Legal Writing Prof Blog

Reminder: LWI Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession

Here's a reminder that

The Legal Writing Institute is holding a free, two-day symposium webinar on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession. It is scheduled for Friday, September 24, 2021, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET and Saturday, September 25, 2021, from 11:am to 6 pm ET. The event is hosted virtually by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Here is the impressive list of speakers:

• Kevin Ashley, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Jamie Baker, Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library; Dean's Distinguished Service Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law
• Kade Crockford, Director, ACLU of Massachusetts Technology for Liberty Project
• Amy Cyphert, Lecturer in Law and Director of ASPIRE, West Virginia University College of Law
• Adam Eckart, Assistant Professor of Legal Writing, Suffolk University Law School
• Hilary Escajeda, Assistant Professor of Law, Mississippi College School of Law
• Erica Friesen, Research & Instruction Librarian and Online Learning Specialist, Queen’s University Faculty of Law
• Brian Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law
• Chris Chambers Goodman, Professor of Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
• Rebekah Hanley, Legal Research & Writing Professor, University of Oregon School of Law
• Teresa Godwin Phelps, Professor of Law Emerita, American University, Washington College of Law
• Carla Reyes, Assistant Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law
• Shannon Salter, Chair, Civil Resolution Tribunal and Adjunct Professor, UBC Allard School of Law
• Drew Simshaw, Assistant Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
• Harry Surden, Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School

Hat tips to the LWI Symposium Committee

• Michelle Falkoff, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
• Liz Frost, University of Oregon School of Law
• Lindsey Gustafson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
• Elizabeth Inglehart, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
• Tiffany Jeffers, Georgetown University Law Center
• Sarah Morath, Wake Forest University School of Law
• Kristen Murray, Temple University Beasley School of Law
• Dyane O’Leary, Suffolk University Law School
• Kristen Tiscione, Georgetown University Law Center
• Desmund Wu, University of Wisconsin Law School

(mew)

LWI Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession

The Legal Writing Institute is holding a free, two-day symposium webinar on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession. It is scheduled for Friday, September 24, 2021, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET and Saturday, September 25, 2021, from 11:am to 6 pm ET. The event is hosted virtually by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Here is the impressive list of speakers:

• Kevin Ashley, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
• Jamie Baker, Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library; Dean's Distinguished Service Professor of Law, Texas Tech University School of Law
• Kade Crockford, Director, ACLU of Massachusetts Technology for Liberty Project
• Amy Cyphert, Lecturer in Law and Director of ASPIRE, West Virginia University College of Law
• Adam Eckart, Assistant Professor of Legal Writing, Suffolk University Law School
• Hilary Escajeda, Assistant Professor of Law, Mississippi College School of Law
• Erica Friesen, Research & Instruction Librarian and Online Learning Specialist, Queen’s University Faculty of Law
• Brian Frye, Spears-Gilbert Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law
• Chris Chambers Goodman, Professor of Law, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
• Rebekah Hanley, Legal Research & Writing Professor, University of Oregon School of Law
• Teresa Godwin Phelps, Professor of Law Emerita, American University, Washington College of Law
• Carla Reyes, Assistant Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law
• Shannon Salter, Chair, Civil Resolution Tribunal and Adjunct Professor, UBC Allard School of Law
• Drew Simshaw, Assistant Professor of Law, Gonzaga University School of Law
• Harry Surden, Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School

Hat tips to the LWI Symposium Committee

• Michelle Falkoff, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
• Liz Frost, University of Oregon School of Law
• Lindsey Gustafson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law
• Elizabeth Inglehart, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
• Tiffany Jeffers, Georgetown University Law Center
• Sarah Morath, Wake Forest University School of Law
• Kristen Murray, Temple University Beasley School of Law
• Dyane O’Leary, Suffolk University Law School
• Kristen Tiscione, Georgetown University Law Center
• Desmund Wu, University of Wisconsin Law School

(mew)

Nominations for Legal Writing Institute Awards

The Legal Writing Institute presents a number of awards each year. This year, there is a combined announcement for all of the LWI awards and a common deadline for nominations. 

The Golden Pen Award

LWI created the Golden Pen Award to recognize individuals or organizations for significantly advancing the cause of professional legal writing. Anyone who has made an extraordinary contribution to improving legal writing may be nominated for the Golden Pen. The contribution may take any form, such as promoting the use of clear language in public documents; engaging in outstanding scholarship or journalism about legal writing or in exceptional writing for law practice; improving the quality of legal writing instruction; or advocating for better writing within the legal community. The award is usually given to someone who is not an active LWI member, but an active member may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Find more information about the award here.

The Deborah Hecht Memorial Writing Award

The Deborah Hecht Memorial Writing Award honors the life of  Deborah Hecht. The award is given to the writing specialist who writes the best article for The Second Draft during a two-year period.  The award is presented during the LWI Biennial Conference. Find more information about the award here.

The Courage Award

Terri LeClercq created the Courage Award to honor “courage writ large” concerning legal writing. Through the award, LWI seeks to honor a member who has demonstrated courage by doing, despite fear, something that most people would not do. Find more information about the award here.

The Mary S. Lawrence Award

The Mary S. Lawrence Award recognizes an individual from the legal writing community for a combination of pioneering scholarship and innovative curriculum or program design. Find more information about the award here.

The Emerging Scholar Award

This new award (created in 2019) recognizes emerging scholars in our discipline to foster a new generation of scholars while recognizing the rich diversity of our community.  Unlike the Phelps Award, this award is limited to a professor’s first or second full-length, published article on legal writing doctrine or pedagogy.  Find more information about the award here.

Influential Teaching Award

This new award (created in 2019) recognizes outstanding teachers who have influenced the teaching of legal writing beyond their individual classrooms.  With this award, we acknowledge our continued commitment to excellence in teaching and advances in legal writing pedagogy. This is not a lifetime achievement award. Find more information about the award here. 

The committee reminds everyone of LWI’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The committee especially encourages the nominations of women, people of color, and members of other traditionally under-represented groups. 

All nominations will be due by Friday, January 14, 2022. 

The most helpful nominations are around 500 words. The nominations should go beyond reiterating information on the nominee’s website or CV by specifically showing how the person’s work fulfills the goal of the award. Also, your nomination should include the name of the award for which the nomination is written.  Members of the LWI Board of Directors and the LWI Awards Committee are ineligible for nomination until at least one year after completing their service. If you have any questions, feel free to contact a member of the LWI Awards Committee:

• Brenda Gibson (chair) (Wake Forest)
• Andrew Carter (Arizona State)
• Janet Dickson (Seattle)
• Kathryn Mercer (Case Western)
• Samantha Moppett (Suffolk)
• Dyane O’Leary (Suffolk)
• Suzanne Rowe (Oregon)
• Mark E. Wojcik (University of Illinois Chicago)

Hat tips to Kris Tiscione and Brenda Gibson

(mew)

Scribes Brief-Writing Award

If your law school won a best-brief award in a regional or national moot court competition during the 2020-2021 academic year, you can submit that winning brief to be considered for the 2021 Scribes Brief-Writing Award.

Scribes--The American Society of Legal Writers--established the Brief-Writing Award to recognize the Best of the Best. It selects the best brief from moot court competitions held in the previous academic year.

Nominations for the 2021 Scribes Brief-Writing Award can be submitted until October 4, 2021. 

Instructions for submitting a brief for the Scribes competition:

1.      By October 4, 2021, email an electronic copy of the winning brief to scribes[email protected]         

2.     The subject line of the email should indicate that it’s a Scribes brief nomination from “___ Law School" (the students’ law school).

3.     The body of the e-mail must include the following information:

• Name of the moot court competition
• Place where the brief was named best brief (e.g., “finals,” “SW regional”)
• Names of the students who wrote the brief
• Students’ school
• Name of students’ advisor or coach, if any

4.     The brief itself cannot include any information that identifies the student authors or their school. Please check the cover page, signature pages, and headers or footers.

5.     Submit the brief as a PDF file if possible, although they will accept Word format if necessary.

6.     The brief should be submitted as a single file.

The award committee will consider briefs from the 2020-2021 academic year, and the award winners will be announced early next year. If you have any questions, please contact Philip Johnson, Executive Director of Scribes, at scribes[email protected].

(mew)

 

 

 

Philip Johnson

Instructional & Student Services Librarian, Louis L. Biro Law Library
Executive Director, SCRIBES

School of Law

The University of Illinois at Chicago

300 S. State Street, MC 300

Chicago, IL 60604

[email protected]