Law Commons^™

Swimming With Broad Strokes: Publishing And Presenting Beyond The Lw Discipline, Robin Boyle Laisure, Stephen Paskey

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

In our greater skills community, we share ideas, borrow and tweak theories from other disciplines, and create new approaches. It is understandable how our community may expand pedagogy to the brim of legal writing or explore topics outside of the field. Skills professors are, by nature, a creative collective who teach from the heart and enjoy writing and thinking. Our publishing pursuits can be boundless.

Both Authors of this Article share mutual experiences of dipping our toes in a pond beyond the legal writing continent. Our writing experiences have influenced our teaching, bringing these broader perspectives to our legal …

The Cognitive Power Of Analogies In The Legal Writing Classroom, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

New law students traditionally learn better when they can connect what they are learning to a familiar non-legal experience. Therefore, the use of an analogy, which can be defined as a comparison showing the similarities of two otherwise unlike things to help explain an idea or concept, is an obvious way to facilitate a student’s connection between the new and what is already known. An analogy is a logical step in introducing the complex processes of legal research and analysis by attempting to simplify the alien structure of summarizing that legal research and analysis into a coherent piece of …

The Case For "Thinking Like A Filmaker": Using Lars Von Trier's Dogville As A Model For Writing A Statement Of Facts, Elyse Pepper

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article introduces movies as a persuasive medium. Part II examines the value of movies as teaching tools in the law school context. Part III breaks down the movie Dogville and demonstrates how it might be used to create two Statements of Facts in a fictionalized criminal case. Part IV recaps the lessons learned from using a film as a model for fact writing.

Transactional Law In The Required Legal Writing Curriculum: An Empirical Study Of The Forgotten Future Business Lawyer, Louis N. Schulze Jr.

Faculty Publications

Legal Writing courses traditionally focus on litigation writing. The course usually includes assignments on writing interoffice memoranda, drafting trial or appellate briefs, and conducting oral arguments - all in the context of a lawsuit. But, how does this exclusive focus on litigation treat students with no interest in that subject? For future transactional lawyers, the dominance of litigation writing might seem to ignore their needs. Should they be learning how to draft contracts, create corporate documents, or write commercial leasing agreements? This Article examines whether legal writing courses, either in the first year of law school or later, sufficiently address …

Damages As Narrative, Melody Richardson Daily

Faculty Publications

The traditional approach to legal instruction in America-the casebook method-requires students to read hundreds of appellate decisions, most of which include equally terse accounts of human suffering. How might this pedagogical approach affect future lawyers? Can reading a book like Damages help law students develop the ability to empathize with their clients?