Legal Writing Prof Blog

Garner column both helps and slights legal writing professors

Bryan Garner argues in the March ABA Journal that many legal writers suffer from the “Dunning-Kruger” effect—a syndrome named after two professors who showed that unskilled persons often think they’re better than they are. His column, titled Why Lawyers Can't Write, provides support for legal writing professors who are truthful about students' weaknesses and prod them toward a higher level of skill. But Garner is off the mark when he blames law schools for providing students with “little if any feedback (on substance, much less style) on exams and writing assignments.” While some professors may be guilty of that charge, most legal writing professors are not. We give students extensive feedback. 

By emphasizing the value of clear, precise legal analysis and writing, Garner helps us in our efforts to hold students to high standards. But he slights us in not recognizing that our profession is overwhelmingly on his side, as a myriad of our published articles and conference presentations have documented.

(jdf)

kudos, Mary-Beth!

Mary-Beth Moylan, director of the legal writing program at Pacific McGeorge School of law, was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. An article in the Washington Post shows how impressive this year's inductees are. 

hat tip:  Hether Macfarlane

(spl)

 

 

 

legal writing profs in the New York Times

Legal writing professors Chris Coughlin & Lisa McElroy have co-authored a letter published on NY Times.com, calling for more experiential legal education. It's nice to hear LRW voices in the main stream media!

hat tip: Sarah Ricks

(spl)

 

Empire State Legal Writing Conference information

Posted on behalf of Empire State Legal Writing Conference Organizers.

Dear colleagues,

Albany Law School is hosting an ALWD Scholars’ Forum on Friday, April 19^th, 2013, the afternoon before the Fourth  Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference, to be held on Saturday, April 20th.  This is a terrific opportunity to present and discuss an idea you are currently considering turning into an article or receive critiques on an article you are currently drafting – (or, rehearse your presentation for another conference!)  Lunch will be served and fantastic assistance from our wonderful Empire State Legal LW Conference committee will also be provided.  We are thrilled to announce that Robin Boyle of St. John’s University School of Law will be facilitating the forum.  Robin Boyle is the Assistant Dean for Academic Success and Professor of Legal Writing at St. John’s Law School in Queens, NY.   She has taught legal writing for 19 years and additionally teaches Drafting: Litigation Documents and Contracts and also Contracts I for conditional admission students.  She has served as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute and as a Director and Secretary for the LWI Board of Directors.  She has published on topics of pedagogy and learning styles.

 To apply for the forum, please submit the following information by March 28, 2013:  (1) your name, title, law school affiliation and contact information; (2) an article abstract; and (3) a description of where you are in the writing process.  For example, do you have an outline, a partial first draft, a full first draft?  Please send submissions and any questions at all about the forum to Dede Hill:  dhill@albanylaw.edu.  (As an alum of the LWI Writers’ Workshop at the 2010 Biennial, I can attest to how motivating and useful these gatherings can be to guide you through the sometimes daunting process of writing an article!) 

In addition, registration for the Fourth Annual Empire State LW Conference will go live very soon.  The Conference will be held on Saturday, April 20, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Albany Law.  We hope the 10:00 a.m. start time will encourage those of you who would prefer to make this a one-day outing to join us.  For those who wish to spend more time in Albany, we are reserving a bank of rooms at a hotel right across the street from the law school for Thursday night (for those participating in the ALWD forum) and for Friday and Saturday nights (for those attending the conference – or both events).  We plan to organize an informal dinner for Friday night.  Stay tuned for an e-mail with a registration link for the conference and more details. 

We hope to see many of you in April!

Best,

Dorothy (Dede) Hill, Associate Lawyering Professor, Albany Law School, dhill@albanylaw.edu

(njs)

More about student preparation for university and graduate work

     A post on the Chronicle of Higher Education blog continues the discussion about students’ preparation for university education. Michele Goodwin cites Kenneth Bernstein’s warning (discussed earlier on this blog) that students are poorly prepared because K-12 teachers perceive a need to “teach to the test” instead of cultivating higher-order thinking. Goodwin laments that those poorly-prepared students have now arrived at the university level. She also charges that “law schools are complicit” as they allow—or promote—grade inflation.

     I see poor preparation reflected in some of my students’ appellate briefs. The Table of Contents for a brief is essentially an outline, but many students don’t know how to draft a coherent outline, even after I cover the topic in class and provide outside resources. When I started teaching legal writing 23 years ago, students understood outlining and I didn’t need to devote much class time to the topic.

Hat tip: John D. Edwards

(jdf)

Rules for Creative Filings

Texas Lawyer has some advice on when to employ, or not to employ, creative briefing strategies, like illustrations, poems, and other unconventional tactics.  Using photographs, drawings, and dialogues in briefs has become more common as lawyers attempt to breakthrough with an overburdened appellate bench.  From the article:

First and foremost, make sure it really works. The poem, play or drawing may seem brilliant when first written, but do others agree? Vetting themes or even whole drafts with colleagues or spouses is a great idea for any brief, but it is essential when dispensing with the standard form. It's probably best to return to the tried and true if more than one reader responds with a puzzled look or asks, "Are you really sure that's a smart idea?"

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Second, carefully consider the specific nature of the task at hand. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and desperate legal challenges are better candidates for novelty than run-of-the-mill matters.

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Third, flouting custom works best when simplicity can do the job. Opening appellate briefs require questions presented, statements of fact, summaries of argument and so on. There is no way to condense one into a single photo or cartoon, and such devices will inevitably grate on the court if a lawyer takes them too far. On the other hand, a short brief that will make one or two simple points may be more susceptible to innovation.

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Fourth, no lawyer should wander off the reservation without the client's wholehearted endorsement. Counsel should explain beforehand why an out-of-the-box approach can work in this case and make sure the client fully understands and agrees. If things go south, charm and novelty may look strange and ill-conceived.

(dbb)

William Zinsser publishes a new book

William Zinsser, the former Yale professor whose On Writing Well is now a classic, has published a new book on writing. The Writer Who Stayed is a collection of essays from Zinsser's column in the American Scholar magazine. Like his earler book, this one emphasizes clarity and economy in writing. It should be a good reference for legal writing students and professors.

(jdf)

Mary Lawrence to receive Burton Award!

It's hard to think of anyone more deserving of the Burton Award for Legal Writing Education than this year's recipient, Mary Lawrence. This award recognizes "outstanding contributions to the education of new lawyers in the field of legal analysis, research and writing, whether through teaching, program design, program support, innovative thinking or writing." The award will be presented at a gala event in Washington, D.C., in June at the Library of Congress. Mary is Professor Emerita at the University of Oregon School of Law and one of the founders of our field. Congratulations, Mary!

The awards will be held on June 3, 2013.  Click here for more about the Burton Awards. 

hat tip: Anne Kringle

(spl and mew)

Related articles

Save the Date! The Burton Awards are on June 3, 2013

Global Legal Skills Conference in Costa Rica -- Link to Conference Schedule

The 8th Global Legal Skills Conference is being held next week at the Holiday Inn Aurola in Downtown San José, Costa Rica (Central America).  Participants are expected from Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and from across the United States. The conference is organized through The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, where it first originated.  

This year's Global Legal Skills conference (the second to be held in Costa Rica) includes a "legal field trip" with visits to:

• the Supreme Court of Costa Rica (Corte Suprema de Justicia de Costa Rica),
• the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and
• the U.S. Embassy in Costa RIca.  

Other special features of this year's conference include a plenary session to introduce law and legal education in Costa Rica and Central America and two contract negotiations workshops (one in Spanish for English speakers and one in English for Spanish speakers).  

The conference is being held during the week of the Central American Games, so it will be an especially exciting time to be in Costa Rica.

Click here to Download the latest version of the Conference Program.    Download GLS-8 Program Version 2.2

Conference registration information is available by clicking here.

The 2014 Global Legal Skills Conference will be held in Verona, Italy.

Mark E. Wojcik

Related articles

Program for Global Legal Skills Conference in Costa Rica

The Third Circuit decries poorly-written documents

Once again, a court has chastised a lawyer for poor writing. The Third Circuit in Morris v. Kesselring decried “The unnecessarily prolix and disorganized nature” of a complaint and appellate brief. Noting that both documents were “disorganized, rambling, and largely incoherent,” the court upheld the trial court's dismissal of the case and its award of attorney’s fees to the opposing party.

(jdf)

Top 10 Legal Writing Blogs

I was pleased to see the Legal Writing Prof Blog has been included in Legal Productivity's list of the top ten legal writing blogs!

Check out the full list for some other great legal writing sites.

(kem)

Recap: Capital Area Legal Writing Conference

I'm just back from DC (my old stomping grounds!) where I attended the Third Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference at American University, Washington College of Law.

The faculty at AU put together a great conference with lots of interesting speakers and presentations. Pictured here are Ruth Anne Robbins and Victoria Chase (both of Rutgers-Camden) after their presentation entitled "Iron Chefs' Lawyering Kitchen."

 

 

Mary Beth Beazley (Ohio State) gave Friday night's keynote speech (pictured at right), entitled "Behavioral Legal Writing and the Law." And the conference closed on Saturday with a plenary presentation from The Honorable Patricia Wald of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

There was much more on the conference agenda--you can check out what you missed here. Thanks to everyone at AU for a great conference!

(kem)

Law Students Helping in the Tax Clinic

Many legal writing professors are also involved in clinical legal education directly, and all (or almost all) legal writing professors strongly support expanded clinical opportunities for law students (even when it doesn't always involve a lot of writing!).  Here's a short video from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago about law students in its Voluntary Income Tax Assistance ("VITA") program for low income tax payers, a program being offered now through April.  I love the spirit of the woman who says that she's now thinking about going to law school herself!

 

Mark E. Wojcik (mew)

Congratulations to Catherine Wasson

We've just learned that Catherine Wasson has been granted tenure at Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Catherine is the Director of Legal Method and Communication at Elon.  She also teaches Family Law.  She previously taught at Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg and had also been an adjunct professor at William Mitchell College of Law, from which she also received her law degree.  

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She is a frequent presenter and has presented across the United States, in Kenya, and in South Africa.

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She is the author of many articles.  She is a co-author of "A Practical Guide to Legal Writing and Legal Method," a book published by Aspen Publishing. 

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She served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (ALWD) and is a member of the Legal Writing Institute and of Scribes -- The American Society of Legal Writers.

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Catherine is a great colleague and a wonderful person -- we extend our congratulations to her and to Elon University. 

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Secret facts about her?  She was an English and Theatre major in college and also got an M.A. in Speech and Theatre Arts from Kent State University.  She also co-founded the Minnesota Judicial Center Choir in 1994 with Judge Doris Huspeni.  

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Hat tip to Legal Writing Cheerleader Suzanne E. Rowe (University of Oregon School of Law).  And congratulations Catherine!

Mark E. Wojcik (mew)

A Roundup of Free Caselaw Research (from the Law Library of Congress Blog)

The Blog for the Law Library of Congress ("In Custodia Legis") has a useful post on "How to Locate Free Caselaw on the Internet."  Click here.

Mark E. Wojcik (mew)

Better Writing and Your Career

The newspaper "Investor's Business Daily" carries a daily series on "Leaders and Success."  Monday's installment (March 4, 2013) falls under the category of "How You Think is Everything" with an article on how to lift your career with the correct choice of words.  One expert quoted in the article is Bryan Garner, who is the editor of Black's Law Dictionary, the author of numerous books and countless articles, and a board member of Scribes -- The Society of American Legal Writers.  

The article has these two points from Bryan.  Although the article is geared toward business writing, it applies as well to legal writing:

1.  "Sink the Clunkers."  Some people trying to make a good impression use technical jargon, but the audience is often left wondering what was said.  Garner notes that jargon isn't always negative, and that it began as a way to streamline communication within a company or industry.  But he says that "what is bad is when you start using this jargon outside your specialized realm.  Then it becomes inconsiderate insider talk."

2.  "Boil it Down."  Garner notes that two great communicators -- Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. -- could "hone a message to powerfully simple missive."  To achieve similar clarity, Garner suggests condsidering "How would I explain this to a high school student?"  He also added: "When you simplify your ideas -- still keeping the substance pure -- there's no better way to seem like a smart writer."

The Monday issue of Investor's Business Daily has some other tips in that article by Sonja Carberry, "Lift Career With a Smile."

Click here to visit the LawProse Blog.

Mark E. Wojcik (Board Member of Scribes - The Society of American Legal Writers) 

Related articles

A Belated Welcome to Bryan Garner's 'LawProse' Blog

Write E-Mails That People Won't Ignore

Friday Fun: Law School Parody Music Video!

Chocolate Ghost House has produced a "Law School" parody of the song "Payphone" by Maroon 5.  You don't need to know that song to enjoy this video (4 minutes, 18 seconds of non-stop smiles for you!).  Great lyrics:  "If the eighth Amendment does exist, how are they allowing all of this?"  Congratulations to Tyler Murray and all of the students who made this video.  We understand from Professor Grace Wigal that you are students at West Virginia University College of Law in Morgantown.  (You're admissions office will probably start using this to recruit students!)  Well done!

 

Hat tip to Law School Memes.

See two other legal writing videos in the post below. 

(mew)

Videos for classes on oral argument

In preparation for oral arguments, I plan to show my classes two videos that many legal writing professors have used. One is a 3-minute piece by comedian Taylor Mali, who pokes fun at verbal tics like "Y'know." The other is a 2-minute interview with Chief Justice Roberts, who talks about responding to judges' questions.

Here is the video from Taylor Mali:

 

And here is the video from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, which was taken in 2009 in an interview by C-SPAN:

  

(jdf)

A retired chief judge talks about legal writing courses

In a lecture at Indiana University on legal education, retired Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye recently offered some observations about the teaching of legal writing. The legal writing course she took in law school—a pass-fail course taught by a part-time adjunct—gave Kaye the impression that it was “acceptable—even recommended” to devote little attention to the class. Calling that approach “a pity,” Kaye praised today’s legal writing courses as offering valuable individual feedback. She also urged law schools to cover legal writing with short papers in every course. And she stressed that law schools can reflect the importance of legal writing courses through “the quality of and respect accorded to those who teach them.”

(jdf)

ALWD teaching grant winners announced!

Congratulations to the winners of this year's ALWD teaching grants:

Heidi Brown, at New York Law School, for her proposal to teach strategy and theory of civil discovery through an upper level writing course.

Jennifer Rosa, Michigan State University, for her flipped classroom project.

hat tip: Elizabeth Fajans

(spl)