Law Commons^™

To Verb Or Not To Verb, Jason G. Dykstra

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Look Inside The Butler’S Cupboard: Fiction Writers’ Insights On How The External World Reveals Internal State Of Mind In Appellate Briefs, Cathren Page

Articles

By studying the scene through the eyes of the client and the witnesses, the attorney can not only evoke this psychological subtext, but can also weave relevant and probative details into the statement of facts and the argument and elicit such detail at trial. For instance, in a case involving a car accident, the weather, the temperature, the time of day, the traffic on the road, and the color of the cars, signs, and traffic lights can be relevant as to the degree that a driver was negligent. Similarly, in a case involving child neglect, the smell of a home, …

Like A Glass Slipper On A Stepsister: How The One Ring Rules Them All At Trial, Cathren Page

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Trial attorneys can learn techniques that fiction writers have been using successfully for centuries and endow a single object to “rule them all.” In fact, there is a growing field of legal scholarship, known as Applied Legal Storytelling, which involves applying story telling concepts to legal concepts, and some evidence suggests that juries are responsive to narrative framework. Thus trial attorneys can use the literary concept of endowed objects to identify a key piece of physical evidence that weaves a thread of narrative continuity through the case and resonates in the mind of the judge or juror. ...

Endowed objects …

Teaching Law And Digital Age Legal Practice With An Ai And Law Seminar: Justice, Lawyering And Legal Education In The Digital Age, Kevin D. Ashley

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A seminar on Artificial Intelligence ("Al") and Law can teach law students lessons about legal reasoning and legal practice in the digital age. Al and Law is a subfield of Al/computer science research that focuses on designing computer programs—computational models—that perform legal reasoning. These computational models are used in building tools to assist in legal practice and pedagogy and in studying legal reasoning in order to contribute to cognitive science and jurisprudence. Today, subject to a number of qualifications, computer programs can reason with legal rules, apply legal precedents, and even argue like a legal advocate.

This article provides a …

Transactional Drafting: Using Law Firm Marketing Materials As A Research Resource For Teaching Drafting, Edward R. Becker

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Since I started teaching drafting, I would like to think that I have continued to learn some lessons about teaching both the substance and the skills of transactional drafting. One of those lessons that I am going to be talking about today is one that I stumbled across by happy accident rather than one that I consciously sought. Specifically, I want to talk about and highlight the ways that law students can use law firm marketing materials to increase their understanding of both drafting and lawyering skills in law school and, hopefully, in practice.

Hydraulic Fracturing: Sources Of Law And Information, Barbara H. Garavaglia

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Hydraulic fracturing—also known as fracking—has become increasingly controversial in the United States over the past several years, especially in states such as Michigan with large shale gas deposits that were previously unextractable. In 2012, a Michigan fracking ban initiative failed to make it onto the November statewide ballot, but citizens groups are presently collecting signatures in an attempt to get the initiative onto the November 2014 ballot as an “initiated state statute.” And, more recently, state auctions of drilling permits have been the scenes of citizen protests driven by concerns about the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing.

Teaching Legal History Through Legal Skills, Howard Bromberg

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I revolve my legal history courses around one methodology: teaching legal history by means of legal skills. I draw on my experience teaching legal practice and clinical s.kills courses to assign briefs and oral arguments as a means for law students to immerse themselves in historical topics. Without detracting from other approaches, I frame this innovation as teaching legal history not to budding historians but to budding lawyers.

“What We’Ve Got Here Is Failure To Communicate”: The Plain Writing Act Of 2010, Rachel Stabler

Articles

No abstract provided.