Legal Writing Prof Blog

already a week ago at AALS . . .

On Friday night, January 5, we had a wonderful "two-fer" gathering.  First,  ALWD and LWI presented the Blackwell Award to Lou Sirico.  Lisa Blackwell attended. 

LWI then presented its Golden Pen Award to members of the California Supreme Court, honoring California's new jury instructions and Justices Ronald M. George, Carol A. Corrigan, and James D. Ward.

Congratulations to the award winners.

(njs)

looking for a conference?

Attending a conference can be an invigorating experience for any legal writing professor.  Especially if you're anticipating a difficult semester ahead, the prospect alone of attending (and maybe presenting at) an upcoming conference might be just the carrot you need to stay energized.  The list below of future legal writing conferences was compiled by Professor Mark Wojcik, of The John Marshall Law School:

March 9-10, 2007
The Art of Advocacy: Writing to Win
Washburn University School of Law, Topeka, Kansas

March 10-11, 2007
Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada

March 15-17, 2007
The Pedagogy of Legal Writing
Nairobi, Kenya

May 4-5, 2007
Global Legal Skills Conference
The John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois

May 17-18, 2007
Back to the Future of Legal Research
Chicago-Kent College of Law, Chicago, Illinois

May 31-June 1, 2007
Lone Star LRW Conference
Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Fort Worth, Texas

June 14-16, 2007
Association of Legal Writing Directors Conference
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado

July 18-20, 2007
Once Upon a Legal Time:  Developing the Skills of Storytelling in Law
City University, London, England

September 21-22, 2007
Central Region LRW/Legal Writing Conference
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, Kansas City, Missouri

July 14-17, 2008
13th Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute
Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, Indiana

(spl)

Friday at AALS . . . part two

The proposed section on Balance in Legal Education (f/k/a/ Humanizing Legal Education) held its program late Friday afternoon.  Speakers shared a variety of ideas about how to introduce Balance concepts into the classroom, ranging from teaching techniques to perspective-expanding exercises to small everyday demonstrations of student-centered education.

Sound interesting?  Check out out the Balance website for more information, and consider joining the listserv discussion group (link at the bottom of the Balance homepage).

(njs)

quotable

"There are things that would take me fifteen pages to write in words, whereas the right animation, the right visual, can communicate the idea in fifteen seconds."

- Brian Greene

(spl)

Friday at AALS . . . part one

At a lovely luncheon of the Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research, Anne Enquist of Seattle U was honored for her many contributions to the field of legal writing.  Her thank you managed to include a comprehensive list of thanks that alliteratively and sometimes alphabetically included the first names of pretty much everyone in the legal writing community.

Would you expect anything less from a writing specialist?

(njs)

videos of oral arguments

As suggestions swirled around the legal writing professors' listserve for videos that are good to show when teaching oral argument, I only managed to save the suggestions belows.  Got others?  Post'em here by clicking on "comments" below.

Florida Supreme Court - http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/livesched.html - video of oral arguments along with briefs & court opinions

Indiana Supreme Court - http://www.in.gov/judiciary/education/ - oral argument videos

C-SPAN -   http://www.c-span.org   Click on "America & the Courts" for video of interesting oral arguments in federal circuit courts

hat tip:  Professor Leslie Rose, Golden Gate University

(spl)