Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Washington Practice Materials, Nancy Mcmurrer

Librarians' Chapters in Books

• Introduction
• Encyclopedic Sources
• Subject-Specific Resources
• Litigation Aids
• Ethics Opinions
• Directories
• Current Awareness: Bar Publications and Legal Newspapers
• Subject List of Practice Resources

Historical And Archival Sources, Cheryl Rae Nyberg, Ann Hemmens

Librarians' Chapters in Books

• Introduction
• Statehood History
• Constitutions and Constitutional Conventions
• Territorial Session Laws and Codes
• Territorial Legislative Assembly
• Territorial and Early State Courts
• Territorial Governors and Gubernatorial Archives
• Agency Documents and Archives
• Other Sources on Washington Government and Legal history
• Washington State Archives
• Unique Collections
• Selected Online Resources

The Process Of Legal Research, Penny A. Hazelton

Chapters in Books

1. Introduction
2. Formats of Legal Materials
3. Integrating the Use of Print and Electronic Tools in Legal Research
4. Strategies for Effective Legal Research
5. Managing Your Legal Research
6. Comparison of Major Legal Research Texts
7. "'Here There Be Dragons': How to Do Research in an Ara You Know Nothing About"
8. "Develop the Habit: Note-Taking in Legal Research"

Indian Law Research In Washington, Penny A. Hazelton

Chapters in Books

1. Introduction
2. Federal Indian Policy
3. Indian Law Terminology
4. Scope of Federal, Tribal, and State Power over Indians
5. Practitioner's Checklist
6. Research Tools
7. Conclusion
8. Washington State Tribal Directory
9. Basic Rules of Jurisdiction in Indian Country (Criminal)

Norms And Signals: Some Skeptical Observations, Paul G. Mahoney

University of Richmond Law Review

Law and Social Norms is just what the growing field of norms scholarship needed. Legal scholars have generated an impressive body of observations about the myriad situations in which individuals pressure one another to act civilly. Eric Posner's book provides a simple, elegant model with very few working parts and promises to go a long way toward connecting these observations to form a coherent whole.

Signaling Or Reciprocating? A Response To Eric Posner's Law And Social Norms, Dan M. Kahan

University of Richmond Law Review

There is an almost heretical disenchantment with law percolating within the legal academy. Conventional wisdom sees law as the natural solution to problems of collective action. When attaining some societal good-for example, a clean environment, a stock of useful technologies, a public education system, or a transportation infrastructure-depends on the willingness of individuals to behave in a manner that is not in their material interest, the law supplies incentives-such as tax abatements for nonpolluters, property rights for inventors, and punishments for tax cheats-that bring individual interests into alignment with collective ones. The problem, though, is that a regime of regulatory …

An Elective Advanced Course, Beth Cohen, Jeanne Kaiser

Media Presence

This Article discusses the experiences of offering an Advanced Legal Research and Writing tutorial as an elective at Western New England College School of Law. This course is taught by a member of the Legal Research and Writing faculty on a rotating basis. This elective course allows students the opportunity to research and write for another semester of law school.

A Voice Of Reason: The Products Liability Scholarship Of Gary T. Schwartz, Joseph A. Page

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Of my many fond personal memories of Gary Schwartz, the one that stands out most vividly summons from the mists of time an evening in June 1983 at Boston's Fenway Park. It was my last visit to a childhood haunt where I had seen my first professional baseball game in 1941, an occasion that marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for the national pastime. Settled into an excellent seat that faced the storied left-field wall (and brought to mind visions of the large advertisements that covered its surface before it became known as the "Green Monster”,), I began to …

Book Review: A Guide To Electronic Legal Research By A. Zivanovic (Markham Ont.: Butterworths Canada, 2001), David H. Michels

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Meeting By Signals, Playing By Norms: Complementary Accounts Of Nonlegal Cooperation In Institutions, Edward Rock, Michael Wachter

University of Richmond Law Review

Professor Eric A. Posner has written a fascinating book about "Law and Social Norms." In it, he uses an informal signaling model (derived from Michael Spence's formal model) to explain a wide range of striking social behavior, and to show underlying connections among apparently disparate phenomena. Looking at topics as dissimilar as gift giving, family law, criminal law, voting and political participation, and commercial practice, he argues that much of observed social behavior can be understood as the result of attempts to signal that one is a good cooperator.

Predicting Defection, Elmer J. Shaefer

University of Richmond Law Review

Eric Posner's cooperation theory of social norms develops from rational choice theory an austere and powerful explanation of why people comply with social norms. He illustrates his theory with subtle analysis of a number of legal issues. The book will help anyone influenced by law and economics to incorporate into her thinking the work in sociology, psychology, and ethics that bears on human behavior. Most readers will find applications for Posner's theory.

Signaling, Legitimacy, And Compliance: A Comment On Posner's Law And Social Norms And Criminal Law Policy, Tracey L. Meares

University of Richmond Law Review

Although criminal law can be justified with respect to non-utilitarian goals such as retribution, no one can deny that one way to justify criminal law is with respect to the instrumental ends of deterrence. So, one question of interest to scholars in the field has been how to think about the kinds of criminal law policy that encourage compliance. My own work has focused on this important question. Specifically, I have been concerned with the ways in which different kinds of criminal proscriptions, along with certain methods of law enforcement, could affect crime rates in disadvantaged, urban neighborhoods. In undertaking …

The Signaling Model Of Social Norms: Further Thoughts, Eric A. Posner

University of Richmond Law Review

One of the most notable trends in legal scholarship is the explosion of writing on social norms. Just a few years ago one might have argued that the scholarship was marginal, of interest to only a handful of law professors, but expressions of skepticism about the value of this scholarship have become rare. At the same time, it would be wrong to say that "law and social norms" ("LSN") is a movement or school within legal scholarship: the writings about this topic are too diverse, and there is little of that sense of forward movement that is characteristic of more …

Empirical Work In Family Law, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

Until fairly recently, researchers have not done much theoretical work on the subject of family law. Although the move towards theoretical work is a positive one, unfortunately, most of the latest reforms in family law have been uninformed by empirical studies. Furthermore, the few empirical studies that have been conducted are replete with intractable problems.

In this essay, Margaret Brinig discusses some of the problems researchers have encountered in their attempts to conduct empirical work in the area of family law. For example, most researchers have used state cross-sectional data for their experiments. Reliance on this type of data can …

An Elective Advanced Course, Jeanne M. Kaiser, Beth Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

The Authors discuss Legal Research and Writing course requirements at Western New England College School of Law. Although the students must complete a qualified writing course, previously there was no general advanced legal research and writing course. However, recently Western New England College School of Law has offered an Advanced Legal Research and Writing tutorial as an elective. This course is taught by a member of the Legal Research and Writing faculty on a rotating basis.

The Writings Of John Barker Waite And Thomas Davies On The Search And Seizure Exclusionary Rule, Yale Kamisar

Articles

After browsing through many volumes of the Michigan Law Review, searching for the article I would discuss on the occasion of the law review's 100th anniversary, I wound up with two "finalists": a 1955 article by Professor John Barker Waite on the law of arrest search and seizure (on further reflection, four Michigan Law Review commentaries on the general subject written by Waite between 1933 and 1955)' and a monumental 200-page article (surely one of the longest articles ever to appear in the Michigan Law Review) by Thomas Davies on the "original Fourth Amendment. 2

The Inside Scoop: What Federal Judges Really Think About The Way Lawyers Write, Kristen Konrad Robbins-Tiscione

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A recent survey indicates that what troubles federal judges most is not what lawyers say but what they fail to say when writing briefs. Although lawyers do a good job articulating legal issues and citing controlling, relevant legal authority, they are not doing enough with the law itself. Only fifty-six percent of the judges surveyed said that lawyers “always” or “usually” make their client’s best arguments. Fifty-eight percent of the judges rated the quality of the legal analysis as just “good,” as opposed to “excellent” or “very good.” The problem seems to be that briefs lack rigorous analysis, and the …

Joining Forces: The Role Of Collaboration In The Development Of Legal Thought, Chris Guthrie, Tracey E. George

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For every reason to believe that collaboration has been influential... there is a countervailing reason to believe that it has played a minor role in the evolution of legal thought. It may be easy to bring to mind a handful of prominent collaborations, but most law review articles seem to be written by one author (notwithstanding their lengthy acknowledgment footnotes, suggesting that even single-author works are shaped by the insights and input of multiple scholars). And while it is true that legal scholars often collaborate on their practically oriented works, scholarly articles might not be well suited to collaboration.

The Past, Present, And Future Of Empirical Legal Scholarship: Judicial Decision Making And The New Empiricism, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Over the last century, empirical legal scholarship has joined the ranks of the mainstream within the legal academy. In this article, Professor Heise traces the history of legal empiricism and discusses its growing role within the legal academy. First, the article traces legal empiricism through the twentieth century from the legal empiricism movement of the early twentieth century, to post-World War II efforts to revive legal empiricism, including the Chicago Jury Project and large-scale foundational support for empirical legal research, through current support for legal empirical research from both the law schools and other research centers. The article then discusses …

What Is The Point? Teaching Ideas For Thesis Sentences, Kathleen Elliott Vinson

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Readers are pragmatic and want to know the bottom line. The use of strong topic or thesis sentences will grab the reader’s attention and help the reader understand the significance of the information in each paragraph. The writer does not want to waste an opportunity or just tread water in a thesis sentence by merely stating a fact. This article discusses teaching ideas and exercises for drafting effective thesis sentences.

Travaux Preparatoires And United Nations Treaties Or Conventions: Using The Web Wisely, Marylin J. Raisch

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While it is possible to find individual recent documentation relating to the drafting of treaties by searching the Internet via the popular search engines, the results may not always be as comprehensive as the conscientious legal practitioner or scholar might wish. And what of the less well-known multilateral conventions? Alas, it is not only the obscure or bilateral treaties that can be hard to interpret or locate. Travaux for larger conventions may be a challenge as well. An ounce of caution and a larger dose of background knowledge can save the generalist and the specialist librarian, respectively, from the pitfalls …

Improving Legal Writing Courses: Perspectives From The Bar And Bench, Constance Krontz, Susan Mcclellan

Faculty Articles

To fine-tune legal writing courses to better prepare law students to enter legal practice, Professors Constance Krontz and Susan McClellan surveyed judges and practicing attorneys who supervise the work of first-year associates or judicial law clerks. They selected attorneys from a variety of practices in Washington State, including offices of public defenders and state prosecutors, the Attorney General's office, and private firms of various sizes. They sought information about the performance of all first-year clerks and associates, without reference to where they obtained their law degrees. Knowledge of the bench and bar's perception of the oral and written performance of …

The Way We Were And What We “B”, Kelly Kunsch

Faculty Articles

This article describes the changes over the past 20 years in the job of reference librarian. Using typical reference questions and quotes from leading law librarians in the early '80s, the author compares current practice and explains the differences in the time, place, and manner of legal reference. Although answering questions may be done today more quickly and efficiently than 20 years ago, the increase in demand and expectations make the job more challenging than ever.

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A list of books recenlty received by Michigan Law Review.

Recent Books, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A list of books recenlty received by Michigan Law Review.

Endowment Effects Within Corporate Agency Relationships, Jennifer H. Arlen, Matthew L. Spitzer, Eric L. Talley

Faculty Scholarship

Behavioral economics is an increasingly prominent field within corporate law scholarship. A particularly noteworthy behavioral bias is the "endowment effect" – the observed differential between an individual's willingness to pay to obtain an entitlement and her willingness to accept to part with one. Should endowment effects pervade corporate contexts, they would significantly complicate much common wisdom within business law, such as the presumed optimality of ex ante agreements. Existing research, however, does not adequately address the extent to which people manifest endowment effects within agency relationships. This article presents an experimental test for endowment effects for subjects situated in an …

Balancing Act : Public Employees And Free Speech, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

More than 20 million Americans work for federal, state or local governments. Sometimes these employees are disciplined for speaking out against government corruption, belonging to a particular political party, criticizing agency policy or engaging in private conduct of which the employer disapproves. Granted, government employers need some leeway when dealing with their employees. After all, the primary function of a government agency is to provide efficient services to the public, and if a government employer were second-guessed every time it disciplined a public employee, services could grind to a halt. On the other hand, such employers do not have unfettered …

Justice Clarence Thomas: The Emergence Of A Commercial-Speech Protector, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

An examination of Justice Clarence Thomas' jurisprudence regarding commercial speech.

Reflecting On The Virtual Child Porn Decision, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

An essay on Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the so-called virtual child pornography case.

The Courts’ Inconsistent Treatment Of Bethel V. Fraser And The Curtailment Of Student Rights, David L. Hudson Jr., John E. Ferguson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

The majority of courts have cited Bethel v. Fraser in such a way as to give public school officials free reign to censor vulgar, lewd, or plainly offensive student speech. Some courts have gone a step further and prohibited student speech that contains offensive ideas. This article seeks to explain how the Fraser decision curtailed student rights recognized in the Supreme Court's last pure student speech case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.