Law Commons^™

Practical Guidelines To Legal Writing For Young Researchers And Professionals, Fathi Zerari Prof.

UAEU Law Journal

Research about the law requires a degree of mastery of both the existing knowledge about the topic of research and the necessary methodological tool-kit to communicate the analysis and the findings to the targeted audience. This paper aims to provide young researchers and professionals in law with a step-by-step guide to write different types of legal writings.

This research starts from the assumption that well situating the topic of the research within an appropriate context and adopting an adapted analysis condition a cogent structure that reflects the degree of consistency between the research gap and the aim of the research, …

Breaking The Rules, Rima Sirota

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

“Breaking the Rules” is a legal research and writing assignment that I crafted for students completing their first year of law school. The assignment honors new students’ desire for skills that will allow them to effectively challenge the status quo of settled but discriminatory legal rules. Part I of this article is an essay that contextualizes and explains the assignment; Part II provides the assignment itself.

Citation, Slavery, And The Law As Choice: Thoughts On Bluebook Rule 10.7.1(D), David J.S. Ziff

Articles

Today, more than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, lawyers and judges continue to rely on antebellum decisions that tacitly or expressly approve of slavery. This reliance often occurs without any acknowledgement of the precedent’s immoral and legally dubious provenance. Modern use of these so-called “slave cases” was the subject of Professor Justin Simard’s 2020 article, Citing Slavery. In response to Professor Simard’s article, the latest edition of The Bluebook includes Rule 10.7.1(d), which requires authors to indicate parenthetically when a decision involves an enslaved person as a party or the property at issue. Unfortunately, Rule 10.7.1(d) …

Rooted: Metaphors And Judicial Philosophy In Artis V. District Of Columbia, Richard L. Heppner Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

This article examines how the metaphors in judicial opinions reveal judicial theories of lawmaking and judicial philosophies, through a close reading of Justice Ginsburg’s majority opinion and Justice Gorsuch’s dissenting opinion in the Artis v. District of Columbia, 138 S. Ct. 594 (2018).

Artis was about what the phrase “shall be tolled” means in the federal supplemental jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. §1367. Does a state-law claim’s statute of limitations pause or continue to run while the claim is in federal court? In holding that Congress used “stop the clock” tolling, an “off-the-shelf” legal device that pauses statute of limitations, …

Peer Review In Advanced Legal Writing Course, Patricia Montana

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This Article adds to the conversation about peer review, discussing specifically the numerous benefits peer review brings to an advanced legal writing course. The Article illustrates how to effectively integrate peer review into an advanced legal writing course. Peer reviews can support student learning and improve students’ legal analysis and writing, among other things. Thus, the Article encourages law professors to experiment with peer review exercises and incorporate them into their advanced legal writing courses.

Generative Ai And Finding The Law, Paul D. Callister

Faculty Works

Legal information science requires, among other things, principles and theories. The article states five principles or considerations that any discussion of generative AI large language models and their role in finding the law must include. The article concludes that law librarianship will increasingly become legal information science and require new paradigms. In addition to the five principles, the article applies ecological holistic media theory to understand the relationship of the legal community’s cognitive authority, institutions, techné (technology, medium and method), geopolitical factors, and the past and future to understand the changes in this information milieu. The article also explains …

Re-Envisioning Law Student Scholarship, Emily Zimmerman

Catholic University Law Review

This Article recommends that we think more intentionally about how law students’ engagement in scholarship can promote their professional development. In so doing, we should recognize that legal scholarship plays a different role for law students than it does for law professors. Rather than trying to replicate law professors’ relationship with scholarship, the pedagogy of law student scholarship should focus more intentionally on the value of scholarship for law students—most of whom will not become law professors.

This Article suggests that much of the value of scholarship for law students lies in process, rather than product. Rather than thinking …

Treating Professionals Professionally: Requiring Security Of Position For All Skills-Focused Faculty Under Aba Accreditation Standard 405(C) And Eliminating 405(D), Lucille Jewel, J. Lyn Goering, Susie Salmon, Craig Smith, Kristen Robbins-Tiscione, Melissa Weresh

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In 2014, the American Bar Association (ABA) decided to retain Accreditation Standard 405 in its current form to preserve tenure for law faculty as well as the status, security of position, governance rights, and academic freedom that tenure provides. In doing so, the ABA also preserved the long-standing hierarchy that elevates doctrine-focused faculty over skills-focused faculty. That hierarchy discriminates against skills-focused faculty, particularly those who specialize in legal writing--most of whom are women. This paper calls on the ABA to address this discrimination against skills-focused faculty and the negative effects it has on schools, faculty, and students. As explained in …

Treating Professionals Professionally: Requiring Security Of Position For All Skills-Focused Faculty Under Aba Accreditation Standard 405(C) And Eliminating 405(D), Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

In 2014, the American Bar Association (ABA) decided to retain Accreditation Standard 405 in its current form to preserve tenure for law faculty as well as the status, security of position, governance rights, and academic freedom that tenure provides. In doing so, the ABA also preserved the long-standing hierarchy that elevates doctrine-focused faculty over skills-focused faculty. That hierarchy discriminates against skills-focused faculty, particularly those who specialize in legal writing--most of whom are women. This paper calls on the ABA to address this discrimination against skills-focused faculty and the negative effects it has on schools, faculty, and students. As explained in …

Panel 2: Justice Kennedy's Prose — Style And Substance

Georgia State University Law Review

Moderator: Eric Segall

Panelists: Eric Berger, Michael Dorf, and Jamal Greene

Take Inventory Each Year, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Exploring Diversity With A "Culture Box" In First-Year Legal Writing, Ann N. Sinsheimer

Articles

Studying law is in many ways like studying another culture. Students often feel as though they are learning a new language with unfamiliar vocabulary and different styles of communication. Throughout their legal education, students are also exposed to a profession comprised of unique traditions and expectations. As a result, learning law takes time and energy. It can be both engaging and frustrating and may even challenge some of students’ values and belief systems. To ease her students’ transition to law school, the author starts her course each year with a “culture box” exercise, which encourages students to examine who they …

Does The Reasonable Man Have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?, Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

The reasonable man is an anthropomorphic metaphor for legal reasoning. In this role, he sometimes shows symptoms of mental illness. He exhibits a compulsion to organize, rank, and prevent disorder, a process that can create unjust outcomes. When he is symptomatic, the reasonable man becomes a monster borne out of a fear of disorder. As the putative judge whom all lawyers write and speak in front of, the reasonable man is the reader attorneys fine-tune their arguments and language for. After developing a case history for the reasonable man, this Article engages with several questions. First, when advocates emulate the …

Does The Reasonable Man Have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?, Lucille Jewel

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

The reasonable man is an anthropomorphic metaphor for legal reasoning. In this role, he sometimes shows symptoms of mental illness. He exhibits a compulsion to organize, rank, and prevent disorder, a process that can create unjust outcomes. When he is symptomatic, the reasonable man becomes a monster borne out of a fear of disorder. As the putative judge whom all lawyers write and speak in front of, the reasonable man is the reader attorneys fine-tune their arguments and language for. After developing a case history for the reasonable man, this Article engages with several questions. First, when advocates emulate the …

Legal Citation Part Ii: Tips & Tricks To Avoid Common Errors, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

This article goes over quick and easy tips to help one avoid the most common citation typeface and abbreviation errors often seen in practitioner filings.

Legal Citation Part Iii: Using Citation To Convey Textual Meaning, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

Remember, at our core, attorneys are advocates, and one of the purposes of citation is to prove to the reader that she can trust one's research-to prove that the law is what one states it is and that it works the way one stated it does.

In addition to understanding the language of citation and using the correct form, citation can also increase the level of trust one's reader will have in one's positions in two ways: signals and explanatory parentheticals.

Beyond The Basics: Lesser-Used Punctuation Marks, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Jason Dykstra

Occasionally legal writing can benefit from a few lesser-used punctuation marks. This article focuses on the proper use of the question mark, slash, and parentheses in legal writing. Used sparingly and correctly, these marks can enhance the clarity of your legal writing without sacrificing a formal tone or professional style. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part I: The Basics Of Legal Citation, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Legal citation conveys information succinctly and efficiently by adhering to four principles. Thus, legal citation follows the 1) core identification principles, 2) minimum content principles, 3) compacting principles, and 4) formatting principles. This article looks at each. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part Ii: Tips & Tricks To Avoid Common Errors, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

This article goes over quick and easy tips to help one avoid the most common citation typeface and abbreviation errors often seen in practitioner filings.

Index To Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff's Advocate Articles, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

This document functions as an index to help readers to navigate Professor Fordyce-Ruff's Advocate column articles better.

Beyond The Basics: Lesser-Used Punctuation Marks, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Occasionally legal writing can benefit from a few lesser-used punctuation marks. This article focuses on the proper use of the question mark, slash, and parentheses in legal writing. Used sparingly and correctly, these marks can enhance the clarity of your legal writing without sacrificing a formal tone or professional style. [excerpt]

Legal Citation Part Iii: Using Citation To Convey Textual Meaning, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Jason G. Dykstra

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Remember, at our core, attorneys are advocates, and one of the purposes of citation is to prove to the reader that she can trust one's research-to prove that the law is what one states it is and that it works the way one stated it does.

In addition to understanding the language of citation and using the correct form, citation can also increase the level of trust one's reader will have in one's positions in two ways: signals and explanatory parentheticals.

To That Or Not To That: When To Use And When To Omit "That", Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Using or omitting that can be confusing. Sometimes a sentence needs a that, sometimes a sentence doesn't need a that, and sometimes using that is optional. This article addresses some tips to help one understand when that is necessary, when it is optional, and when one might want to use that even if it is optional.

Enough Said: A Proposal For Shortening Supreme Court Opinions, Meg Penrose

Faculty Scholarship

The role of the judiciary, Chief Justice Marshall famously advised, is “to say what the law is.” Yet, how often do the justices issue a written opinion that ordinary Americans can understand? The Supreme Court increasingly issues lengthy and complex opinions, often containing multiple concurring and dissenting opinions. These opinions can be as confusing as they are verbose.

“To Say What the Law Is Succinctly: A Brief Proposal,” analyzes the justices’ legal writing. Are the justices effective in saying what the law is? Insufficient attention has been devoted to evaluating the justices’ writing and their efficacy at communicating the law. …

Some February Fun: F Words, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

I’ve wanted to write another column on word pairs for a while. 1 I decided that this month is it. Let’s celebrate the shortest month of the year by looking at “F” words[--first/firstly, farther/further, feign/feint, fictional/fictitious, flair/flare, flammable/inflammable, flaunt/flout, forbear/forebear, founder/flounder, forgo/forego, fortuitous/fortunate]. [excerpt]

Ten Steps To Build Better Briefs: Part Ii, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Last month we started the 10 steps to building better briefs. We covered the first five, finishing the sentence level tips and beginning the paragraph level tips. This month, we will continue that discussion, by finishing up the tips for better paragraphs and finally getting to the tips for the entire brief. [excerpt]

Spring Cleaning Part Ii, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [I]n the spirit of spring-cleaning, let’s look at some writing “rules” you can jettison to the trash heap.

Ten Steps To Build Better Briefs: Part I, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [C]onstructing a better brief can be done in ten (easy) steps — some focusing on sentences, some on paragraphs, and some on the entire brief. [excerpt]

Verbs: The Basics On Tense And Voice, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

... [V]erbs have voice, mood, tense, number, and person. There are regular verbs and irregular verbs; a verb can be linking, transitive, or intransitive, depending on the types of objects or complements it can take; verbs can be auxiliary or main verbs; verbs even stop functioning as verbs and appear as verbal phrases or gerunds. Whew! Covering all that would be way too much grammar for one month. So, here’s a refresher on the basics of verb tense and voice. [excerpt]

Taking The 30,000-Foot View: Seeing What You've Written, Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff

In thinking about a topic for this column, I took a moment to look back over what I've covered since I started writing for The Advocate. I saw a huge range of topics-- word choice to punctuation to parts of speech to document design. I've even covered proofing techniques. I saw one huge hole, however. I've never written about how to edit to ensure your legal writing is complete. So for this month I'll explore a little bit of why self-editing is so difficult, followed by some discrete tasks each legal writer can use to ensure that a document is …