Law Commons^™

Supreme Verbosity: The Roberts Court's Expanding Legacy, Mary Margaret Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

The link between courts and the public is the written word. With rare exceptions, it is through judicial opinions that courts communicate with litigants, lawyers, other courts, and the community. Whatever the court’s statutory and constitutional status, the written word, in the end, is the source and the measure of the court’s authority.

It is therefore not enough that a decision be correct—it must also be fair and reasonable and readily understood. The burden of the judicial opinion is to explain and to persuade and to satisfy the world that the decision is principled and sound. What the court says, …

Justice Stevens, The Writer, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

In any discussion about United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, you're likely to hear him labeled in a variety of ways--as a brilliant “judge's judge,” the highly successful leader of the Court's more liberal wing, the prolific “maverick,” and a shrewd questioner from the bench. You might also hear him described simply as a polite and humble Midwesterner, bow-tie aficionado and diehard Cubs fan. Yet while Justice Stevens is and was all of these things, there is another important title he richly deserves yet often does not receive--Justice Stevens, the excellent writer.

This essay strives to close that …

The Co-Author Prenup., David A. Schlueter

St. Mary's Law Journal

Producing a book or article with co-authors is not an easy task. There are six potential issues one might consider before deciding to co-author a book or article. First, do you really want to be a co-author? Second, how many co-authors are going to be involved in the project? Having more than one co-author can make the departure of a co-author less of an issue, but each co-author needs to have a clearly defined role. Third, what role will each member of the team perform and what are those roles? Fourth, what should the co-author “marriage” look like? Multiple scenarios …

Law's Box: Law, Jurisprudence And The Information Ecosphere, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

For so long as it has been important to know what the law is, the practice of law has been an information profession. Nonetheless, just how the information ecosphere affects legal discourse and thinking has never been systematically studied. Legal scholars study how law attempts to regulate information flow, but they say little about how information limits, shapes, and provides a medium for law to operate.

Part I of the paper introduces a holistic approach to medium theory - the idea that methods of communication influence social development and ideology - and applies the theory to the development of legal …

Looking Back In Time: Sixteenth Century Wherefores And Therefores As Part Of The Continuum Of Western Legal Thought, George T. Anagnost, Richard C. Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Surrounded with the conveniences of a word processor, form book, and facsimile machine, the modern-day attorney might be tempted to equate the advent of sophisticated commercial transactions with the advent of the electronic age. Just as form follows function, it seems only logical to assume that the use of lengthy, carefully-drafted agreements is reflective of successive generations of sharper, more knowledgeable business clients. Curiously, however, the lesson that history teaches us is different. Looking back in time to the year 1511 at a proposal for the sale of alum between the City of Venice and a banker from Rome, one …