Legal Writing Prof Blog

Mary Campbell Gallagher (1938-2021)

We are saddened by news that Dr. Mary Campbell Gallagher died last Monday after a year-long illness.

The company she founded, BarWrite and BarWrite Press in New York, was recognized in 2014 with a Global Legal Skills Award for the company's early and thoughtful recognition of the special bar exam preparation needs of lawyers and law students who spoke English as a second language. Dr. Campbell Gallagher was a regular attendee and presenter at Global Legal Skills Conferences around the world.

Outside of the bar preparation field, Dr. Campbell Gallagher was the Founder and President of the Save Paris / International Coalition for the Preservation of Paris. She was the editor of a forthcoming book called "Paris Without Skyscrapers."

Dr. Campbell Gallagher had received her B.A. from New York University, her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. We sometimes met at the Harvard Club in New York, where we would discuss legal English training programs and bar preparation for non-U.S.-trained lawyers.

(mew)

 

Louisiana State University is Hiring

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY, PAUL M. HEBERT LAW CENTER seeks to hire a full-time Assistant Professor of Professional Practice to teach legal analysis and writing. A successful candidate will teach the fundamentals of legal reasoning and writing by way of predictive and objective memoranda in the fall semester and advance those skills by teaching persuasive writing of an appellate brief and appellate oral advocacy in the spring semester. The legal writing faculty collaboratively develop the course materials that are used across the 1L curriculum. Applicants must have a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school, superior academic credentials, and should have at least two to three years of post-J.D. experience in a position or positions requiring substantial legal writing.

Applications should include a letter of application, resume, references, and teaching evaluations (if available) and should be submitted via LSU Workday at https://lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/LSU/job/0400-Hebert-Law-Center/Assistant-Professor-Professional-Practice_R00051045. 

Hat tip to Susan Tanner.

(mew)

Go West

Golden Gate University School of Law will host the online Western Regional Virtual Legal Writing Conference on Saturday, November 13.  You can register for the conference using this link. Registration is free, and the schedule seems comfortable with a single track of programming and breakout sessions.

The registration form asks if you'd be willing to join a Virtual Happy Hour before or after the conference (but it unfortunately doesn't allow you to pick both).

The Zoom link to the conference will be distributed on Friday, November 12, but only to those who register.

Hat tip to Fiona McKenna.

(mew)

Central States Legal Writing Conference

The 2021 Central States Legal Writing Conference begins this afternoon under the theme  "I Am Not a Robot: Teaching in the Digital Environment." The conference is hybrid, with some presenters online and others live at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

Speakers at the two-day conference include:

• Emily Aleisa (Chicago-Kent College of Law)
• David W. Austin (California Western School of Law)
• Betsy Brand Six (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
• Dustin B. Brown (University of Wisconsin Law School)
• Thomas D. Cobb (Mitchell-Hamline School of Law)
• Lurene Contento (Chicago-Kent College of Law)
• Ericka Curran (University of Dayton School of Law)
• Megan Davis (University of Houston Law Center)
• Shelly DeAdder (North Carolina Central University School of Law)
• Brad Desnoyer (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law)
• Kathleen Dillon Narko (Northwestern Pritzker School of Law)
• Jim Dimitri (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law)
• Timothy J. Duff (Suffolk University Law School)
• Amanda Elyse (Seattle University School of Law)
• Deborah Enix-Ross (President-Elect, American Bar Association)
• Douglas Wm. Godfrey (Chicago-Kent College of Law)
• Emily Grant (Washburn University School of Law)
• Kimberly Y.W. Holst (Arizona State University and President, Legal Writing Institute)
• Joshua Aaron Jones (California Western School of Law)
• Joy Kanwar (Brooklyn Law School)
• Pamela Keller (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
• Joseph Kimble (WMU Cooley Law School)
• Jody Marcucci (DePaul University College of Law)
• Jennifer Mitchell (The George Washington University Law School)
• Mary Nagel (Chicago-Kent College of Law)
• Martha Pagliari (DePaul University College of Law)
• Shakira Pleasant (University of Illinois Chicago School of Law)
• Judy Popper (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
• Scott Rempell (South Texas College of Law)
• Kim Ricardo (University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and Immediate Past President, Legal Writing Institute)
• Joyce Rosenberg (University of Kansas School of Law)
• Matthew A. Salerno (Case Western Reserve University School of Law)
• Joel Schumm (Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law)
• Danielle Shelton (Drake University Law School)
• Meghan Sholy (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
• Cecilia A. Silver (Yale Law School)
• Sandra Simpson (Gonzaga University School of Law)
• Meredith Stange (Northern Illinois University College of Law)
• Allison Stites (University of Wisconsin Law School)
• DeShayla M. Strachan (Mitchell-Hamline School of Law)
• Wanda Temm (University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law)
• Shawn Watts (University of Kansas School of Law)
• Melissa Weresh (Drake University Law School)
• Mark E. Wojcik (The University of Illinois Chicago School of Law and Immediate Past President, Scribes--The American Society of Legal Writers)
• Desmond Wu (University of Wisconsin Law School)

We wish everyone a successful conference.

Hat tip to UMKC.

(mew)

 

 

Writing Law Firm Press Releases

From a Blog on Law Practice Tips, we recommend a short blog post by Michael Goldblatt on the topic of Writing Law Firm Press Releases.

(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)