Law Commons^™

Practical Guidelines To Legal Writing For Young Researchers And Professionals, Fathi Zerari Prof.

UAEU Law Journal

Research about the law requires a degree of mastery of both the existing knowledge about the topic of research and the necessary methodological tool-kit to communicate the analysis and the findings to the targeted audience. This paper aims to provide young researchers and professionals in law with a step-by-step guide to write different types of legal writings.

This research starts from the assumption that well situating the topic of the research within an appropriate context and adopting an adapted analysis condition a cogent structure that reflects the degree of consistency between the research gap and the aim of the research, …

Breaking The Rules, Rima Sirota

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

“Breaking the Rules” is a legal research and writing assignment that I crafted for students completing their first year of law school. The assignment honors new students’ desire for skills that will allow them to effectively challenge the status quo of settled but discriminatory legal rules. Part I of this article is an essay that contextualizes and explains the assignment; Part II provides the assignment itself.

Citation, Slavery, And The Law As Choice: Thoughts On Bluebook Rule 10.7.1(D), David J.S. Ziff

Articles

Today, more than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, lawyers and judges continue to rely on antebellum decisions that tacitly or expressly approve of slavery. This reliance often occurs without any acknowledgement of the precedent’s immoral and legally dubious provenance. Modern use of these so-called “slave cases” was the subject of Professor Justin Simard’s 2020 article, Citing Slavery. In response to Professor Simard’s article, the latest edition of The Bluebook includes Rule 10.7.1(d), which requires authors to indicate parenthetically when a decision involves an enslaved person as a party or the property at issue. Unfortunately, Rule 10.7.1(d) …

Rooted: Metaphors And Judicial Philosophy In Artis V. District Of Columbia, Richard L. Heppner Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

This article examines how the metaphors in judicial opinions reveal judicial theories of lawmaking and judicial philosophies, through a close reading of Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion and Justice Gorsuch’s dissenting opinion in the Artis v. District of Columbia, 138 S. Ct. 594 (2018).

Artis was about what the phrase “shall be tolled” means in the federal supplemental jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. §1367. Does a state-law claim’s statute of limitations pause or continue to run while the claim is in federal court? In holding that Congress used “stop the clock” tolling, an “off-the-shelf” legal device that pauses statute of limitations, …

Generative Ai And Finding The Law, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

Legal information science requires, among other things, principles and theories. The article states five principles or considerations that any discussion of generative AI large language models and their role in finding the law must include. The article concludes that law librarianship will increasingly become legal information science and require new paradigms. In addition to the five principles, the article applies ecological holistic media theory to understand the relationship of the legal community’s cognitive authority, institutions, techné (technology, medium and method), geopolitical factors, and the past and future to understand the changes in this information milieu. The article also explains …

Re-Envisioning Law Student Scholarship, Emily Zimmerman

Catholic University Law Review

This Article recommends that we think more intentionally about how law students’ engagement in scholarship can promote their professional development. In so doing, we should recognize that legal scholarship plays a different role for law students than it does for law professors. Rather than trying to replicate law professors’ relationship with scholarship, the pedagogy of law student scholarship should focus more intentionally on the value of scholarship for law students—most of whom will not become law professors.

This Article suggests that much of the value of scholarship for law students lies in process, rather than product. Rather than thinking …

Panel 2: Justice Kennedy's Prose — Style And Substance

Georgia State University Law Review

Moderator: Eric Segall

Panelists: Eric Berger, Michael Dorf, and Jamal Greene

Take Inventory Each Year, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Exploring Diversity With A "Culture Box" In First-Year Legal Writing, Ann N. Sinsheimer

Articles

Studying law is in many ways like studying another culture. Students often feel as though they are learning a new language with unfamiliar vocabulary and different styles of communication. Throughout their legal education, students are also exposed to a profession comprised of unique traditions and expectations. As a result, learning law takes time and energy. It can be both engaging and frustrating and may even challenge some of students’ values and belief systems. To ease her students’ transition to law school, the author starts her course each year with a “culture box” exercise, which encourages students to examine who they …

Legal Citation Part Ii: Tips & Tricks To Avoid Common Errors, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

This article goes over quick and easy tips to help one avoid the most common citation typeface and abbreviation errors often seen in practitioner filings.

Legal Citation Part Iii: Using Citation To Convey Textual Meaning, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

Remember, at our core, attorneys are advocates, and one of the purposes of citation is to prove to the reader that she can trust one's research-to prove that the law is what one states it is and that it works the way one stated it does.

In addition to understanding the language of citation and using the correct form, citation can also increase the level of trust one's reader will have in one's positions in two ways: signals and explanatory parentheticals.

Beyond The Basics: Lesser-Used Punctuation Marks, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

Occasionally legal writing can benefit from a few lesser-used punctuation marks. This article focuses on the proper use of the question mark, slash, and parentheses in legal writing. Used sparingly and correctly, these marks can enhance the clarity of your legal writing without sacrificing a formal tone or professional style. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part I: The Basics Of Legal Citation, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Legal citation conveys information succinctly and efficiently by adhering to four principles. Thus, legal citation follows the 1) core identification principles, 2) minimum content principles, 3) compacting principles, and 4) formatting principles. This article looks at each. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part Ii: Tips & Tricks To Avoid Common Errors, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

This article goes over quick and easy tips to help one avoid the most common citation typeface and abbreviation errors often seen in practitioner filings.

Index To Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff's Advocate Articles, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

This document functions as an index to help readers to navigate Professor Fordyce-Ruff's Advocate column articles better.

Beyond The Basics: Lesser-Used Punctuation Marks, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Occasionally legal writing can benefit from a few lesser-used punctuation marks. This article focuses on the proper use of the question mark, slash, and parentheses in legal writing. Used sparingly and correctly, these marks can enhance the clarity of your legal writing without sacrificing a formal tone or professional style. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part Iii: Using Citation To Convey Textual Meaning, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Remember, at our core, attorneys are advocates, and one of the purposes of citation is to prove to the reader that she can trust one's research-to prove that the law is what one states it is and that it works the way one stated it does.

In addition to understanding the language of citation and using the correct form, citation can also increase the level of trust one's reader will have in one's positions in two ways: signals and explanatory parentheticals.

To That Or Not To That: When To Use And When To Omit "That", Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Using or omitting that can be confusing. Sometimes a sentence needs a that, sometimes a sentence doesn't need a that, and sometimes using that is optional. This article addresses some tips to help one understand when that is necessary, when it is optional, and when one might want to use that even if it is optional.

Enough Said: A Proposal For Shortening Supreme Court Opinions, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

The role of the judiciary, Chief Justice Marshall famously advised, is “to say what the law is.” Yet, how often do the justices issue a written opinion that ordinary Americans can understand? The Supreme Court increasingly issues lengthy and complex opinions, often containing multiple concurring and dissenting opinions. These opinions can be as confusing as they are verbose.

“To Say What the Law Is Succinctly: A Brief Proposal,” analyzes the justices’ legal writing. Are the justices effective in saying what the law is? Insufficient attention has been devoted to evaluating the justices’ writing and their efficacy at communicating the law. …

Some February Fun: F Words, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

I’ve wanted to write another column on word pairs for a while. 1 I decided that this month is it. Let’s celebrate the shortest month of the year by looking at “F” words[--first/firstly, farther/further, feign/feint, fictional/fictitious, flair/flare, flammable/inflammable, flaunt/flout, forbear/forebear, founder/flounder, forgo/forego, fortuitous/fortunate]. [excerpt]

Ten Steps To Build Better Briefs: Part Ii, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Last month we started the 10 steps to building better briefs. We covered the first five, finishing the sentence level tips and beginning the paragraph level tips. This month, we will continue that discussion, by finishing up the tips for better paragraphs and finally getting to the tips for the entire brief. [excerpt]

Spring Cleaning Part Ii, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [I]n the spirit of spring-cleaning, let’s look at some writing “rules” you can jettison to the trash heap.

Ten Steps To Build Better Briefs: Part I, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [C]onstructing a better brief can be done in ten (easy) steps — some focusing on sentences, some on paragraphs, and some on the entire brief. [excerpt]

Verbs: The Basics On Tense And Voice, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [V]erbs have voice, mood, tense, number, and person. There are regular verbs and irregular verbs; a verb can be linking, transitive, or intransitive, depending on the types of objects or complements it can take; verbs can be auxiliary or main verbs; verbs even stop functioning as verbs and appear as verbal phrases or gerunds. Whew! Covering all that would be way too much grammar for one month. So, here’s a refresher on the basics of verb tense and voice. [excerpt]

Taking The 30,000-Foot View: Seeing What You've Written, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

In thinking about a topic for this column, I took a moment to look back over what I've covered since I started writing for The Advocate. I saw a huge range of topics-- word choice to punctuation to parts of speech to document design. I've even covered proofing techniques. I saw one huge hole, however. I've never written about how to edit to ensure your legal writing is complete. So for this month I'll explore a little bit of why self-editing is so difficult, followed by some discrete tasks each legal writer can use to ensure that a document is …

Typography Matters: Document Design, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

This month, I am turning to what I hope is [a] ... helpful topic: document design. Sit back and enjoy learning more about spaces after periods, cueing devices, point size, justification, and paragraph breaks. [excerpt]

Three Tips For Concise Writing, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

I'm just wrapping up the first unit of my legal writing class. During this time every year, I introduce my students to the 4 C's-four characteristics that should be present in every legal document.' Yes, every legal document should be clear, correct, complete, and concise.

In our class, we emphasize these principles repeatedly. All legal writers should strive to attain the 4 C's. To that end, this month I offer some tips for concision. After all, I don't know anyone who isn't a little too wordy in the first draft.

Let's look at three tips to remove wordiness that I …

Using Quotation Marks Correctly, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Our use of quotation marks should be consistent and take into account reader expectations. We write for American readers, educated in the American style, so we should follow the American rules when using quotation marks. With that in mind, I offer the following tips for correctly using quotation marks in your writing. [excerpt]

Problems With Pronouns Part Iii: Gender-Linked Pronouns, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Recently, a student stopped me in the hall to ask about what to do because English doesn’t have a gender-neutral singular pronoun to refer to people. That reminded me that I hadn’t yet covered all of the pesky pronoun problems in this column. So this month we will continue to discuss problems with pronouns, looking at gender-linked pronouns. [excerpt]

Six Steps To Correct Commas: Achieving Punctuation Peace Of Mind, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

I set out to create a way to prevent my students from cringing when I informed them that they would have to comb over each sentence in their assignments to ensure they had used commas correctly.... The result was six simple steps to correct commas. These steps ensure that your meaning will be clear to the readers the first time they read a sentence and that your sentence will have the commas your educated readers expect. Work through all six simple steps and your readers will be impressed by your mastery of commas, even if you missed the comma class …