Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

A Commemoration: 75th Anniversary Of The Catholic University Law Review, Veryl V. Miles

Catholic University Law Review

This essay celebrates the 75th Anniversary of the Catholic University Law Review.  A retrospective of the law review’s first 50 years (1950-2000) was published in volume 50 by Professor Ralph Rohner.  Ralph J. Rohner, The 50th Anniversary of the Catholic University Law Review, 50 Cath. U. L. Rev. 267 (2001). Similarly, this essay reviews the law review publication experience and production output from 2001 through 2026, its contributions to the educational and scholarly development of student editors, student authors, and the greater body of legal scholarship.

De-Skilling Or Re-Skilling? The Case For Smarter Writing Assignments, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This article challenges the assumption that AI inevitably leads to the de-skilling of law students.  Some faculty understandably fear that students will use AI to bypass critical thinking and avoid meaningful effort.  This article reframes AI as a potential catalyst for improving legal education rather than inherently a threat.

Concerns about de-skilling generally are based on the assumption that faculty will not change traditional writing assignments.  This article analyzes why these assignments often fail to help students develop strong analytical and writing skills. These include limited instruction in basic writing skills, poor design, lack of feedback, and faculty inertia in …

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.

Learning By Doing: The Importance Of Thoughtful And Limited Generative A.I. Use In The Il Legal Writing Classroom, Luke Repici

Faculty Publications

Technological advances that impact lawyers day-to-day work are nothing new. From typewriters, dictaphones, and computers to electronic legal research, email, and e-discovery, new technologies have changed the nuts and bolts of how lawyers practice for decades. Previous technologies may have replaced the pen with the typewriter and supplanted the letter for the email, but the lawyer remained the one doing the work. For more junior lawyers, this meant assigned tasks – reading cases, drafting motions, dictating client updates, summarizing discovery, and creating deposition outlines – could not be outsourced to technology.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (“Gen AI”) presents …

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.

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.

Artificial Intelligence And Ethical Considerations For The New Legal Learner: An Annotated Bibliography, Sarah Starnes

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This annotated bibliography focuses on providing relevant and helpful resources to those who may be new to using artificial intelligence and want to understand the legal and ethical implications. For attorneys to adhere to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and ethically practice law in conjunction with artificial intelligence, it is vital to learn as much as possible. The articles, cases, advisory opinions, and court rules within this annotated bibliography provide insight into the current state of practicing law with AI.

Disabling Lawyering: Buck V. Bell And The Road To A More Inclusive Legal Practice, Jacob Izak Abudaram

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be and Ally. By Emily Ladau and Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell By Paul A. Lombardo.

Black And Barred: The Bar Examination's History Of Exclusivity And The Threat Of Further Exclusion Posed By Aba Standard 316, Nicola A. Boothe

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

How To Train Your Supervisor, Kris Franklin, Paula J. Manning

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.

Let's All Be..Georgia? Expanding Access To Justice For Incarcerated Litigants By Rewriting The Rules For Writing The Law, Ashley Krenelka Chase

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Practicing The Be Practice Ready: Making Competent Legal Researchers Using The New Process And Practice Method, Jason Murray

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

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 …

The "Other" Market, Cody Jacobs

Faculty Scholarship

The hiring market for tenure-track non–legal writing positions is a world unto itself with its own lingo (i.e., “meat market” and “FAR form”), its own unwritten rules (i.e., “Do not have two first-year courses in your preferred teaching package.”), and carefully calibrated expectations for candidates and schools with respect to the process and timing of hiring. These norms and expectations are disseminated to the participants in this market through a relatively well-established set of feeder fellowships, visiting assistant professor programs, elite law schools, blogs, and academic literature on the subject.

But there is another market that goes on every year …

Ask A Director Making The Library More Accessable, Lorelle Anderson

Library Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Need To Revisit Legal Education In An Era Of Increased Diagnoses Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity And Autism Spectrum Disorders, Heidi E. Ramos-Zimmerman

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The ever-fluctuating rhetoric from experts, in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders, has led to outdated notions and perplexity surrounding attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This Article tries to clarify some of the confusion. Better understanding of these disorders is imperative for today’s law professor, since law schools are likely admitting more students diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. This Article discusses the need for change in legal instruction and explores the link between the two disorders. An examination of recent history illuminates some of the commonly held misunderstandings and highlights the disparity in the diagnoses of ADHD …

Educating The New Lawyer: Teaching Lawyers To Offer Unbundled And Other Client-Centric Services, Forrest S. Mosten, Julie Macfarlane, Elizabeth Potter Scully

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In this article, Forrest Mosten and Julie Macfarlane build a new bridge in their 30-year professional relationship by linking their separate but complementary work in access to legal services, helping the self-represented litigant (“SRL”), transforming the lawyer from gladiator to problem-solver and conflict resolver, and using interdisciplinary team triage in Collaborative Law and preventive conflict wellness to better serve the public. The New Lawyer and Unbundled Legal Services are independent concepts that the three co-authors link in proposing new topics (including the concept of Legal Coaching, which is evolving from the unbundled model) and pedagogical approaches to teaching law students …

Practice And Fitness Making Writing Perfection More Nearly Attainable, Heather Ridenour, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Best Practices For Teaching Advanced Legal Research Asynchronously Online, Khelani Clay, Shannon M. Roddy

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Rat Race: Insider Advice On Landing Judicial Clerkships, Ruggero J. Aldisert, Ryan C. Kirkpatrick, James R. Stevens Iii

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

For many, the judicial clerkship application process is, to quote Sir Winston Churchill, a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” It is a frenzied “Pamplona-like” atmosphere that begins on Labor Day +1 and continues unabated for several weeks. The initial week is the make or break point in the application review process because it is then that the judge starts to read each application and makes a “yes” or “no” evaluation. If his vote is a “no,” then no further action is taken. If it is a “yes,” the application passes to the law clerks, who then begin …

Changing The Modal Law School: Rethinking U.S. Legal Education In (Most) Schools, Nancy B. Rapoport

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

This essay argues that discussions of educational reform in U.S. law schools have suffered from a fundamental misconception: that the education provided in all of the American Bar Association-accredited schools is roughly the same. A better description of the educational opportunities provided by ABA-accredited law schools would group the schools into three rough clusters: the “elite” law schools, the modal (most frequently occurring) law schools, and the precarious law schools. Because the elite law schools do not need much “reforming,” the better focus of reform would concentrate on the modal and precarious schools; however, both elite and modal law schools …

In Praise Of Legal Scholarship, Tamara R. Piety

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Work With Me Here: Collaborative Learning In The Legal Research Classroom, Susan Azyndar

Journal Articles

From the Article

This article seeks to contribute to this pedagogical project by seeking out links between Millennial student needs, legal workplace expectations, and thoughtful pedagogical strategies; it centers on the important legal skill of collaboration.

Playing To The Audience, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

A Law Clinic Systems Theory And The Pedagogy Of Interaction: Creating Legal Learning System, Patrick C. Brayer

Faculty Works

This article introduces a clinical systems approach that reframes professional experience as an interaction with a professional environment. The article encourages clinical faculty and other legal educators to contemplate the pedagogy of systemic interaction when teaching from experience and to then expand professional interactive opportunities within the short period of student participation. Clinical systems theory operates on the premise that students should reframe how they look at their surroundings so that the challenges that make up their professional system are not seen as problems but as means to a solution. Reframing by the student is realized in a clinical system …

Does Westlawnext Really Change Everything: The Implications Of Westlawnext On Legal Research, Ronald E. Wheeler

Faculty Scholarship

WestlawNext, Thomson Reuters’ newest electronic research service, has been around for over a year now. Ron Wheeler shares his thoughts on how this service may impact various aspects of legal research, and he suggests further study and research are necessary to fully evaluate and comprehend the system.

Creac Scramble: An Active Self-Assessment Exercise, Meredith Aden

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Grooming Good Legal Writers Through Tailored, Constructive Feedback, David Spratt

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Not Just Key Numbers And Keywords Anymore: How User Interface Design Affects Legal Research, Julie M. Jones

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Legal research is one of the foundational skills for the practice of law. Yet law school graduates are frequently admitted to the bar without adequate competence in this area. Applying both information-foraging theory and current standards for optimal web design, Ms. Jones considers, through a heuristic analysis, whether the user interfaces of Westlaw and LexisNexis help or hinder the process of legal research and the development of effective research skills.

From The Editors, Mark Tushnet, Carrie Menkel Meadow

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.