Legal Education Commons^™

Learning By Writing: Exploring Authentic Legal Learning Through Case Summaries, Ee-Ing Ong, Wei Yang Quek, Duan Ning, Magdeleine Lew

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

We use authentic learning as a pedagogical framework in a collaboration between our law school and the national Supreme Court of a Southeast Asian country, which facilitates law students’ development of their legal analytical and writing skills, and helps them better bridge the gap between existing legal curricula and the needs of legal practice. Akin to a writing apprenticeship, students write summaries on selected Supreme Court judgments, with their output reviewed by faculty as well as judicial law clerks from the court. The results are published on the court’s website and circulated to other stakeholders. In the post-exercise survey, participating …

The Class Of 2026'S Achievements Celebrated At Commencement Awards Ceremony, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law honored members of the Class of 2026 during its annual Commencement Awards Ceremony, recognizing outstanding academic achievement, leadership, public service, legal writing, advocacy, and contributions to the law school community. The ceremony celebrated recipients of numerous faculty- and donor-sponsored awards prior to commencement.

Thirty-Year Evolution Of Legal Writing Scholarship, Pedagogy, And Beyond!, Robin Boyle-Laisure

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

You may be under the impression that all professors must publish—referring to the old adage, “publish or perish.” But that is not entirely true. I started teaching at St. John’s University School of Law thirty years ago when the legal writing program was launched. At that time, to attain the highest level, the highest rank—Professor of Legal Writing—the expectation was to produce only a few articles.

However, I continued to write, after reaching that threshold, because I enjoyed it. I find writing fun. And, as my colleague Professor Salomone says, it creates synergy with your students and with the …

Making Students Practice Ready: Standalone Email And Summary Email Simulations, Betsy Byra, Seth Reiner

Faculty Scholarship

Legal research and writing (“LRW”) curricula emphasize the importance of efficient and effective communication, traditionally providing students with the opportunity to hone this skill through two lengthy and formulaic assignments: a predictive memo and a persuasive brief. These prompts miss key opportunities to engage students in the practice of thinking and writing like lawyers outside the confines of this formal structure. This is a problem because email research memoranda have become the primary mode of communication at firms among junior-level lawyers.This shift has largely been driven by client and supervisor demands for greater efficiency and concision, and will likely only …

Friend Or Foe? Generative Ai And Legal Writing, Peter Nemerovski

Maine Law Review

Much has been made in recent years of the capabilities of generative artificial intelligence ("Generative AI") programs in performing law-related tasks. We have learned, for example, that OpenAI's product, GPT-4, is capable of passing the Uniform Bar Exam with flying colors. ChatGPT also earned passing grades on the final exams in four different law school courses. Another study found that "AI assistance consistently induced large declines in the amount of time taken to complete tasks" like drafting complaints, contracts, and employee handbook sections. These and other success stories have led commentators to predict that Generative AI programs "will revolutionize what …

Solving Professors' Dilemmas About Prohibiting Or Promoting Student Ai Use, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Faculty face difficult dilemmas as law students increasingly use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT.  Should faculty prohibit student use of AI in course work, allow it within limits, or actively encourage it to build professional skills?  Because students already use AI tools, faculty must respond.  Doing nothing can undermine core educational goals.

This article offers practical strategies for addressing these dilemmas.  These strategies are designed to promote learning, uphold academic integrity, and prepare students for an evolving legal profession.  This article outlines two broad approaches:  restricting unauthorized AI use and promoting responsible, supervised use.  It provides concrete suggestions …

Teaching With Ai: Insights From A Faculty Focus Group, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This report summarizes insights from a focus group of law faculty who discussed their experiences and perspectives about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  The focus group took place at the 2025 Works-in-Progress Conference sponsored by the ADR Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

The responses reflect a range of reactions, providing a snapshot of how some faculty are experimenting with AI, evaluating its risks and benefits, and considering how best to achieve their pedagogical goals.  Participants expressed interest in using AI as a teaching tool – particularly in communication exercises, simulations, and written assignments – and …

Did Your Student Or A Bot Write This Paper?: Teaching And Grading In The Age Of Ai, John Lande

Faculty Publications

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional assumptions about law students’ authorship of their written assignments.  Faculty are concerned about their ability to tell whether students are writing their own papers or simply using AI tools like ChatGPT.  This article offers practical strategies for addressing this problem, focusing on teaching and grading practices that promote transparency, accountability, and learning.

It recommends that faculty require students to include AI use certification cover sheets with their papers, disclosing whether and how they used AI tools during the writing process.  The article also explains how faculty can shift from purely summative to use …

The Role Of "Light Plagiarism" In Legal Writing , From A Recent Practitioner's Perspective, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

Because practitioners are pressured to complete their tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible, lawyers regularly use documents previously drafted by other lawyers as a starting point for their drafting. Law students may be surprised to learn that in the modern practice of law, plagiarism is so widely accepted and encouraged. This article proposes several reasons why Legal Writing Professors should consider addressing that fact by discussing the process by which many lawyers draft documents in the real-world practice of law today.

First, the rules against plagiarism do not relate to the real-world practice of law. Unlike law students, who …

Transitioning From Being A Practicing Lawyer To A Law School Professor: Learning To Be "Teacher You", Brenda Gibson, Heather Kolinsky, Catlin Meade, Kayonia Whetstone

UF Law Faculty Publications

Across law schools, LAWR programs differ in credit hours, professors’ status, and the level of autonomy professors have in the syllabus, textbook, assignments, or deadlines. Regardless of the type of program you are entering, there are a few things that you can focus on up front when moving from practicing law to teaching law and developing Teacher You: (1) managing expectations (both yours and your students); (2) providing feedback to your students; and (3) managing your own professional development and well-being. What follows are our thoughts and suggestions for taking your first steps in becoming Teacher You.

A Video Guide For Teaching Law Students To Use Ai Wisely, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article introduces a video that provides practical guidance about using artificial intelligence (AI) in legal education.  It presents a basic introduction to AI and describes how law students and faculty can benefit from tools like ChatGPT.  Because many students already use AI on their own, the video emphasizes the need to teach them how to use it wisely and responsibly.  The video also includes demonstrations showing how faculty can use AI to develop new simulations and how students can use it to prepare for them.  This article provides links to the video, PowerPoint slides, the chat transcript, and related …

Teaching With Ai - And Teaching Students To Use It Well, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article argues that the rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal practice creates an opportunity-and need-for legal educators to rethink and improve their courses. While some faculty fear that AI will erode students' skills or encourage academic dishonesty, thoughtful use of AI tools in legal education actually can promote deeper learning, improve student writing, and reveal how students actually think. The article distinguishes between summative and formative assessment and explains how AI can produce meaningful formative feedback. It offers specific examples of AI-based assignments that can help students build core professional skills, and it highlights the importance of …

Using Ai To Promote Student Learning Through Preparation For And Reflection About Simulations, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article provides model language for a course assignment in which students use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to prepare for and reflect on simulations. The assignment promotes deep learning and supports formative assessment by helping faculty see how students think, make choices, and develop insights. Students upload the simulation materials and the assignment to an AI tool, use it to plan for the simulation, and return to the same chat afterward to reflect. They then ask the AI to generate a draft paper, which they revise using the Track Changes feature in Word. Faculty can use the same feature to …

Teaching The Arc Of Electric Spark: Igniting Curiosity, Creativity, And Innovation Throughout The Law School Curriculum, Jason G. Dykstra

Northern Illinois University Law Review

A heighted velocity of change enveloped the legal profession over the last three decades. From big law to rural practitioners, the traditional law firm model of billing time by the hour proved ripe for disruption. Technological advances automated many once-billable activities; enhanced client sophistication and cost-consciousness restricted law firm revenue by imposing billing guidelines and alternative fee arrangements; clients increasingly retain legal work in-house; and global competition allowed legal services to be disaggregated and outsourced to the lowest cost provider. The net effect of this disruption is reflected in the revenue of the legal services sector, which adjusted for inflation, …

Flexibility And Resilience Are Essential Legal Skills, Margie Alsbrook

Articles

The legal profession is facing an era of change driven by technological advancements, environmental crises, shifting client expectations, and evolving societal norms. This article argues that flexibility and resilience are not just positive personality traits but essential legal skills that should be intentionally cultivated in law school curricula. By integrating adaptability into legal education—through emphasizing the evolving nature of law, incorporating interdisciplinary approaches, reshaping assessments, and fostering collaborative learning—law schools can better equip students to navigate an unpredictable future. Encouraging law students to embrace flexibility and resilience as a professional skill will not only enhance their long-term success but also …

Social Justice, Practical Lawyering, And The Elephant In Solitary Confinement: Why Animal Law Belongs In The Legal Writing Classroom, Conley Wouters

Animal Law Review

Animal law has grown exponentially since its genesis in the late 1970s. It is the subject of survey courses, seminars, clinics, and law reviews. But animal law per se has not made its way into the legal writing discipline, and its absence creates missed opportunities for legal writing instructors to improve our teaching and help our students develop critical lawyering skills. This Article argues that we should seize these opportunities and incorporate animal law into legal writing classes.

The Article begins by summarizing the argument and offering a gen-eral description of how legal writing professors and their students stand to …

Best Practices For Creating Hypotheticals For Legal Research And Writing, Olivia Smith Schlink, Aimee Self-Pittman, Theresa Tarves, Melissa Strickland

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Beyond Punitive Policy: Deadlines As Ethics-Based Professional Identity Development Opportunities, Eric Shannon

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Is the practice of imposing fixed deadlines for legal writing assignments a relic of the past?

This is the type of question I consider while trying to fall asleep at a reasonable hour on a Tuesday. I can’t help it: I spent thousands of hours working in law student affairs before transitioning to full-time faculty. I’ve seen the myriad struggles that students face while in law school—too many to count. I would regularly force myself to consider: Am I enforcing a policy that prioritizes student well-being and professional development? Or am I perpetuating a relic?

Getting The Reader To Say “Yes”: Applying Negotiation Principles From The Books Getting To Yes And Getting Past No To Achieve Effective And Persuasive Legal Writing, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

This Article explores the relationship between the strategies of principled negotiation and effective persuasive legal writing as articulated in the best-selling books, Getting to Yes and Getting Past No. Though there is substantial scholarship advocating adding a negotiation component to legal writing instruction, there is little scholarship addressing how to apply the concepts of principled negotiation to persuasive writing itself. In this Article, the Author explains the foundational concepts of principled negotiation and then shows how they relate and apply to drafting an effective piece of persuasive legal writing. Looking at written advocacy through a negotiation lens reinforces good …

Should Legal Writing Professors Continue To Teach Traditional Legal Citation Rules For Parentheticals Despite The Increased Usage Of (Cleaned Up) Parentheticals?, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

With the rise of (cleaned up) citations from practitioners and courts, Legal Writing Professors should continue to teach traditional legal citation rules for parentheticals. Teaching traditional legal citations for parentheticals will not only prepare students for the real world of legal writing expected by many courts, but will also help them to avoid ethical pitfalls that may result from the use of (cleaned up) citations. The author also calls for a return to the use of traditional legal citation rules for parentheticals to mitigate any further impacts on the evolution of jurisprudence, and to comply with a lawyer’s ethical duty …

Maine Debtor-Creditor Law By Dennis M. Patterson, David J. Jones

Maine Law Review

Dennis M. Patterson, Esquire, has written a brief, practical guide to selected areas of collection practice entitled Maine Debtor-Creditor Law. Two immediate observations come to mind: first, that I plan to keep a copy of the book in my office library for future reference; second, that I am disappointed that the author omitted reference to several challenging issues that confront the attorney having a regular collection or foreclosure practice. This latter observation is both an indication of the usefulness of the book's treatment of the areas covered and a hopeful invitation to the author to expand on his subject matter …

Maine Civil Remedies By Andrew M. Horton & Peggy L. Mcgehee, Eric R. Herlan

Maine Law Review

If there is any ongoing dispute within the legal community that one could properly characterize as a Great Debate, that dispute concerns the nature and sources of judicial power. Most recently that debate has manifested itself in nuanced and subtle disagreements about how a court ought to interpret enacted law, whether found in statutes or written constitutions. That argument about judicial interpretation, and more precisely about the philosophical possibility of correct textual interpretations, is itself simply a more scholarly manifestation of an earlier dispute over whether judges should "legislate" when they resolve difficult legal issues, or should instead constrain themselves …

Teaching Bias In The Current Cultural Climate: Sample Exercises For A Legal Writing Class, Ben Fernandez

UF Law Faculty Publications

The American Bar Association now requires law schools to provide "education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism." But how can a law professor navigate these challenges in the current cultural climate fraught with polarizing divisiveness? In this present-day charged atmosphere, law students may be particularly sensitive to statements they perceive as offensive and may seek accountability for such remarks. Implicit bias and micro-aggressions can reveal biases that are unconscious and unintentional. How then can a law professor make students feel comfortable discussing these important and relevant topics in class?

First Steps: Using Questions To Scaffold Students' Approach To Counterarguments In Persuasive Legal Writing, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

First presented at the Western States Legal Writing Conference at Seattle University School of Law in September 2024, this essay discusses scaffolding as a teaching tool in Legal Writing.

Scholarship As Fun, Thomas Schultz

Dalhousie Law Journal

One theme that traverses much of Pierre Schlag’s work is a sense of profound humanity—the idea that thinking and writing about the law can and should be a deeply, genuinely human activity—an activity for which we can, and should, break up many of the barriers that stand between us, between who we really are, and what we think and write. It is an activity for which we should put aside our pretences and insecurities and the attached formalisms and exaggerations behind which we so often hide, and which in the end constrain our humanity so much, as they take on …

The Art Of Discovery: Part 2, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Form discovery is undeniably useful, particularly for seeing the types of questions or documents that are usually asked in a certain type of case. Unfortunately, many form interrogatories and document requests are outdated and do not follow effective writing strategies of clarity and precision. Many of the sample discovery requests are full of legalese, which often results in ambiguity. Grab your comb and razor, as we work together to “clean up” your discovery requests.

The Political Economy Of Laughter And Outrage, Genevieve Renard Painter

Dalhousie Law Journal

A bit uncomfortable. That is how it feels to be among dear friends but labelled professionally as an outsider. I have a law degree, a bar membership, and a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy. I am a professor in a women’s studies department at Concordia University. At conference receptions, people respond breathlessly, “But they don’t have a law school at Concordia!?,” as though I am hearing confession in a gas station, or something as heretical. I teach legal history, international law, feminist legal theory, and constitutional law to undergraduates who are not in law school and mostly don’t want …

Language Models, Plagiarism, And Legal Writing, Michael L. Smith

Faculty Articles

Language models like ChatGPT are the talk of the town in legal circles. Despite some high-profile stories of fake ChatGPT-generated citations, many practitioners argue that language models are the way of the future. These models, they argue, promise an efficient source of first drafts and stock language. Others make similar claims about legal writing education, with a number of professors urging the acknowledgment of language models. Others go further and argue that students ought to learn to use these models to improve their writing and prepare for practice. I argue that those urging the incorporation of language models into legal …

Mandatory Anti-Bias Cle: A Serious Problem Deserves More Meaningful Response, Rima Sirota

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay addresses the problematic convergence of two recent trends: (1) the expansion of jurisdictions requiring anti-bias training (ABT) as part of mandatory continuing legal education (CLE), and (2) the growing recognition among social scientists that such training, at least as currently practiced, is of limited effectiveness.

Forty-six American states require continuing legal education (CLE), and eleven of these states now require lawyer ABT as one facet of CLE requirements. I have previously criticized the mandatory CLE system because so little evidence supports the conclusion that it results in more competent lawyers. The central question tackled by this essay is …

Criminal Law Drafting Manual, Jean Mangan

Books

This textbook was created under a Round 19 Mini-Grant. It is hosted on the Open ALG (Affordable Learning Georgia) Projects platform. 2024 edition.