Legal Writing Prof Blog

legal research in the basement

Last week, the ABA eReport asked subscribers to submit accounts of ways their legal research strategies helped them achieve success. The winning entry, from Baltimore, described an attorney’s efforts to locate legislative history for a Maryland statute. Maryland does not publish legislative history. The attorney  found his answer by going through forty years’ worth of committee reports in the basement of the Maryland legislature. That's what I call "digging for an answer"!

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visiting postion at West Virginia

The West Virginia University College of Law seeks a visitor to fill a full-time legal writing position in the 2007-2008 academic year. Responsibilities include teaching two sections of Legal Research and Writing. The successful applicant will be eligible to apply for the permanent position to be advertised next fall. Starting salary will be in the high fifties. Send letters of interest to the Chair of the Appointments Committee, Professor Gerry Ashdown, West Virginia University College of Law, Box 6130, Morgantown, WV 26506.

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tenure!

Congratulations to legal writing professors Ranko Oliver and Michael Flannery, who have each received tenure at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

hat tip:  Prof. Coleen Barger 

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a judge's poetic order

A recent ruling from U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin, Texas, shows his poetic displeasure about the deposition issues between two attorneys.  See Download sparks_poem1.pdf .

the art of persuasion

"Thank You for Arguing," by Jay Heinrichs, is a funny, broad-ranging, inventive take on explaining the art of persuasion.  The book covers topics ranging from using emotion to controlling and defining words to using the right medium to convey the message.  And it's ripe with references ranging from Spock to Janet Jackson to Aristotle and Cicero.

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