Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Book Review, The First Century: One Hundred Years Of Aall History, 1906-2005, Kristina L. Niedringhaus

Kristina L Niedringhaus

The author reviews The First Century: One Hundred Years of AALL History by Frank G. Houdek.

Solving Your Ethical Conundrums: Researching The Rules Of Professional Conduct, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

Ms. Janto provides a practical guide to researching issues of attorney professional responsibilities using both print and online resources, emphasizing Virginia rules and decisions.

Law Libraries And Options Galore, Gail F. Zwirner

Law Faculty Publications

Ms. Zwirner outlines some of the challenges facing the researcher in deciding which resources to use in pursuing information, and makes a case for the continued value of professional law librarians' insight and experience for assisting in these pursuits.

Libguides, Blog Posts, And Articles, Oh My!, Marie Stefanini Newman, Taryn L. Rucinski

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

“Publish, publish, publish!” is a piece of advice commonly offered to students by career services departments in law schools across the country. Student publications typically take the form of law review or bar journal articles or perhaps competition submissions; however, with the advent of accessible Web 2.0 technologies, publishing has evolved to encompass all sorts of content, styles, lengths, and audiences.

The Pace Law Library approach has been mostly electronic in nature and incorporates into Pace’s advanced legal research courses portfolio pieces such as student-authored research guides, blog posts, and bar journal articles. Moreover, student notes that satisfy the school’s …

Virginia Cle Sources: Important Practitioner Tools For Forty Years, Gail F. Zwirner

Law Faculty Publications

Observing the 40th anniversary of the Virginia Law Foundation, Ms. Zwirner highlights some of the foundation's continuing legal education publications of frequent value to practitioners.

This article focuses primarily on the deskbook sources that are the go-to materials in many subject areas for Virginia practitioners. The publisher offers all these sources on CD, USB, or downloads. The titles include the forms that practitioners savor as good starting points for their clients’ needs. These forms account for many reference desk success stories for practitioners who rely on Gouldman’s Virginia Forms and are disappointed when that group does not provide the specificity …

Visual Clarity In Contract Drafting, Karin Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

No abstract provided.

Websites With Free Legal Information, Patricia Morgan

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Writing--What’S Next? Real-World, Persuasion Pedagogy From Day One, Adam Lamparello, Charles Maclean

Adam Lamparello

No abstract provided.

W&L Law Fall Scholarship Celebration 2013, Nora V. Demleitner

Library Events

On November 14, 2013, the Washington and Lee Law Library hosted a first-of-its-kind Fall Scholarship Celebration. The event took place in the Law Library's main reading room from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

On display were dozens of scholarly articles, books, chapters, and amicus briefs authored by the W&L Law faculty and student body during 2012 and 2013, with hundreds of additional works accessible online through the Scholarly Commons institutional repository.

Faculty, librarians, staff, and administrators mingled with law students over hors d'oeuvres and wine to peruse the formidable scholarly output of the W&L Law community. Spouses, alumni, faculty from …

In The Mountain/Green Eggheads And Old Hams, Thomas L. Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer

No abstract provided.

Take A P.A.S.S. On Your Next Legal Document, Melissa N. Henke

Law Faculty Popular Media

In this column for Kentucky Bar Association's magazine (B&B - Bench & Bar), Professor Henke suggests that writers to contemplate: Purpose, Audience, Scope, and Stance. The goal is to improve the legal writing of practicing lawyers.

Web-Scale Discovery And Federated Search, Valeri Craigle

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In stark contrast to the library card catalogs of old, today’s library search interfaces offer much more than one-dimensional, item-specific searching. Users are now engaged in a process of discovery in which they are empowered to control not only the sources of content being searched, but also the context into which information is delivered, and the platform onto which information is synthesized. By eliminating the barriers to information discovery, law libraries can position themselves as true partners in this process, defining their mission in new ways, and providing critical services in an ever-complex information ecosystem.

Empirical Work In Family Law, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

Until fairly recently, researchers have not done much theoretical work on the subject of family law. Although the move towards theoretical work is a positive one, unfortunately, most of the latest reforms in family law have been uninformed by empirical studies. Furthermore, the few empirical studies that have been conducted are replete with intractable problems.

In this essay, Margaret Brinig discusses some of the problems researchers have encountered in their attempts to conduct empirical work in the area of family law. For example, most researchers have used state cross-sectional data for their experiments. Reliance on this type of data can …

Catholic Faith And Legal Scholarship, Gerard V. Bradley

Gerard V. Bradley

No abstract provided.

Legal Writing Concepts And Issues, Tanya Pierce

Tanya Pierce

No abstract provided.

"Meet My Mentor": A Collection Of Personal Reminiscences, Frank G. Houdek, Edmund P. Edmonds

Edmund P. Edmonds

Contributors describe the mentoring they received as law librarians. Individually the pieces offer fascinating glimpses of individuals and relationships. Collectively, they demonstrate how important - and how varied - the process of mentoring has been and continues to be for the growth and evolution of the profession.

From The Editor: Passing The Torch, Janet Sinder

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

From Good To Great: The Four Stages Of Effective Self-Editing, Wes Hendrix

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Whittling: Drafting Concise And Effective Appellate Briefs, Brian K. Keller

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Legal Writing As Good Writing: Tips From The Trenches, Andrey Spektor, Michael A. Zuckerman

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Something Bad In Your Briefs, Richard H. Underwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In a profession heavily driven by writing, plagiarism is an ethical issue that plagues the legal community. The legal profession generally views plagiarism as unethical, but often sends mixed messages by condemning it in some settings, but not others. In this short Commentary, Professor Underwood discusses the ethical implications of plagiarism in legal writing.

Teaching “Scholarly Writing” In The First-Year Lwr Class: Bridging The Divide Between Scholarly And Practical Writing, Adam Todd

School of Law Faculty Publications

At a time when there are calls to make legal education more practical and less theoretical, this essay bucks the trend. This piece proposes that there is a need to include an appreciation for “academic” or “scholarly writing” alongside the “practical writing” taught in first-year legal writing classes.

The Growing Regulatory State Of Banking, Alberto R. Gonzales

Law Faculty Scholarship

Our country has often struggled with finding the right balance between too little and too much regulation. Some regulation and oversight is necessary--if for nothing more than to level the playing field. The danger, of course, is that government officials often do not fully appreciate how the heavy hand of regulation affects business, nor anticipate how legislation will affect the markets long term. Lawmakers in several states have introduced resolutions calling on Congress to spit up big banks by separating traditional banking services and investment banking. Five years after the financial crisis, these state resolutions show there is still public …

Clark Memorandum: Fall 2013, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• Looking Beyond the Stacks (David L. Armond and Shawn G. Nevers)
• A Lesson in Flying (RonNell Anderson Jones)
• Faith, Family, and Religious Freedom (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)
• Instruments in His Hand (Elder Larry Echo Hawk)

A Third Semester Of Lrw: Why Teaching Transactional Skills And Problems Is Now Essential To The Legal Writing Curriculum, Karin Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The article advocates including drafting and transactional courses in Legal Writing programs to better prepare students for practice. The article also advocates teaching various upper level skills courses so that students learn "soft skills," such as dealing with clients and understanding their personal legal needs.

Who's Looking For "Free" Access?: Legal Databases At The Chase Law Library, Jennifer R. Mart-Rice

Jennifer Mart-Rice

No abstract provided.

Drafting New York Civil-Litigation Documents: Part Xxvii—Disclosure Motions, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Critical Reading & Writing Skills: Undergraduate Work And The Lsat Exam, Neil Sobol

Neil L Sobol

No abstract provided.

The Illustrated Guide To Criminal Law, Rebecca Mattson

Law Library Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Legal Writing As Good Writing; Tips From The Trenches, Michael A. Zuckerman, Andrey Spektor

Michael A. Zuckerman

No abstract provided.