Law Commons^™

". . . See Erie.": Critical Study Of Legal Authority, Kris Franklin

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

Good citation requires critical analysis because well-supposed legal analysis requires a layered understanding of how legal authority may be used in different ways. Simultaneously, it demands good judgment in making the best decisions about how to introduce and employ the relevant cases on a particular case. Teaching how to cite legal authorities includes framing because all legal authorities are potential tools for argument. In deciding whether and how to deploy cases, statutes, and other forms of legal authority, advocates must resolve two interrelated questions in rapid sequence:

1. Can I frame or characterize the authority in question in a particular …

U.S. Supreme Court Interviews On Effective Legal Writing – Part Iii, Robert S. Anderson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This column concludes a three-part discussion of legal writing interviews given by eight of the nine sitting justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices discussed usage and grammar issues, as well as their own pet peeves as readers of legal writing.

U.S. Supreme Court Interviews On Effective Legal Writing – Part Ii, Robert S. Anderson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This column continues a three-part discussion of legal writing interviews given by eight of the nine sitting justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to discussing the elements of effective legal writing, the justices talked about their own writing processes.

U.S. Supreme Court Interviews On Effective Legal Writing – Part I, Robert S. Anderson

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

This column begins a three-part discussion of legal writing interviews given by eight of the nine sitting justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. This first part explores the two aspects of good legal writing that were the most often mentioned by the justices during their interviews: clarity and conciseness.

Clearly, Using Intensifiers Is Very Bad--Or Is It?, Lance N. Long, William F. Chistensen

Lance N. Long

Although scholars have generally found that overusing intensifiers (words such as “clearly,” “obviously,” and “very”) negatively affects the persuasiveness or credibility of a legal argument, no one has studied actual appellate briefs to determine whether there is a relationship between intensifier use and the outcome of an appeal. This article describes two empirical studies of appellate briefs, which show that the frequent use of intensifiers in appellate briefs (particularly by an appellant) is usually associated with a statistically significant increase in adverse outcomes for an “offending” party. But--and this was an unexpected result--if an appellate opinion uses a high rate …

Stepping Up To The Podium With Confidence: A Primer For Law Students On Preparing And Delivering An Appellate Oral Argument, James D. Dimitri

James D. Dimitri

Virtually all law students are required to learn oral advocacy skills at some point during their legal education. Typically, these skills are cultivated through at least one oral argument assignment, which often consists of an appellate oral argument that is given as part of the students' first-year legal research and writing course or as part of a moot court competition.

While appellate courts do not grant oral argument as often as they used to, oral advocacy remains a critical skill for law students to learn and cultivate, no matter which facet of law practice they enter upon graduation. Unfortunately, the …

More Than Just Law School: Global Perspectives On The Place Of The Practical In Legal Education, James Maxeiner

All Faculty Scholarship

Foreign experiences remind us that legal education is not just law school. They inform us that we should seek for ways not just to integrate theoretical and practical teaching, but to assure that our students or our graduates get real experience with practice. The assumption that law schools are the exclusive place for preparation for the profession of law is bad for students, bad for bar, bad for law schools, bad for the legal system and bad for society. We should look to see what we can do best and should encourage other institutions to do what they can do …

Implementing Plain Language Into Legal Documents: The Technical Communicator's Role, Peggy Bivins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the benefits of using plain language in legal documents and the role technical communicators can play to help implement plain language. Although many definitions for plain language exist, it is best described as reader-focused communication that presents information in a manner that makes it easy for a reader to find, understand, and use the information. Plain language facilitates comprehension by using shorter, less complex sentences; active voice; and common words. All these elements aid in processing and understanding information, especially unfamiliar concepts. Laypeople, unversed in the law, frequently have difficulty understanding traditional legal writing. The complex sentences, …

Using Actual Legal Work To Teach Legal Research And Writing, Michael A. Millemann

Faculty Scholarship

Legal research and writing (LRW) teachers should use actual legal work to teach their courses, including (indeed, especially) first-year courses. The legal work might come from a planned or ongoing lawsuit, transaction, or other matter. What is important is that it is real, although in my model, the teacher can add hypothetical features to customize the legal work to the particular LRW course. For example, in an appellate advocacy course, the teacher could present the legal issues arising out of a pretrial matter by summarily “deciding” them in a hypothetical trial court opinion, thus allowing the students to fully explore …

Developing Internal Consistency In Writing Assignments By Involving Students In Problem Drafting, Karin M. Mika

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article addresses a legal writing teaching strategy that helps students develop internal consistency in their legal documents with respect to issue, facts, and law. The teacher recounts the effect of her classroom experience by splitting her students into groups, assigning various legal issues, and then having the students draft their own fact situations.

The Failed Law Of Latin America, Jorge L. Esquirol

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

See Erie: Critical Study Of Legal Authority, Kris Franklin

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

From Snail Mail To E-Mail: The Traditional Legal Memorandum In The Twenty-First Century, Kristen Konrad Robbins-Tiscione

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Traditional legal memoranda have been used to teach objective analysis since the inception of legal writing programs in the 1970's. The continued use of these memoranda in the legal writing classroom leads law students to believe that traditional memoranda are still the primary form of communication between attorney and client. A 2006 survey of Georgetown University Law Center graduates, however, suggests that the traditional legal memorandum is all but dead in law practice. Seventy-five percent of the graduates surveyed said they write no more than three traditional memoranda per year. Instead, these graduates are more likely to communicate with clients …

Writing To Learn Law And Writing In Law: An Intellectual Property Illustration, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This essay, prepared as part of a Symposium on teaching intellectual property law, describes a method of combining substantive law teaching with a species of what is commonly called "skills" training. The method involves assessing students not via traditional final exams but instead via research memos patterned after assignments that junior lawyers might encounter in actual legal practice. The essay grounds the method in the theoretical disposition known generally as "writing to learn." It argues that students are likely to learn intellectual property law effectively if they learn to practice as intellectual property lawyers, and specifically to write as intellectual …

Beyond Course Evaluations: Yaynay Sheets, Jessica L. Clark

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Collecting student evaluation data is a common practice among law professors, but the evaluation data can come too late if not collected until the end of a semester. Opportunities for student feedback happen in every class; at the end of each class period, students can evaluate what just happened in class, and professors can use this information to make immediate adjustments to their teaching. This article argues that law teachers should take advantage of these opportunities for collecting student feedback to improve both the students’ learning experience and the teacher’s teaching experience. The article gives an example of one way …

The Case For "Thinking Like A Filmaker": Using Lars Von Trier's Dogville As A Model For Writing A Statement Of Facts, Elyse Pepper

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article introduces movies as a persuasive medium. Part II examines the value of movies as teaching tools in the law school context. Part III breaks down the movie Dogville and demonstrates how it might be used to create two Statements of Facts in a fictionalized criminal case. Part IV recaps the lessons learned from using a film as a model for fact writing.