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Legal writing

George Washington University Law School

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Duty To Rescue? Exploring Legal Analysis Through The Lens Of Photojournalists’ Storytelling Dilemmas, Iselin Magdalene Gambert Jan 2014

Duty To Rescue? Exploring Legal Analysis Through The Lens Of Photojournalists’ Storytelling Dilemmas, Iselin Magdalene Gambert

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In depicting scenes of tragedy, what happens when photojournalists become the story? Do photojournalists have a duty to rescue those they photograph? Should they? This article will use a series of iconic images – and the stories of the photojournalists behind the camera – to illustrate how exploring these questions can be a provocative vehicle through which to engage new law students in legal writing and analysis. The article focuses on an exercise that centers around a fictional “Duty to Rescue” statute modeled after European statutes of the same kind. The exercise is anchored by four images – three still …


The World Is Not Flat: Conference Planning And Presentation As Part Of A Multidimensional Understanding Of Scholarship, Iselin Magdalene Gambert, Karen Thornton, Amy R. Stein Jan 2013

The World Is Not Flat: Conference Planning And Presentation As Part Of A Multidimensional Understanding Of Scholarship, Iselin Magdalene Gambert, Karen Thornton, Amy R. Stein

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Scholarship. For many academics, the word is filled with a combination of excitement, anticipation, obligation, and dread. Academics are expected to reliably produce scholarship, much like sculptors are expected to produce art, baristas cappuccinos, and stockbrokers profits. While “scholarship” has perhaps traditionally been viewed as strictly words on a page, some scholars view it to be a multidimensional enterprise, something that encompasses the many aspects of the life of a scholar. The idea of scholarship as comprising more than just the generation of a tangible written product is taken up in Maksymilian Del Mar’s Living Legal Scholarship, which asserts “five …


Toward A Unified Grading Vocabulary: Using Grading Rubrics To Set Student Expectations And Promote Consistency In Legal Writing Courses, Jessica L. Clark, Christy Hallam Desanctis Jan 2012

Toward A Unified Grading Vocabulary: Using Grading Rubrics To Set Student Expectations And Promote Consistency In Legal Writing Courses, Jessica L. Clark, Christy Hallam Desanctis

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Faced with the American Bar Association's proposed changes to law school accreditation standards, especially related to student assessment and outcome measurement, law schools are responding by developing and incorporating assessment standards. Likely related to these proposed changes, there has been an undeniable recent trend in law school assessment scholarship, which is one way to measure law schools' reactions to the call for change. This article contributes to that trend by offering an introduction to a methodology of assessing legal writing - through the use of detailed grading guidelines called rubrics. Our experience over the past several years of using rubrics …


The Long And Winding Road: Developing An Online Research Curriculum, Jessica L. Clark, Nicole Evans Harris Jan 2011

The Long And Winding Road: Developing An Online Research Curriculum, Jessica L. Clark, Nicole Evans Harris

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In the realm of online research instruction, electronic research vendors (such as LexisNexis and Westlaw) play various roles in teaching and training law students. Some students take advantage of all free training opportunities, while others ignore even mandatory trainings assigned as supplemental course instruction through a first-year legal writing program. This article details the results of a cooperative initiative among a law professor, a librarian, and the Westlaw and LexisNexis academic account managers, designed to integrate online research instruction into the first-year curriculum. The multiple goals of the initiative included taking advantage of the vendors’ expertise and resources, reinforcing lessons …


Making Workshops Work (For Everyone): Creating And Capturing A Student-Driven Writing Workshop Series, Iselin Magdalene Gambert, Benjamin James Grillot Jan 2010

Making Workshops Work (For Everyone): Creating And Capturing A Student-Driven Writing Workshop Series, Iselin Magdalene Gambert, Benjamin James Grillot

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

It's not uncommon for new law students to arrive at law school anxious for support on their legal writing assignments and looking for strategies to improve their time management and exam preparation skills. At the same time, upper-level law students are often eager for opportunities to develop their public speaking, presentation development, and leadership skills. This article presents an overview of the 2009-10 Fall Writing Workshop Series, sponsored by the GW Law Writing Center, which successfully met both sets of goals. The article provides readers with concrete ideas for implementing a similar program at their law schools, and includes ideas …


Beyond Course Evaluations: Yaynay Sheets, Jessica L. Clark Jan 2008

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 …