Legal Writing Prof Blog

Plagiarism

We've discussed this before, but the issue will always be with us.  The Chronicle of Higher Education this week reports about two students who were charged with plagiarism because they took their papers straight from Wikipedia.

Which leads us to post again our all-time favorite video on Plagiarism.  It's from the University of Bergen in Norway. There are subtitles if you don't speak Norwegian.

(mew)

Save the Date: The Jury Verdict Reporter Celebrates 50 Years

For many years I've included the Jury Verdict Reports among the research tools that I share with my students.  It's one thing to do a closed or open research memo; it is quite another when you can also see the range of verdicts returned in similar cases.  Most students won't learn about jury verdict reporters until they are working in a law firm, but I think it important to teach them about it now.  I've never found it difficult to teach and it is well worth the short investment of time.

The Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary next month.  The John Marshall Law School in Chicago will host a short program and reception to celebrate this anniversary.  The event will be held at The John Marshall Law School on Friday, September 10, 2010.

(mew)

Illinois Supreme Court and Appellate Court Justices Welcome Students to the New Year

Do the judges of the highest courts in your state come to orientation sessions for new students at your school?  They do in Illinois -- click here to read more about it.  If the judges are not yet coming to your school, go ahead and invite them to do so!  What a great way to start off the school year.

(mew)

Legal Writing Professors at the SEALS Conference

Many legal writing professors attended and presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) Conference earlier this month. There were programs on moot court teams, on the status of legal writing professors, on how to use research assistants effectively.

One of the panels for legal writing professors was on "Incorporating Doctrinal Interests Into Legal Research and Writing Classes."  Speakers included Professors Kate Bohl (Stetson University College of Law, pictured at left with glasses) and Anthony Niedwiecki (The John Marshall Law School--Chicago).  The moderator for the program was Catherine Cameron (Stetson University College of Law) (pictured at right).

This panel addressed the question of how legal research and writing faculty should incorporate their doctrinal interests and scholarship into writing courses. This is a particularly timely issue in the LR&W area as more and more schools are moving research and writing faculty to tenure-track (or similar) positions on the faculty and, in turn, are including research and writing faculty more deeply in the broader scholarly community at their institutions.

The panelists spoke on how their non-LR&W scholarship aids in giving them ideas for drafting and assessing sample problems. They also explained how writing in a non-LR&W area allows them a  chance to expand their own rhetorical tools in a way that allows them to better teach those skills to students. They also discussed how having a chance to delve into a doctrinal topic allows them a variety in their academic interests that keeps them fresh in their LR&W teaching.

(mew)

Deadline Coming Soon to Submit Poster Proposals for AALS Meeting in San Francisco

Here's a reminder about the Association of American Law Schools Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning and Research, which sponsors posters every year to be displayed at the AALS annual conference in January.  These posters provide a great opportunity for authors to present their research or innovative teaching ideas in an informal manner.

The deadline for poster proposals for the 2011 AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco is September 3, 2010. By this date you must submit a short description of the poster and an actual copy of the proposed poster. The submission guidelines are available on the AALS website by clicking here.  

Examples of posters selected for presentation in recent years are set forth in the Section's Spring 2010 Newsletter (beginning on page 5) and in the Spring 2008 Newsletter (beginning on page 4).

Hat tip to Samantha Moppett and members of AALS Poster Committee (Susan Chesler, Kendra Fershee, Lara Freed, Andrea Funk, Nancy Modesitt, Daphne O’Regan, Myra Orlen, and Amanda Smith).

(mew).

Sarah Ricks Publishes New Casebook

Rutgers–Camden has announced the publication of legal writing professor Sarah Ricks’s new casebook, Current Issues in Constitutional Litigation: Roles of the Courts, Attorneys, and Administrators (Carolina Academic Press, 2010). This book is part of the new Context and Practice series designed and edited by Michael Hunter Schwartz and Gerry Hess. Evelyn Tenenbaum of Albany Law School, who also teaches legal writing, wrote 2 of the 15 chapters, and provided peer review and editing for the book.  Congratulations to you all!

(spl)