Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Bluebook Bites: Practicing Citation One Day At A Time, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

Seeking student feedback in a tangible manner during the semester has inherent value. Ongoing student feedback can help a professor gauge what is (and what is not) working in the classroom. The professor can take the temperature of the class and get a decent read on how things are going.

This article discusses how student feedback in my Fall 2024 class birthed a practice of delivering a daily question (sometimes with subparts) to students about creating or editing Bluebook citations. I call it “Bluebook Bites.” In Part I of this article, I explain how I gather student feedback and how …

Keeping The Ball Rolling: Enhancing The Lrw And Skills Curriculum By Incorporating Nextgen Bar Foundational Skills And Ai Innovations, Donna L. Eng

UF Law Faculty Publications

As of fall 2025, Legal Research, Writing, and Skills Professors nationwide are at a pivotal moment: determining whether and how to update their course curriculum to incorporate the NextGen Uniform Bar's (NextGen Bar) Foundational Skills and the latest advancements in AI. This article discusses how Legal Research, Writing, and Skills Professors might revise their curriculum to incorporate the NextGen Bar's Foundational Skills and advancements in AI.

Incorporating Ai Into The Contract Drafting Process: A Classroom Exercise, Kristen V. Hardy

UF Law Faculty Publications

I recently read the Three Blind Drafts: An AI-Generated Classroom Exercise, by Margie Alsbrook and Ashley Chase. I was trying to create an AI-related assignment for my spring contract drafting class. The article inspired me to attempt a conceptually similar assignment in an AI contract drafting exercise. This article will summarize Alsbrook’s and Chase’s original idea and describe how I adapted it for the contract drafting classroom; the student outcome; and my thoughts about what I would do differently the next time I attempt the assignment.

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.

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 …

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.

Introducing Law Students To Transactional Practice: From Using Precedent To Closing The Deal, Ben Fernandez

UF Law Faculty Publications

My name is Ben Fernandez. I teach contract drafting at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and I'm going to talk about introducing students to transactional practice from using precedents to closing the deal. Basically, what I'm going to describe is things I do to supplement Tina Stark's Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do. I'm going to give you a whole bunch of, I hope, useful, teaching ideas on how to do that.

Contract Drafting Classes Need To Devote More Consideration To The Law Applicable To "Boilerplate" Clauses, Ben Fernandez

UF Law Faculty Publications

The law applicable to “boilerplate” provisions is often given little attention in contract drafting classes because textbooks focus too much on the textbook author’s opinion of the best words to use for various contract provisions and how to format each clause (e.g., whether to use “shall” or “will” or “must” for a covenant or obligation, whether to write numbers numerically or in words (or both), whether to use “on or about” instead of “within” for a time period, whether to bold or underline definitions, or put them in quotes, etc.). Students need to learn to draft clearly and unambiguously; and …

Holdings As Hypotheses: Teaching Contextual Understanding And Enhancing Engagement, Lisa M. De Sanctis

UF Law Faculty Publications

When the Pinball Wizard asked his well-timed question, he not only lit up the 1L classroom with a cacophony of opinions but also illuminated deep confusion about the meaning of, and distinctions between, “rules” and “holdings.”

The practice of both oversimplifying and conflating the parts of a judicial opinion, particularly rules and holdings, is common among law professors, law school success materials, and, to an extent, even legal writing texts. Coupled with the novice law student’s search for right answers and found meaning, 1Ls often find themselves understandably frustrated and confused. This Article argues that the resulting confusion about rules …

We Need To Understand How Chatgpt Can Be Used For A Contract Drafting Class And Change Our Pedagogy To Compensate, Ben Fernandez

UF Law Faculty Publications

You might think ChatGPT would not work well to assist students in a law school class on Contract Drafting. The model was not created for that purpose and it has no legal training. But you would be wrong. There are deficiencies but they can easily be compensated for. A student who knows what they are doing can use the model to do the work for a drafting class. As a result, law professors who teach Contract Drafting need to understand how to use ChatGPT, and how effective it can be as a drafting tool. And we also need to think …

Storytelling, The Sound Of Music, And Special Teams: Revisiting Some Basic Legal Writing Techniques With Fresh Eyes, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fingerprints: An Impressionistic And Empirical Evaluation Of Richard Posner’S Impact On Contract Law, Jeffrey L. Harrison

UF Law Faculty Publications

Richard Posner’s retirement after 36 years on the federal bench presents an ideal opportunity to reflect on his sometimes controversial career as a scholar and a judge. Since his principal scholarly work, Economic Analysis of Law, has been cited in legal scholarship over 7500 times a good working hypothesis is that his impact on law has been substantial. This article considers his impact on contract law. Two lines of research were conducted: one line explores the impact of Judge Posner’s scholarly writings on judicial opinions; the other line examines the impact of his opinions on other courts.

Moonlighting Sonata: Conflicts, Disclosure And The Scholar/Consultant, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Amy R. Mashburn

UF Law Faculty Publications

Although the impact of conflicting interests is of constant concern to those in legal education and other fields, a recent scholarly article and an extensive analysis in the New York Times suggest the problem is more pressing than ever. In the context of legal scholarship the problem arises when a professor is, in effect, employed by two entities. Disclosure of possible conflicts is the most commonly proposed response. The article argues that disclosure is merely a risk shifting devise that does not fully address the issue of bias. It draws on comparisons with products liability and legal ethics to suggest …

Fostering Student Authorship, Amy R. Mashburn, Sharon E. Rush

UF Law Faculty Publications

In this essay, we suggest that law schools may provide every student with the opportunity to become involved in the process of producing a publishable paper by establishing on-line repositories for student publications. We describe what such a program, which we call "student authorship," might look like and further explore several primary benefits that such a program would confer upon students.

State Documents Bibliography: Florida, Shira Megerman, Patricia Morgan

UF Law Faculty Publications

The Florida State Documents Bibliography is a comprehensive document containing historic information on state documents published in Florida. The Bibliography includes information on Florida’s constitutions, legislative, judicial, and executive legal materials. Secondary sources, reference materials, and libraries open to the public are also included.

Citations, Justifications, And The Troubled State Of Legal Scholarship: An Empirical Study, Jeffrey L. Harrison, Amy R. Mashburn

UF Law Faculty Publications

Recent pedagogical, economic and technological changes require law schools to reevaluate their resource allocations. Although typically viewed in terms of curricular changes, it is important also to focus on the very significant investment in legal scholarship and its impact. Typically this has been determined by some version of citation counting with little regard for what it means to be cited. This Article discusses why this is a deeply flawed measure of impact. Much of that discussion is based on an empirical study the authors conducted. The investigation found that citation by other authors is highly influenced by the rank of …

Disciplining Legal Scholarship, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

U.S. law schools are hiring large proportions of J.D.-Ph.D.s in tenure-track faculty positions in an effort to increase the quantity and quality of empirical legal scholarship. That effort is failing. The new recruits bring methods and objectives unsuited to law. They produce lower-than-predicted levels of empiricism because they compete on the basis of methodological sophistication, devote time and resources to disputes over arcane issues in statistics and methodology, prefer to collaborate with other Ph.D.s, and intimidate empiricists whose work does not require high levels of methodological sophistication. In short, Ph.D.s impose the cultures of their disciplines on legal scholarship. Importing …

Stop Me If You’Ve Heard This Before: Transitions In Teaching Legal Research, Patricia Morgan

UF Law Faculty Publications

Law schools are being called upon to produce more “practice ready” graduates. To that end, the University of Florida added a librarian-taught first-year Legal Research course to its curriculum. As a result of the course addition, there was an impact on the existing Advanced Legal Research (ALR) course. For the first time, the ALR students had already received legal research instruction. This required adjustments in this higher level course.

Websites With Free Legal Information, Patricia Morgan

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Legal Information Links For Public Librarians, Patricia Morgan, Lisa Parisi

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Find It Fast And Free: An Update On Florida And Federal Research On The Internet, Patricia Morgan

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Researching Initiatives And Referendums: A Guide For Florida, Elizabeth Outler

UF Law Faculty Publications

In Florida, direct democracy at the state level consists entirely of the initiative method of amending the State constitution. This constitutional provision was partly a response to the State’s history of obstacles to affording equitable legislative representation to all its citizens, a struggle with roots dating back to the Reconstruction era. The State constitution, governing statutes and regulations, and the Division of Elections Web site serve as the primary sources of information and guidance for those interested in the process of amending the State constitution by citizen-sponsored initiative.

The Law Review Article Selection Process: Results From A National Study, Jason P. Nance, Dylan J. Steinberg

UF Law Faculty Publications

The student-edited law review has been a much criticized institution. Many commentators have expressed their belief that students are unqualified to determine which articles should be published in which journals, but these discussions have been largely based on anecdotal evidence of how journals make publication decisions. It was against that backdrop that we undertook a national survey of law reviews in an attempt to determine how student editors responsible for making publication decisions went about their task. This article compiles the results of that survey, which received 191 responses from 163 different journals. We analyzed 56 factors that influence the …

Have You Seen The New Library Bar?: Designing A Legal Research Toolbar, Jennifer L. Wondracek

UF Law Faculty Publications

It seems like more and more people today are selecting their legal research results based on ease of access rather than the completeness of the results. After hearing one too many third-year law students say "I researched my entire paper on Google," I set off to create a tool that would satisfy both the desire for speed and the need for complete and authoritative research results. The tool is a legal research toolbar that integrates into a web browser and provides constant and quick access to library-sanctioned websites and databases. This paper walks readers through the design process of the …

Looking Backward: Richard Epstein Ponders The “Progressive” Peril, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

In "How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution," Richard Epstein bemoans the growth of a dominant big government. How Progressives should receive a warm reception from the audience, lawyers and laypeople alike, who view the New Deal as a mistake of epic proportions. For the rest of us, significant gaps will still remain between, on the one hand, our understanding of the nation’s past and of the complex nature of constitutional lawmaking and, on the other, Epstein’s version of the nature of twentieth-century reform and Progressive jurisprudence.

Legal Information Management In A Global And Digital Age: Revolution And Tradition, Claire M. Germain

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article presents an overview of the public policy issues surrounding digital libraries, and describes some current trends, such as Web 2.0, the social network. It discusses the impact of globalization and the Internet on international and foreign law information, the free access to law movement and open access scholarship, and mass digitization projects, then turns to some concerns, focusing on preservation and long term access to born digital legal information and authentication of official digital legal information. It finally discusses new roles for librarians, called upon to evaluate the quality of information teach legal research methodology and be advocates …

Ria Federal Tax Handbook 2006 (Book Review), Elizabeth Outler

UF Law Faculty Publications

Review and explanation of the features of the RIA Federal Tax Handbook.

Feminist Legal Scholarship: Charting Topics And Authors, 1978-2002, Laura A. Rosenbury

UF Law Faculty Publications

In their call for papers, the organizers of the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law’s Spring 2003 symposium “Why a Feminist Law Journal?” posed several questions, including: "Are feminist law journals a victim of their own success? Have they outlived their usefulness?" and "What is the state of feminist legal scholarship today? What constitutes feminist scholarship?" As a new member of the legal academy, my answers to their questions depend on answers to two more basic questions: What has been published in feminist law journals? And, how do those articles relate to feminist articles published in non-specialty, or flagship, law …