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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

new book on writing memos

Posted on July 02, 2008
Congratulation to Wayne Schiess (Texas): His new book, The Legal Memo, has just been published by Kendall/Hunt. (cmb)

and you thought laptops were only distracting to students

Posted on July 01, 2008
The BBC reports that the Speaker of the Parliament of Bhutan has banned its members from bringing laptops to its sessions because too many members of that august body were playing games with their computers instead of paying attention to...

another quote

Posted on June 30, 2008
Today a federal court quoted Lewis Carroll, apparently with more accuracy. hat tip: Professor Ralph Brill (spl)

major misquote

Posted on June 30, 2008
I t's not every day that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court quotes Bob Dylan in a decision. So people are likely to notice. Too bad the quote was not accurate. Too bad the Chief Justice's law clerks did...

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Equalitea

Posted on June 29, 2008
When the American Bar Association holds its annual meeting in New York City in early August, the programming will include a special Day of Equality. The ABA's Commission on Women in the Profession will end that day with an Equalitea,...

U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings

Posted on June 27, 2008
Should U.S. News law school rankings include the LSAT scores of part-time students? Some law schools force students with weak LSAT scores into part-time programs so that they will not have to report those LSAT scores to U.S. News and...

the power of fonts

Posted on June 26, 2008
One of my college friends landed her first job after graduation, working for an academic press, because in the interview she mentioned that she could identify a dozen common fonts. She'd gained this knowledge setting type for ads in the...

occupational hazard of LRW profs: conjobulation

Posted on June 26, 2008
Here's a fun posting proposing a new word: conjobulation. Have so much to do that you can't keep track of it all? Pick up the phone to make a call, but can't remember whom are you calling? You're conjobulated!! hat...

conference on integrating the law school curriculum

Posted on June 25, 2008
The University of Washington School of Law is hosting a working conference, Legal Education at the Crossroads ? Ideas to Accomplishments: Sharing New Ideas for an Integrated Curriculum, September 5-7, 2008. The conference is intended to respond to suggestions from...

Many legal writing professors are

Posted on June 25, 2008
Many legal writing professors are familiar with the Idea Bank operated by the Legal Writing Institute. Basically, you contribute a legal writing assignment, you get a password, and then you can use what others have contributed. This week for the...

it isn't Styrofoam�

Posted on June 25, 2008
A column in today's Baltimore Sun explains that the crisp white stuff that hot-drink cups are made of and that seems to never disintegrate is not "Styrofoam�," but rather is some funny substance called polystyrene. Who knew? It's like Xerox�...

Call for Papers - Annals of Health Law

Posted on June 24, 2008
Legal writing professors have many scholarly areas of interest. Here's a message to those of you whose interests touch upon the broad field of health law. The Annals of Health Law Editorial Board is seeking submissions for the Winter 2009...

Plain Language in Government Communications

Posted on June 24, 2008
The Law Librarian Blog included a posting on a number of new articles on LLRX. One that caught my eye was on pending federal legislation that would require the use of plain language in government documents. Click here to read...

quotable

Posted on June 23, 2008
Every once in awhile, I come across a quote that is particularly relevant to legal prose. I can think of a few 1L papers I'd like to write this on: "Flaubert said, 'Prose is architecture,' and this isn't the baroque...

fond of the semicolon? read this article!

Posted on June 21, 2008
Slate has a fun and informative article on the semicolon. hat tip: Eileen Kavanagh, Professor, Thomas M. Cooley Law School (njs)

Clarity - An International Association Promoting Plain Legal Language

Posted on June 21, 2008
One of those legal writing organizations that you should really join but probably haven't yet joined is Clarity. Clarity is an international organization promoting plain legal language. There are 1,019 members in 52 countries and jurisdictions (depending on how you...

Call for Papers - AALS Section on Education Law

Posted on June 21, 2008
Another call for papers for possible presentation in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. The AALS Education Law Section invites you to submit an abstract of your paper by September 1, 2008. Send...

Call for Papers - AALS Section on International Human Rights

Posted on June 20, 2008
The Association of American Law Schools Section on International Human Rights has just published an impressive issue of its newsletter. It includes a call for papers for possible presentation at the 2009 AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego. Download ihrl_section_newsletter...

labyrinthian prolixities

Posted on June 20, 2008
As we've noted earlier, West's Headnote of the Day provides subscribers with something to think about--or chuckle over. Today's headnote is attributed to Thomson v. Olson, 866 F. Supp. 1267 (D.N.D. 1994): Dismissal is appropriate where complaint is labyrinthian prolixity...

computers: distraction or teaching tool?

Posted on June 19, 2008
I'm not sure how far one can extend the implications of this story, but this NYTimes article suggests that giving kids computers may be "more of a distraction than a learning opportunity." hat tip: Jim Levy, Nova Southeastern (njs)

The moot court and trial advocacy

Posted on June 19, 2008
The moot court and trial advocacy boards at the Louisiana State University Law Center have compiled a list of every moot court, trial advocacy, and ADR competition that an American law school can enter. They now have 85 separate competitions...

teaching legal writing in the law firm

Posted on June 18, 2008
If you are a practitioner who reads this blog and have been curious about a career as a legal writing professor, you might be interested in Ben Opipari's experiences, first in academia, and then teaching legal writing in a law...

ABA International Law News - Publication Opportunities

Posted on June 18, 2008
Here's a publication opportunity for legal writing professors who are interested in international law. The International Law News is the quarterly newsletter published by the ABA Section of International Law. I have been the editor-in-chief of it for several years...

Scribes, The American Society of Legal Writers

Posted on June 18, 2008
Legal writing as a distinct academic discipline is only a couple of decades old, but the oldest legal writing organization in the U.S. dates back to 1953. Scribes, The American Society of Legal Writers, promotes better writing throughout the legal...

LWI Conference Preview - Thursday Session 4

Posted on June 18, 2008
OK gang. Here is the last session to preview for the Legal Writing Institute Summer Conference in Indianapolis. The fourth session on Thursday, July 17, 2008 comes just after the Hoosier Cookout Lunch on Thursday. The session will run from...

submit your article on teaching with technology

Posted on June 18, 2008
"Teaching Through Technology" is the theme of the upcoming Spring 2008 issue of The Legal Writing Institute newsletter, The Second Draft. How do you use technology to teach legal research and writing? The current editors of The Second Draft are...

Upcoming conference on persuasion

Posted on June 18, 2008
Rutgers School of Law-Camden and the University of Wyoming College of Law just announced that they are co-sponsoring a one-day conference based on the influential scholarship of Wyoming Prof. Michael Smith. The one-day conference, to be held on Friday, September...

what judges really think about lawyers' writing

Posted on June 18, 2008
Georgetown legal writing prof Kristen Robbins-Tiscione has posted her 2002 article, titled The Inside Scoop: What Federal Judges Really Think about the Way Lawyers Write, and originally published in Volume 8 of Legal Writing: the Journal of the Legal Writing...

laptops limiting productivity?

Posted on June 17, 2008
A recent post on Tools for Thought makes the intriguing observation that drafting on a laptop (or any computer hooked up to the Internet) might in fact be less effective for some writers because it allows them to interrupt the...

American Bar Foundation resources

Posted on June 17, 2008
If the only thing you know about the American Bar Foundation is its annual letter asking for donations, you may be missing some very interesting resources. The ABF website includes the results of surveys and other research that may be...

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