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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

Balance in Legal Education newsletter

Posted on December 19, 2009
The newsletter for the AALS Section on Balance in Legal Education is now available. Not only does it mention this blog (thank you!), it also includes: - a message from Section President Bruce Winick - a profile of Professor Calvin...

Scholarship alert: "A countervailing elite: the necessity of an effective lawyering skills pedagogy for a sustainable rule of law revival in East Africa"

Posted on December 18, 2009
This one comes to us from Professor Kirsten A. Dauphinais and can be found at 85 N.D. L. Rev. 53 (2009). From the introduction: [T]he lawyer in East Africa has to be much more than a competent legal technician. With...

Does reforming law school curriculum to focus on practice skills lead to increased applicants?

Posted on December 17, 2009
There's an article in today's online ABA Journal discussing the departure after three years of Washington & Lee Dean Rod Smolla for Furman College where he'll serve as president. The article mentions the curriculum reforms that Dean Smolla implemented which...

Scholarship alert: "De minimis curat lex: secrets to success for 1st year law students"

Posted on December 17, 2009
More of the good stuff. This one is by Professor John H. Scheid of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and can be found at 37 Cap. U. L. Rev. 631 (2009). From the abstract: The following suggestions that...

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Scholarship alert: "Opinion writing and opinion readers"

Posted on December 17, 2009
Co-authored by Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert of the Third Circuit, he was the recipient of of the Legal Writing Institute's Golden Pen Award a few years back. The article can be found at 31 Cardozo L. Rev. 1 (2009). From...

Word of the day - and it's apropos to grading season

Posted on December 16, 2009
Because I've been behind in my blogging, it's actually the word of last week. Technicalities aside, this one comes to us from from wordsmith.org and is particularly relevant during the month of December when most LRW profs are working through...

teaching to different learning styles

Posted on December 16, 2009
Much has been made in the last decade about teaching to different learning styles, and legal writing professors have certainly been at the forefront of that movement. But now some researchers are questioning how much we really know about the...

Write like a man

Posted on December 16, 2009
That's the title of a Salon article that's got some legal writing professors thinking: For centuries in print and more recently on-line, women who adopted male pseudonyms have fared better than they did writing under their own, female names. So...

ever edit a law journal contract?

Posted on December 15, 2009
Maybe it's just me, but every time I publish an article in a student-edited law journal (for our non-U.S. readers, student-edited law journals are the norm in the U.S.), I find myself editing the publication contract before it even comes...

new articles on teaching legal research

Posted on December 15, 2009
Thanks to LWI and LSN, we have news of two new articles that offer innovative ideas for teaching legal research: "Teaching Legal Research Online" SUSAN HERRICK, University of Maryland - Thurgood Marshall Law Library SARA KELLEY BURRIESCI, Georgetown University -...

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 12, 2009
We wrapped up the day at a reception in The Bridget and Alfred Pelaez Legal Writing Center--spiffy new digs for the Duquesne LRW program and faculty. The conference was a great success, and a good time was had by all!...

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 12, 2009
After Shannon Moritz and I presented on "Laughing Matters: Using Humor in the Legal Writing Classroom," I attended the last session of the day, selecting a presentation by Doug Godfrey, Chicago-Kent: "Student Presentations: Empowering Upper-Level Students...

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 11, 2009
After lunch, I attended a presentation by Camille Lamar (Nova Southeastern). She discussed a non-legal fact pattern that she uses as an introductory exercise not only for rules and the analytical paradigm, but also for professionalism and client counseling...

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 11, 2009
After the plenary and follow-up, the schedule offered five presentations per time slot vying for our attendance. I chose to attend "(Stop) Grading Drafts" by Larry Cunningham, formerly a clinician at Tech and now a prof at St. John's. Larry...

more promotion news!

Posted on December 10, 2009
The law faculty at Temple University has voted to promote Susan DeJarnatt to the rank of full Professor of Law. She is the first legal writing professor at Temple to achieve this rank. Congratulations to Susan -- and to Temple!...

promotion news!

Posted on December 10, 2009
The law faculty at Southern Illinois University has voted to promote both Sheila Simon and Melissa Marlow from associate to full Clinical Professors. They are the first legal writing professors at the school to achieve this position. Congratulations! (spl)

quotable

Posted on December 09, 2009
"Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel like I should be doing something else." ~ Gloria Steinem (spl)

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 09, 2009
In a follow-up to the plenary, the Duquesne LRW faculty discussed their program and its features that help to promote hope AND improve their student evaluations. For example, they don't hide the ball, coach instead of critique, delay grading, show...

colonial frontier cont'd

Posted on December 09, 2009
The plenary session, "Engendering Hope," featured Allison Martin and Kevin Rand of Indiana University presenting their research on hope theory and its relationship to law school success. They surveyed a group of law students and found that "hope predicts academic...

teaching with emotion

Posted on December 08, 2009
A new article by Grant Morris (San Diego) is sure to raise some eyebrows in some more traditional law school classrooms: "Teaching with Emotion: Enriching the Educational Experience of First-Year Law Students". Click on the title there to read the...

new printing of the Sourcebook

Posted on December 08, 2009
The ABA has printed up a new supply of the Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs, 2d edition, which has been out of stock for some time. You should be able to find it now at http://www.abanet.org/abastore/index.cfm?section=Main&fm=Product.Search&type=b&sgcd=1&k=Sourcebook+on+Legal+Writing+Programs...

the first Colonial Frontier LRW conference

Posted on December 07, 2009
Saturday morning in Pittsburgh started with Jan Levine's welcoming an enthusiastic group of LRW profs to Duquesne's law school. (The interim dean and law review editor also welcomed us, so we were primed for a great day!) (njs)

Cormac McCarthy's typewriter sells for more than $250k

Posted on December 07, 2009
Holy carbon paper, Batman! Following up on a story we blogged about last week, in the Christie's auction of Cormac McCarthy's typewriter on Friday (which the author used to do all his writing over the past 50 years including The...

tenure for our law librarians

Posted on December 07, 2009
Many of us who teach LRW -- legal research and writing -- do so in tandem with our law schools' librarians. They face many of the same status issues that legal writing professionals face. Now Carol A. Parker at the...

William C. Burton Announced as Winner of the 2010 LWI Golden Pen Award

Posted on December 05, 2009
Ruth Anne Robbins, President of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI), has announced that the 2010 Golden Pen Award will go to William C. Burton, Esq. Here's an excerpt from her announcement: Mr. Burton is currently a partner at the New...

conference on teaching transactional law & skills

Posted on December 05, 2009
Emory University School of Law?s Center for Transactional Law and Practice has announced its second biennial conference on the teaching of transactional law and skills, Transactional Education: What?s Next? The conference will be held at Emory Law on Friday, June...

The definitive way to tell the difference between "affect" and "effect"

Posted on December 04, 2009
Man-oh-man - I screw up this one all the time myself. It's weird because I've noticed that over the past few years I've developed blocks in connection with memory skills that I never used to struggle with. For instance, phone...

Student note alert: "Wikipedia Made Law? The Federal Judicial Citation of Wikipedia"

Posted on December 04, 2009
Good for this student! She's written a note that I think many readers of this blog will be interested in. Here are the details: Wagner, Amber L. Comment: Wikipedia Made Law? The Federal Judicial Citation of Wikipedia 26 J. Marshall...

Continuing coverage of the Google legal research debate

Posted on December 04, 2009
The Law Librarian Blog has been providing excellent coverage and commentary about Google Legal Scholar (first reported by us here). Among the recent posts are these: Headnote Numbers in Texts of Google SLOJ Opinions?! More on Google Legal Research Half...

LWI conference scholarships

Posted on December 03, 2009
The Legal Writing Institute (LWI) will be awarding grants of up to $1,000 for up to ten LWI members who cannot obtain funding from their home institutions to attend its 14th biennial conference, June 27 - 30, 2010, at the...

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