraising student work - honesty versus encouragement
Posted on May 28, 2009Ideally, we should do both according to this thoughtful essay that tries to reconcile those who argue a teacher's job - indeed, her professional responsibility - is to offer frank assessment versus those who argue that a teacher's job is...
If you had to do it all over again, would you go to law school?
Posted on May 28, 2009That's the online ABA Journal's question of the week and they are soliciting reader comments here. When I checked earlier this afternoon, the answers seemed to be evenly split. The comments are worth reading. I am the scholarship dude. (jbl)
The skills new lawyers need to have according to employers
Posted on May 28, 2009I'll give you a hint - writing is one of them. Business development and exposure to international law are others. We had previously reported on this survey conducted by legal recruiters exactly one month ago today, the fact its appearing...
New website devoted to discussing Google's book deal - largest library in history
Posted on May 28, 2009So much controversy surrounds Google's proposal to create an electronic database that includes every book ever written (and I do mean every single book every written in all of human history) that a new website - debuting today - is...
How to Submit a Proposal to the 2010 LWI Conference
Posted on May 28, 2009A reminder! Even though the conference itself is more than a year away, the deadline for proposals is coming up quite soon -- June 15, 2009! Click here to Download the LWI Call for Proposals. (mew) .
A Special Offer From Scribes -- Just for Readers of the Legal Writing Prof Blog!
Posted on May 27, 2009Joe Kimble has extended a special offer to readers of the Legal Writing Prof Blog. He is inviting (or in some cases reinviting) you to join Scribes--The American Society of Legal Writers. Scribes is the oldest organization devoted to honoring...
slanty words with numbers after them
Posted on May 26, 2009Not that students think learning legal citation is fun, but geez, is it that bad? (cmb)
Hein Online research videos on YouTube
Posted on May 26, 2009Looking for new ways to teach legal research in electronic media? You will like Hein Online's YouTube channel, featuring videos that demonstrate how to access and effectively use Hein's online collections. One of the recent videos demonstrates a fast way...
conference in Oz
Posted on May 26, 2009The Law and Literature Association of Australia, along with the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand, will be holding a joint conference from December 2 to 5, 2009. The theme is Trans(l)egalité. Information on what that theme...
newest issue of the LWI Journal
Posted on May 25, 2009The latest issue of the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute is hot off the presses. Here's the contents: Editor?s Note, Kristin B. Gerdy In Memoriam, Stephanie Feldman Aleong, James B. Levy Remembering Debbie Parker, Steve Johansen Golden Pen Award...
Thomas Blackwell Award Nominations
Posted on May 25, 2009The 2009-2010 Blackwell Awards Committee invites nominations for one of the most prestigious awards in legal writing, the Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing. The deadline for submitting nominations is June 15,...
no questions, please!
Posted on May 25, 2009I have always taught my appellate advocacy students to welcome the Court's questions, for such questions give them an opportunity to clarify their positions and put the judges' minds at ease. Now comes a study (reported by Adam Liptak in...
International Law Institute -- Summer Classes for Law Students Who Speak English as a Second Langugage
Posted on May 25, 2009The International Law Institute in Washington D.C. has announced two courses for its 2009 Summer Orientation program. This year?s program has been revised to include more subjects and has also been redesigned to provide a more interactive training. The program...
Congratulations to Deborah Mann at Albany Law School
Posted on May 25, 2009Deborah Mann (Albany Law School) won Albany Law School's teaching award. The law school announced the award at the law school?s graduation ceremonies in May 2009. Professor Mann is the first Lawyering Professor to win that honor at Albany Law...
punctuation lessons from real life #1
Posted on May 24, 2009Ever on the search for teaching materials, I offer the screen from the personal movie monitor onboard an unnamed airline's flight. (njs)
the storytelling aspect of legal writing
Posted on May 24, 2009New sch olarship by Bret Rappaport, Tapping the Human Adaptive Origins of Storytelling by Requiring Legal Writing Students to Read a Novel in Order to Appreciate How Character, Setting, Plot, Theme, and Tone (CSPTT) Are as Important as IRAC, 25...
How to Submit a Proposal for the 2010 LWI Conference
Posted on May 23, 2009The never-to-be-missed event for teachers of legal writing and research is the Legal Writing Institute national conference. The next one (save the date now!) will be June 27-30, 2010 at Marco Island, Florida. You can now submit a proposal for...
ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago
Posted on May 23, 2009Early bird registration for the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago is available until May 29, 2009. Click here for more information. SCRIBES will also meet during the ABA Annual Meeting. (mew)
U. Colorado fights reinstatement of Ward Churchill
Posted on May 22, 2009No surprise here. The Chronicle of Higher Ed is reporting that CU formally filed a brief in opposition to Churchill's request to have the judge reinstate him after a jury returned a verdict in his favor finding that he was...
I'm off the grid. Next stop - Las Vegas!
Posted on May 22, 2009I'm taking a brief hiatus from my blogging duties here at the 'ol Legal Writing Prof blog while I relocate for the summer to UNLV where I'll be teaching a couple of courses in their fantabulous LP program along side...
Is there a pile-up in the making between deferred '09 grads and the class of '10?
Posted on May 22, 2009Several legal media outlets are discussing (here, here, and here) what might be the coming pile-up between the '09 law grads who are deferred until 2010 (in some cases until 2011) and current 2L students who are just now beginning...
Another problem with Twitter - fake identities
Posted on May 22, 2009It's a growing problem that is now affecting academics according to this story in the Chronicle of Higher Ed reporting that a couple of imposters (or possibly the same person) set up Twitter accounts in the names of two university...
Some federal judges say law schools need to tell students to drop the "Ally McBeal" look
Posted on May 22, 2009I couldn't tell you what the "Ally McBeal" look is - I've never seen the show. The "Oz" look? Check. The "Sopranos" look? Gotcha'. The "Anderson Cooper 360" look? I'm all over that like white-on-rice. Whatever the "AB look" is...
The liability pitfalls of Twitter
Posted on May 22, 2009We've previously reported on the first defamation suit arising out of Twitter. The Legal Blog Watch has now conveniently compiled a list of Twitter legal foibles that every attorney - and every client - should consider. It includes everything from...
Time Magazine report on the relative happiness of various professions including lawyers, librarians and legal assistants
Posted on May 20, 2009Thanks to our good friends at the Law Librarian blog for this interesting story that, at least with respect to lawyers, seems to confound the conventional wisdom that lawyers are an unhappy lot. Because Mark Giangrande already took the time...
File under "social intelligence" - the why of what we buy
Posted on May 20, 2009Ok, so this story from the NYT called Message in What We Buy but Nobody's Listening has no literal connection to legal writing, as Walter Sobchak might say, but it certainly fits under the rubric of "social intelligence" as well...
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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...








