Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Legal Scholarship As A Vocation, David Luban

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Law professors occupy a twin role as scholars and (most of them, at any rate) as lawyers. Deborah Rhode has pointed out, in her contribution to this symposium, that the lawyer role of the professor carries with it some frequently overlooked obligations, specifically the obligation to perform pro bono service. I agree with her, and have ventured similar arguments myself. Here I will address the more purely theoretical side of the legal scholar's vocation. The text I will take for my sermon is the famous speech on the scholar's role that Max Weber delivered to a student audience eighty years …

Fear And Loathing Of Politics In The Legal Academy, William H. Simon

Faculty Scholarship

In a recent lament about Bush v. Gore, Bruce Ackerman feared that the patent groundlessness of the opinion would convince many of a proposition he attributed to critical legal studies: that law is simply a form of politics.

This remark reflects two tendencies prominent at the Yale Law School in recent years: first, a preoccupation with a now extinct and never very successful movement of left legal academics, and second, a tendency to conflate this movement with the legal conservatism of Jusice Scalia and his collaborators at the University of Chicago and the Rehnquist Court.

These tendencies ride high …

Incorporating Bar Pass Strategies Into Routine Teaching Practices, Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Teaching First-Year Civil Procedure And Other Introductory Courses By The Problem Method, Stephen J. Shapiro

All Faculty Scholarship

I have been teaching the first-year course in Civil Procedure for twenty years, first for five years at Ohio Northern University, and for the last fifteen years at the University of Baltimore, where I also teach a required second-year course in Evidence. When I first started teaching Civil Procedure, I used a fairly typical case method. I was never very happy with this approach for teaching a course in which one of my major goals was getting the students to learn to read, interpret and apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Federal Rules”). Gradually, I began to develop sets …

Applying New Rhetoric To Legal Discourse: The Ebb And Flow Of Reader And Writer, Text And Context, Linda L. Berger

Scholarly Works

Applying New Rhetoric to law school pedagogy, this article suggests an ebb and flow of reader and writer, text and context drawn from New Rhetoric theory, research, and teaching practices. Almost all legal writing scholarship now focuses on some aspect of New Rhetoric. Yet it is likely that the product approach still prevails in the places where the papers are graded, in part because it is the more familiar and straightforward way that papers have always been graded. What follows is an initial attempt to more fully apply New Rhetoric theory and research to the teaching of legal reading and …

A Computer-Assisted Legal Research And Writing Course, Jocelyn Downie, Michael Deturbide, Laura Fraser

Dalhousie Law Journal

In this paper, the authors describe and assess their experience with the use of WebCT (a computer program that facilitates the creation and management of courses using the Internet) in the Dalhousie Legal Research and Writing Program. They explain what WebCT is, why they decided to use it, and how they used it. They assess its inaugural use and conclude that, despite some difficulties, the pilot project was a success and WebCT can be a useful tool for other teachers of legal research and writing.

Teaching Upperclass Writing: Everything You Always Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask, Lissa Griffin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

A survey conducted as part of this project reveals that law schools generally require their students to have an upperclass writing experience taught or supervised by non-writing tenured or tenure-track faculty. These teachers currently bear the responsibility for assigning, supervising, reviewing, and evaluating most of the writing by upperclass students, either through substantive seminars or independent study projects. In almost all schools there is no major curricular planning, systematic instruction, faculty training, or institutional support for upperclass writing.

Creating Effective Legal Research Exercises, Amy E. Sloan

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Playing Beyond The Rules: A Realist And Rhetoric-Based Approach To Researching The Law And Solving Legal Problems, Thomas Michael Mcdonnell

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The proposed realist and rhetorical approach to legal research applies to every conceivable legal problem and provides the student a conceptual foundation not only for solving any legal dispute, but for successfully completing any transactions with which he or she will be confronted. Part I of this article will demonstrate why law students should learn to research the relevant audiences in the legal drama and to research the unpublished and often unwritten rules and practices that these audiences follow. Part II will show how. Part III will present a comprehensive legal problem solving model that integrates these new dimensions of …

The Art Of The Fact: An Afternoon Colloquy In A Tentative Key, Jethro K. Lieberman

Books

No abstract provided.

Teaching Research To Faculty: Accommodating Cultural And Learning-Style Differences, Jane Thompson

Publications

Ms. Thompson explores the challenge of teaching law school faculty how to research effectively, especially in light of a unique "faculty culture" and differences in individual learning styles.

Our Perspective On Irac, Christina L. Kunz, Deborah A. Schmedemann

Faculty Scholarship

In this brief article, the authors present their view of IRAC, an acronym for Issue, Relevant law, Application to facts, and Conclusion. The authors conclude that IRAC can be taught so that students understand not only why it is useful as a thinking and writing tool, but also that proper use of it requires judgment and creativity. When IRAC is presented this way, the authors assert, it can serve first-year students well as they study legal writing. And they will operate accordingly, even without being aware of its influence, during their years as practicing lawyers.

Learning By Doing - Preparing Law Students For The Practice Of Law: The Legal Practicum, John O. Sonsteng, Roger S. Haydock

Faculty Scholarship

The MacCrate Report outlined ten skills that are essential for every practicing attorney and should ideally be taught in every law school. The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) concluded that these ten skills cannot be effectively obtained through every law school curriculum because of each school's individual, economic limitations. This article demonstrates how one law school—William Mitchell College of Law, in St. Paul, Minnesota—has , since 1984, incorporated a cost effective Legal Practicum course into its curriculum to help meet the MacCrate Report goal of providing the law student with the opportunity to learn and apply fundamental lawyering skills. …

"Skilling" Time, Peter B. Knapp

Faculty Scholarship

This article describes disagreements about the "MacCrate Report" on skills education for law students, as well as the connections between the Report's recommendations and legal education at William Mitchell College of Law. The final commentary focuses on what William Mitchell can do to further ensure that teaching prepares students for the learning they will have to do when they begin working as lawyers.

The Mind In The Major American Law School, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

Legal scholarship is significantly, even qualitatively, different from what it was some two or three decades ago. As with any major change in intellectual thought, this one is composed of several strands. The inclusion in the legal academic community of women and minorities has produced, not surprisingly, a distinctive and at times quite critical body of thought and writing. The emergence of the school of thought known as critical legal studies has renewed and extended the legal realist critique of law of the first half of the century. But more than anything else it is the interdisciplinary movement in legal …

Legal Research In A Social Science Setting: The Problem Of Method, T Brettel Dawson

Dalhousie Law Journal

As part of its ongoing process of curriculum development, the Department of Law at Carleton University decided in 1988 that a compulsory course in legal research methods was long overdue in the B.A. Honours degree in Law. Fortified with interest nurtured by methodological debates in feminist scholarship,' experience devilling' for a barrister pending my call to the bar, and practice from instructing a course in legal research and writing while a graduate student, I set about developing the proposed course. No guidelines existed for such a course, beyond the logic that it should complement the socio-legal or legal studies focus …

Writing For Judges, Pierre Schlag

Publications

No abstract provided.

1991-1992 Bulletin, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law Bulletin

Contents:

Endowed Programs – p. 5

Clinical Programs – p. 7

Programs of Study – p. 10

Facilities – p. 10

Publications – p. 10

Career Development – p. 11

Awards – p. 12

Faculty – p. 15

Curriculum – p. 35

Course Descriptions – p. 35

Admission Information – p. 51

Student Finance – p. 54

Honor Roll – p. 57

About Cardozo / Yeshiva University – p. 64

Index – p. 70

Where to Secure Information – p. 76

Academic Calendar and Application Forms – addenda

Research In A Changing World Of Law And Technology, Morris L. Cohen

Dalhousie Law Journal

As a long-time friend and admirer of legal education at Dalhousie, it is an honor and a pleasure for me to offer the Read lecture this year. It is particularly warming to have Mrs. Read and the next two generations of Reads here today, since Dean Read was the strongest proponent of the law library's development during his deanship here. One of the designated topics for these lectures has been legal education. With the dedication of the addition to the Weldon Building housing the restored Sir James Dunn Law Library, and the designation of a librarian, for the first time, …

The Public Dimension In Legal Education, Mark R. Macguigan

Dalhousie Law Journal

Legal education, while always a subject of fascination to law students and professors, only periodically becomes a matter of more general interest. But that is what I believe has happened in Canada in the mid-1980s as the result of three publishing events.

Voices, Values And Community: Some Reflections On Legal Writing, Frank Pommersheim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Preface: On Natural Resources As An Area Of The Law, David H. Getches

Publications

No abstract provided.

1981-1982 Bulletin, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law Bulletin

Contents:

Boards – p. 4

Yeshiva University – p. 4

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law – p. 4

University Administration – p. 5

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (Overview) – p. 7

A Message From the Dean – p. 7

Administration – p. 9

Faculty – p. 10

Adjunct Faculty – p. 20

Yeshiva University: History and Purpose – p. 23

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law: History and Purpose – p. 25

Program – p. 27

Degree Requirements – p. 28

Ethical and Professional Standards – p. 28

Admissions – p. 29

Student Finances – p. 31 …

Legislative Process And Drafting In U.S. Law Schools: A Close Look At The Lammers Report, Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Teaching Legal Writing In The Law Schools (With A Special Nod To Legal Drafting), Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

1978-1979 Bulletin, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law Bulletin

Contents:

Yeshiva University – p. 4

Board of Trustees – p. 4

Administration – p. 4

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law – p. 5

Board – p. 5

Administration (Cardozo) – p. 6

Faculty – p. 6

Yeshiva University: History and Purpose – p. 13

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law: History and Purpose – p. 14

Program – p. 15

Degree Requirements – p. 15

Student Activities – p. 16

Admission – p. 17

Regulations – p. 19

Student Finances – p. 24

Description of Courses – p. 28

Alphabetical Index of Courses – p. 37

General Index …

1977-1978 Bulletin, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law Bulletin

Contents:

Yeshiva University – p. 4

Board of Trustees – p. 4

Administration – p. 4

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law – p. 5

Board – p. 5

Administration (Cardozo) – p. 5

Faculty – p. 6

Yeshiva University: History and Purpose – p. 10

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law: History and Purpose – p. 11

Program and Degree Requirements – p. 12

Student Activities – p. 13

Regulations – p. 14

Admissions – p. 17

Student Finances – p. 18

Description of Courses – p. 20

Index – p. 25

Gifts and Bequests – p. 27

University …

On The State Of "The Word", Francis A. Allen

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

Based on Professo Allen's comments at the dedication of the Baron de Hirsch Meyer Library Addition, University of Miami Law School, Coral Gables, Fla., December 17, 1975.

On Reasons For Decanal Disenchantment And Their Wider Implications, Theodore J. St. Antoine

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

Based on the Dean's Report to the President of the University for the Year 1974-75

The Clinical Law Experiment: Michigan's First Five Years, Steven D. Pepe

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

Many Michigan law alumni continue to inquire about the Clinical Law Program, now entering its fifth year of fulltime operation. Prof. Al Conard's "Letter from the Law Clinic" in the fall, 1973, Law Quadrangle Notes gave a perceptive and entertaining glimpse into some of the case situations at the clinic and the types of learning in which clinic students are engaged. This article will sketch the development and operation of our clinical experiment in legal education. A future article will explore the goals, methodology, and problems of clinical legal education. A third and final article will focus on a particular …