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Debunking The Efficacy Of Standard Contract Boilerplate: Part V, David Spratt

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After five installments, we can end our discussion of contract boilerplate. We have slashed the outdated language and emerged as a clear and contemporary legal writer. Be willing to adapt what has worked well in the past because change is the foundation of human ingenuity.

Debunking The Efficacy Of Standard Contract Boilerplate: Part Iv, David Spratt

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We have belabored the archaic and prohibited use of "said" as a synonym for "the." But this paragraph needs more work. First, the phrase "irrespective of the fact that" is wordy and could be replaced with the plain language alternative of "even though." Second, "one or more of the parties now is, or may become, a resident of a different state" also could be streamlined. The phrase is easy enough to understand but cut to the chase. Replacing this phrase with "either party now or later resides in a different state" does the trick.

What Inclusive Instructors Do Book Review, Jamie Abrams

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Inclusive teaching is not just an aspirational goal. It is our ethical obligation to students. Our students can spend years dreaming of attending law school and working to achieve that goal. They can spend decades paying off the costs of attendance. Law faculty owe every student of all backgrounds, races, religions, genders, learning abilities, ages, socioeconomic statuses, immigration statuses, and military statuses an environment in which they feel like they belong and can thrive. WHAT INCLUSIVE INSTRUCTORS Do powerfully reminds us that inclusive teaching is not identified by obscenity law's "I know it when I see it" murkiness. Rather, it …

The Dream Of Property Professors, Ezra Rosser

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Michael Heller and James Salzman's new book, Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives, is a dream come true for property professors.

I suspect that many of us have moments when we think to ourselves, "wow, this stuff is really interesting," imagining that property law could somehow be of general interest. Too often that dream is killed when the eyes of non-lawyers, including family members, start to glaze over when they hear words like rule against perpetuities or trademark. Heller and Salzman have succeeded in making the stories property professors tell the stuff of a bestseller. They …

Debunking The Efficacy Of Standard Contract Boilerplate: Part Iii, David Spratt

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There are several things wrong with this paragraph. First, the heading "Knowledge of Residence" is underinclusive, as the paragraph concerns more than where each party lives. A more inclusive and effective heading would be "Knowledge of Contact Information." Second, the introductory phrase is ambiguous, as one could read "for so long as the minor children are less than eighteen years of age" as requiring the parties to exchange information only until one of the parties' children turns 18. Moreover, "eighteen years of age" is archaic and clunky legalese. Keep it simple, solicitors: "eighteen" or "age eighteen" would suffice. Applying these …

Improve Recitals And Consideration Clauses With Plain Language, David Spratt

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As used in a "WHEREAS" clause, the term "whereas" simply means "considering that" or "that being the case." There is no legal effect to the word "whereas." It, like many other words used in standard contract boilerplate, is left over from some long-forgotten era of legal writing when lawyers used big words and legalese to impress clients with their intelligence and to justify their bills. These times have (or at least should have) passed. Today, documents must be accessible to those who use them: in most cases the clients for whom such documents are drafted.

Debunking The Efficacy Of Standard Contract Boilerplate: Part I, David Spratt

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Many contracts start with an introductory paragraph like this one: THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into said 5th day of June, 2020, by and between JOHN JONES (hereinafter referred to as "Jones") and MARY SMITH (hereafter referred to as "Smith"), hereinafter referred to together as "the parties." Where do I find my red pen? There are so many problems with this introduction, I might run out of ink.

The Deconstructed Issue-Spotting Exam, Jamie Abrams

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This article proposes a teaching technique for use in large, Socratic-style law school classes to embed exam preparation, formative assessment, and lawyering simulations in the course without overburdening the professor or students. This technique is sustainable, yet highly efficacious for students.

Law schools nationwide are implementing new reforms pushing law schools toward stronger assessment techniques and client-based simulations better preparing students for the practice of law. Many law schools have implemented these reforms around the margins or outside of the traditional doctrinal course. Law schools have generally added new classes with experiential learning components or with simulations integrated into the …

Take Inventory Each Year, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Narrative Understanding: Revisiting The Stories Of Lay Lawyering, Ann Shalleck

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This article examines the tentative beginnings of Gerald Lopez's decades-long project of using storytelling as a method to describe, understand, and analyze the work of lawyers. It evaluates his 1984 article, Lay Lawyering, for its contributions to the development of narrative as a descriptive, explanatory, and critical device for compre­hending the complex and fraught work of lawyers. It begins with a detailed critique of the four parts of Lay Lawyering. In the article, Lopez first identifies problem solving and stock stories as the key concepts defining the work of the lawyer and then tells three stories from three perspectives about …

Best Practices For Teaching Advanced Legal Research Asynchronously Online, Khelani Clay, Shannon M. Roddy

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No abstract provided.

Practice And Fitness Making Writing Perfection More Nearly Attainable, Heather Ridenour, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

"And/Or" And The Proper Use Of Legal Language, Ira P. Robbins

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The use of the term and/or is pervasive in legal language. Lawyers use it in all types of legal contexts—including statutes, contracts, and pleadings. Beginning in the 1930s, however, many judges decided that the term and/or should never be used in legal drafting. Ardent attacks on the term included charges that it was vague, if not meaningless, with some authorities declaring it to be a “Janus-faced verbal monstrosity,” an “inexcusable barbarism,” a “mongrel expression,” an “abominable invention,” a “crutch of sloppy thinkers,” and “senseless jargon.” Still today, critics maintain that the construct and/or is inherently ambiguous and should be avoided …

Experiential Learning And Assessment In The Era Of Donald Trump, Jamie Abrams

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Law teaching is turning a critical corner with the implementation of new ABA accreditation standards requiring greater skills development, experiential learning, and student assessment. Years of debate and discourse preceded the adoption of these ABA Standards, followed by a surge in programming, conferencing, and list-serv activity to prepare to implement these standards effectively. Missing from the dialogue about effective implementation of standards has been thoughtful consideration of how implementing these requirements will intersect with the challenges, realities, opportunities, and complexities of political divisiveness and polarization so prevalent in society and university campuses today.

Law schools are notably implementing these pedagogical …

Freeing The Law, Khelani Clay

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No abstract provided.

Can't Get There From Here: Recalculate Into Better Legal Writing, Heather Ridenour

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No abstract provided.

The Fact Of The Matter, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Reframing The Socratic Method, Jamie Abrams

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While innovations in law teaching are everywhere, these innovations are being constructed upon and limited by the ancient architecture of the case-based Socratic method, which still endures and persists throughout first-year and upper-level courses. This article highlights how the Socratic method limits the depth and breadth of innovations in law teaching and can be reframed to better catalyze other teaching innovations, create more practice-ready lawyers, and cultivate more inclusive and inviting law classrooms. Within the existing framework of law teaching – the same casebooks, class sizes, and teaching style – the case-based Socratic method can be reframed in three straight-forward …

Speaking With Conviction: The Importance Of Effective And Precise Communications, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Playing To The Audience, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Why Punctuation Matters: Part Three, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Giving Purpose To Your Life As A Legal Writer, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Teaching Rule Synthesis With Real Cases, Paul Figley

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Rule synthesis is the process of integrating a rule or principle from several cases. It is a skill attorneys and judges use on a daily basis to formulate effective arguments, develop jurisprudence, and anticipate future problems. Teaching new law students how to synthesize rules is a critical component in training them to think like lawyers. This article suggests how rule synthesis might be taught in one classroom session using real cases. It advocates a three-part approach. First, explain the nature of rule synthesis to the students. Second, do a whimsical exercise with them to show how rule synthesis works. Finally, …

Legal Education And Civility, Mark Niles

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No abstract provided.

Paul Verkuil's Projects For The Administrative Conference Of The U.S. 1974-1992, Jeffrey Lubbers

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I am really happy to be part of this tribute to Paul Verkuil. It may surprise those in the audience to learn that I am bringing some needed diversity to today's proceedings - I am the only other Dutch American on the program! But perhaps my twenty years at the "Administrative Conference" also qualifies me to say a few words about how thrilled I am that we have it back - "ACUS 2.0" we can call it, complete with a website this time- and that Paul is at its helm. And I want to thank Paul for bringing me back …

Sometimes Putting Pen To Paper Is Tougher Than It Seems, Heather Ridenour, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

The Proof(Reading) Is In The Pudding, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

A Synergistic Pedagogical Approach To First-Year Teaching, Jamie Abrams

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The First “Colonial Frontier” Legal Writing Conference, held at Duquesne University School of Law, focused on Engendering Hope in the Legal Writing Classroom: Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Attitude. This conference built on the foundational work of Allison Martin and Kevin Rand in which these scholars call for educators to engender hope in law students to prepare them for practice. Martin and Rand conclude that hope is a predictor of students’ academic performance and psychological health during the first semester of law school and recommend that law professors “maintain and creat[e] hope in law students” by embracing five core principles. Martin and …

Writer's Block: The "Ins And Outs" Of Good Legal Writing, Part One, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.

Writer's Block: Why Punctuation Matters, Part Two, David Spratt

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No abstract provided.