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Articles 31 - 60 of 389
Full-Text Articles in Law
Rhetorical Repetition, Patrick Barry
Rhetorical Repetition, Patrick Barry
Articles
When it comes to persuading judges, boardrooms, or even just co-workers, many lawyers shy away from repetition. They remain committed to the idea, often developed in college, that good writing is associated with having (and showing) a big vocabulary. They mistakenly think the best thesaurus wins. This essay explores that error and offers ways to correct it.
Equality's Understudies, Aziz Z. Huq
Equality's Understudies, Aziz Z. Huq
Michigan Law Review
Review of Robert L. Tsai's Practical Equality: Forging Justice in a Divided Nation.
On Lawyers And Copy Editors, Jonathan I. Tietz
On Lawyers And Copy Editors, Jonathan I. Tietz
Michigan Law Review
Review of Benjamin Dreyer's Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style.
Rawah, Rawah, Brandi Kilmer
Color-Blind But Not Color-Deaf: Accent Discrimination In Jury Selection, Jasmine Gonzales Rose
Color-Blind But Not Color-Deaf: Accent Discrimination In Jury Selection, Jasmine Gonzales Rose
Faculty Scholarship
Every week brings a new story about racialized linguistic discrimination. It happens in restaurants, on public transportation, and in the street. It also happens behind closed courtroom doors during jury selection. While it is universally recognized that dismissing prospective jurors because they look like racial minorities is prohibited, it is too often deemed acceptable to exclude jurors because they sound like racial minorities. The fact that accent discrimination is commonly racial, ethnic, and national origin discrimination is overlooked. This Article critically examines sociolinguistic scholarship to explain the relationship between accent, race, and racism. It argues that accent discrimination in jury …
Patent Law’S Purposeful Ambiguity, Craig Allen Nard
Patent Law’S Purposeful Ambiguity, Craig Allen Nard
Faculty Publications
The ambiguity of language is an unremarkable, yet persistent force within our legal system. In the context of patent law, ambiguity presents a particularly acute dilemma; namely, while describing technological innovations is a salient feature of the patent system, affecting the validity and scope of one’s property right, the blunt nature of language makes this task particularly difficult. This paper argues to address this vexing fixture, patent doctrine purposely embraces ambiguity as a linguistic accommodation that provides measured flexibility for actors to claim and describe their innovations. It should not be surprising, therefore, that some of patent law’s most venerable …
Communicative Justice And Reconciliation In Canada, Alice Neeson
Communicative Justice And Reconciliation In Canada, Alice Neeson
New England Journal of Public Policy
Communicative justice co-exists with other dimensions of justice and emphasizes the importance of fair communicative practices, particularly after periods of direct or structural violence. While intercultural dialogue is often assumed to be a positive, or even necessary, part of reconciliation processes, there are questions to be asked about the ethicality of dialogue when one voice has been silenced, misrepresented, and ignored for decades. This article draws on twelve months of ethnographic research with reconciliation activists and organizations in Canada and considers the potential for communicative flows to help compensate for structural inequalities during processes of reconciliation.
Language, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Self-Determination, Noelle Higgins, Gerard Maguire
Language, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Self-Determination, Noelle Higgins, Gerard Maguire
New England Journal of Public Policy
Language has always played a significant role in the colonization of peoples as an instrument of subjugation and homogenization. It has been used to control nondominant groups, including Indigenous peoples, often leading to their exclusion or assimilation. Many Indigenous groups, however, use language as a tool to connect the members of their community, to assert their group identity, and to preserve their culture. Thus, language has been used both as a means of oppression and as a mobilizer of Indigenous groups in their struggles for national recognition. Recognizing the significance of language in the identity and culture of Indigenous peoples, …
Raising Indigenous Women’S Voices For Equal Rights And Self-Determination, Grazia Redolfi, Nikoletta Pikramenou, Rosario Grimà Algora
Raising Indigenous Women’S Voices For Equal Rights And Self-Determination, Grazia Redolfi, Nikoletta Pikramenou, Rosario Grimà Algora
New England Journal of Public Policy
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that the right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples involves their having the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. The implementation of this right is linked to the ability and freedom to participate in any decision making that relates to their development. Current laws and practices are considered “unfair to women,” because they sustain traditional and customary patriarchal attitudes that marginalize Indigenous women and exclude them from decision-making tables and leadership roles. Despite the many challenges Indigenous women face in …
Law School News: Meet Rwu Laws New Director Of Diversity, Michael M. Bowden
Law School News: Meet Rwu Laws New Director Of Diversity, Michael M. Bowden
Life of the Law School (1993- )
No abstract provided.
Learning From Feminist Judgments: Lessons In Language And Advocacy, Bridget J. Crawford, Linda L. Berger, Kathryn M. Stanchi
Learning From Feminist Judgments: Lessons In Language And Advocacy, Bridget J. Crawford, Linda L. Berger, Kathryn M. Stanchi
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This essay offers a perspective-shifting approach to meeting some of our pedagogical goals in law school: the study of re-imagined judicial decisions. Our thesis is that exposing students to “alternative judgments”—opinions that have been rewritten by authors who look at the law and the facts differently—will help students develop a more realistic and nuanced view of judicial decision-making: one that is aspirational and based in the real world, and one that allows them to envision their futures as successful advocates. The “alternative judgments” of the feminist judgments projects can enrich the law-school experience in multiple ways. First, seeing a written …
From The Myth Of Babel To Google Translate: Confronting Malicious Use Of Artificial Intelligence—Copyright And Algorithmic Biases In Online Translation Systems, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Cynthia Martens
From The Myth Of Babel To Google Translate: Confronting Malicious Use Of Artificial Intelligence—Copyright And Algorithmic Biases In Online Translation Systems, Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Cynthia Martens
Seattle University Law Review
Many of us rely on Google Translate and other Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI) online translation daily for personal or commercial use. These AI systems have become ubiquitous and are poised to revolutionize human communication across the globe. Promising increased fluency across cultures by breaking down linguistic barriers and promoting cross-cultural relationships in a way that many civilizations have historically sought and struggled to achieve, AI translation affords users the means to turn any text—from phrases to books—into cognizable expression. This Article discusses the burgeoning possibilities in the 3A Era (Advanced, Autonomous, AI systems) of AI online translation as …
The Rhetoric Of Constitutional Law, Erwin Chemerinsky
The Rhetoric Of Constitutional Law, Erwin Chemerinsky
Erwin Chemerinsky
I spend much of my time dealing with Supreme Court opinions. Usually, I download and read them the day that they are announced by the Court. I edit them for my casebook and teach them to my students. I write about them, lecture about them, and litigate about them. My focus, like I am sure most everyone's, is functional: I try to discern the holding, appraise the reasoning, ascertain the implications, and evaluate the decision's desirability. Increasingly, though, I have begun to think that this functional approach is overlooking a crucial aspect of Supreme Court decisions: their rhetoric. I use …
Corresponding Ideas In Corresponding Forms, Patrick Barry
Corresponding Ideas In Corresponding Forms, Patrick Barry
Articles
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that content always comes before structure. You don’t need to figure out all your ideas before you decide how to organize them. Much value can come from going in the opposite direction: first figure out how you are going to organize your ideas—their appropriate structure—and then determine the appropriate content. I often offer law students the following suggestion: “Once you find the right structure, perhaps it will be easier to find the right content.”
Blurred Lines: What Is Extremism?, Anna C. Williford
Blurred Lines: What Is Extremism?, Anna C. Williford
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The Michigan Journal of Law Reform Symposium, Alt-Association: The Role of Law in Combating Extremism (“the Symposium”), attempted to address the question of defining extremism. The Symposium aimed to provide a platform for filtering through the participants’ pre-conceived notions around extremism in order to challenge misconceptions about those labeled “extremist.” This word has been used time and time again in conversation, research, and even this paper without a concreate definition behind it. At the start of the Symposium, participants were asked to define extremism in their own words. The definitions produced were eye opening. For example, extremism was thought to …
Uselessly Accurate, Patrick Barry
Uselessly Accurate, Patrick Barry
Articles
There is an accuracy that defeats itself by the overemphasis in details," Justice Benjamin Cardozo wrote in his 1925 collection Law and Literature and Other Essays and Addresses. The problem hasn't gone away, as any reader of legal briefs, contracts, and memos can attest. This essay offers a few ways to help.
Good Sentences, Patrick Barry
Good Sentences, Patrick Barry
Articles
To write good sentences, you need to read good sentences. Skilled writers and editors know this, so they seek out good sentences wherever they can find them—the short stories of Alice Munro, the political essays of William F. Buckley, even well-crafted cartoons, speeches, and advertisements. They read not just with voracity but also with an eye toward larceny, always on the lookout for moves that they can learn and repurpose.
The Most Revealing Word In The United States Report, Richard Primus
The Most Revealing Word In The United States Report, Richard Primus
Articles
The most prominent issue in NFIB v. Sebelius was whether Congress’s regulatory power under the Commerce Clause stops at a point marked by a distinction between “activity” and “inactivity.” According to the law’s challengers, prior decisions about the scope of the commerce power already reflected the importance of the distinction between action and inaction. In all of the previous cases in which exercises of the commerce power had been sustained, the challengers argued, that power had been used to regulate activity. Never had Congress tried to regulate mere inactivity. In NFIB, four Justices rejected that contention, writing that such …
On The Values Of Words, Michael J. Cedrone
On The Values Of Words, Michael J. Cedrone
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Mary Norris' Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen and Kory Stamper's Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries use observations about language as a touchstone for a nuanced examination of deeper truths about language, culture, and law in a changing world. In so doing, they point to deeper truths about the use of language and its consequences. Law students, lawyers, and law professors will benefit from journeying with Norris and Stamper towards the goal of crafting prose that is clear, accurate, and inclusive. In particular, the legal community will benefit from the books' efforts to define …
Language Matters: Environmental Controversy And The Quest For Common Ground, Scott Slovic
Language Matters: Environmental Controversy And The Quest For Common Ground, Scott Slovic
Public Land & Resources Law Review
No abstract provided.
Shot Selection, Patrick Barry
Shot Selection, Patrick Barry
Articles
One of the more common pieces of writing advice in our post-Hemingway world is to keep sentences short. Experts on legal writing are particularly fond of this Position — and for good reason. Few judges look at the sentences that appear in briefs, memos, statutes, and contracts and say, "You know what each of those could use? More words." Professor Noah Messing does a particularly good job making the case for short sentences. Brevity, he explains, "reduces the risk that your writing will confuse or irk readers," especially given that "empirical studies show that writing verbosely makes writers sound dumber …
Sites Of Storytelling: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Patrick Barry
Sites Of Storytelling: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Patrick Barry
Articles
Supreme Court confirmation hearings have an interesting biographical feature: before nominees even say a word, many words are said about them. This feature— which has been on prominent display in the confirmation hearings of Judge Brett Kavanaugh—is a product of how each senator on the confirmation committee is allowed to make an opening statement. Some of these statements are, as Robert Bork remembers from his own confirmation hearing, “lavish in their praise,” some are “lavish in their denunciations,” and some are “lavish in their equivocations.”1 The result is a disorienting kind of biography by committee, one which produces not one …
Paragraphing, Patrick Barry
Paragraphing, Patrick Barry
Articles
Consider treating the word paragraph as a verb. Think of it as something you can do well or poorly, with major consequences for your readers. Good paragraphers, for example, help readers. They make it easy to navigate and absorb information. They don’t flit around, hastily moving on to the next point before fully supporting their first. Nor do they get stuck for too long in one place. Instead, they give a lot of thought not just to the ideas but also to their arrangement—their shape, their balance, their pace.
The Application Of The Specific Learning Disability Exclusionary Clause As Practiced By Virginia School Psychologists, Kaitlynn Carter
The Application Of The Specific Learning Disability Exclusionary Clause As Practiced By Virginia School Psychologists, Kaitlynn Carter
Educational Specialist, 2009-2019
When special education eligibility is being determined under Specific Learning Disability, the exclusionary clause needs to be carefully considered. The current study was concerned with the exclusions of cultural factors, environmental or economic disadvantage, and limited English proficiency. The study used a semi-structured interview to explore when and how the exclusionary clause is considered by school psychologists in Virginia and what type of impact it has on eligibility decisions. Ten school psychologists were contacted via the email database of the Virginia Department of Education and completed a phone interview. Grounded theory was used to investigate the themes and ideas regarding …
What We Still Don't Know About What Persuades Judges – And Some Ways We Might Find Out, Edward R. Becker
What We Still Don't Know About What Persuades Judges – And Some Ways We Might Find Out, Edward R. Becker
Articles
Over 25 years ago, in his foreword to the first volume of Legal Writing, Chris Rideout nailed it: legal writing as actually practiced by lawyers and judges needs to improve, “[b]ut more fundamental inquiry into legal writing...is needed as well.” The intervening decades have seen many laudable efforts on the latter front, as our collective scholarly discipline, then in its infancy, has matured. But one particular question that Rideout identified remains largely unaddressed by our discipline, although recent developments suggest a welcome increase in attention to the topic. Specifically, Rideout explained that our field did not know as much as …
Editing And Empathy, Patrick Barry
Editing And Empathy, Patrick Barry
Articles
Design begins with empathy.” I recently wrote that on the board during a class for students in the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. I thought it might help them write better briefs. I got the idea from Ilse Crawford, whose work as an interior designer can be seen all over the world—from airport lounges in Hong Kong, to fancy restaurants in London, to pear-shaped stools at IKEA. In Crawford’s view, “empathy is a cornerstone of design.”1 She thinks it is important to understand the spaces and products she creates from the perspective of the …
The Language-Game Of Privacy, Joshua A.T. Fairfield
The Language-Game Of Privacy, Joshua A.T. Fairfield
Joshua A.T. Fairfield
A review of Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., Privacy Revisited: A Global Perspective on the Right to Be Left Alone.
Emojis And The Law, Eric Goldman
Emojis And The Law, Eric Goldman
Faculty Publications
Emojis are an increasingly important way we express ourselves. Though emojis may be cute and fun, their usage can lead to misunderstandings with significant legal stakes—such as whether someone should be obligated by contract, liable for sexual harassment, or sent to jail.
Our legal system has substantial experience interpreting new forms of content, so it should be equipped to handle emojis. Nevertheless, some special attributes of emojis create extra interpretative challenges. This Article identifies those attributes and proposes how courts should handle them.
One particularly troublesome interpretative challenge arises from the different ways platforms depict emojis that are nominally standardized …
The Language-Game Of Privacy, Joshua A.T. Fairfield
The Language-Game Of Privacy, Joshua A.T. Fairfield
Michigan Law Review
A review of Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr., Privacy Revisited: A Global Perspective on the Right to Be Left Alone.
High-Stakes Interpretation, Ryan D. Doerfler
High-Stakes Interpretation, Ryan D. Doerfler
Michigan Law Review
Courts look at text differently in high-stakes cases. Statutory language that would otherwise be “unambiguous” suddenly becomes “less than clear.” This, in turn, frees up courts to sidestep constitutional conflicts, avoid dramatic policy changes, and, more generally, get around undesirable outcomes. The standard account of this behavior is that courts’ failure to recognize “clear” or “unambiguous” meanings in such cases is motivated or disingenuous, and, at best, justified on instrumentalist grounds.
This Article challenges that account. It argues instead that, as a purely epistemic matter, it is more difficult to “know” what a text means—and, hence, more difficult to regard …