Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Law Library Blog (March 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Maybe If We Turn It Off And Then Turn It Back On Again? Exploring Health Care Reform As A Means To Curb Cyber Attacks, Deborah Farringer

Law Faculty Scholarship

The health care industry has moved at a rapid pace away from paper records to an electronic platform across almost all sectors — much of it at the encouragement and insistence of the federal government. Such rapid expansion has increased exponentially the risk to individuals in the privacy of their data and, increasingly, to their physical well-being when medical records are inaccessible through ransomware attacks. Recognizing the unique and critical nature of medical records, the United States Congress established the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force under the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 for the purpose of reviewing cybersecurity …

A Baker's Dozen Of Tips For Better Web Searches, Anne Burnett

Continuing Legal Education Presentations

Anne E. Burnett also served as Program Chair. Burnett is the Foreign and International Law Librarian for the Alexander Campbell King Law Library at the University of Georgia School of Law.

An Attorney's Guide To Business And Investigative Research, Carol A. Watson

Continuing Legal Education Presentations

Carol A. Watson is the Director of Alexander Campbell King Law Library at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Legal Literature Review Of Social Entrepreneurship And Impact Investing (2007-2017): Doing Good By Doing Business, Deborah Burand, Anne Tucker

William & Mary Business Law Review

Although the ambition to do good by doing business is not new, the burgeoning realization of this ambition is. As the fields of social entrepreneurship and impact investing advance in size, scope and complexity, questions about the roles of corporations and capital markets in society intensify.

What is legal scholarship contributing to this discussion? This Article reviews the scholarly contributions of 260 articles written by over 150 authors about the fields of social enterprise, social finance, and impact investing. The Article maps the contributions of legal scholarship over the last decade—from 2007 (when the term “impact investing” was first coined) …

I'M From The Government And I'M Here To Help: State And Federal Resources, Sharon Bradley

Presentations

Presented in Atlanta, GA as part of the State Bar of Georgia CLE Program "Internet Legal Research" on Feb. 20, 2020, 1:20 pm.

Cool Tools: Apps And Other Tools For Lawyers, Billie Jo Kaufman

Presentations

Presented in Atlanta, GA as part of the State Bar of Georgia CLE Program "Internet Legal Research" on Feb. 20, 2020, 11:20 pm.

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like A Correct Bluebook Citation & Formatting The 1l Brief, Jason Tubinis, Heather Simmons

Presentations

Law Librarians Heather Simmons and Jason Tubinis walked students through the necessary formatting for 1L brief success, as well as shared their top tips for Bluebook citations. Formatting topics included Table of Authorities, Table of Contents, page numbering, and styles. Students were encouraged to bring their laptops for hands on help with both Mac and PC versions of Microsoft Word.

Does Ai Hold The Keys? Bloomberg Law’S Docket Key Unlocks Federal District Courts, Rachel S. Evans

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Evans shares a review of Bloomberg Law's newly expanded docket search "Docket Key" by providing a brief intro to docket searching and explaining the type of AI-machine learning at work in the product.

The CS-SIS Blog Committee is charged with providing CS-SIS members with timely and useful information through an official yet informal medium about relevant subjects for the membership, including the activities of the members, committees, and Executive Board.

"Downright Indifference": Examining Unpublished Decisions In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Merritt E. Mcalister

Michigan Law Review

Nearly 90 percent of the work of the federal courts of appeals looks nothing like the opinions law students read in casebooks. Over the last fifty years, the so-called “unpublished decision” has overtaken the federal appellate courts in response to a caseload volume “crisis.” These are often short, perfunctory decisions that make no law; they are, one federal judge said, “not safe for human consumption.”

The creation of the inferior unpublished decision also has created an inferior track of appellate justice for a class of appellants: indigent litigants. The federal appellate courts routinely shunt indigent appeals to a second-tier appellate …

Table Of Contents & Pepperdine Law Review Masthead, Jacob Bliss

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

What You Don't Know (Can Hurt You): Using Exam Wrappers To Foster Self-Assessment Skills In Law Students, Sarah J. Schendel

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

“Where did I go wrong?” When we fail it’s tempting to forget it and move on. However, reflecting on poor performance and figuring out how to proceed is critical to being a successful student and lawyer. Unfortunately, when students receive a disappointing grade they often lack the ability to understand what went wrong and how to change. Creating self-regulated learners who can identify what they don't know and make a plan to improve is key to helping students succeed. In order to do so – and in order to produce ethical, productive lawyers – law schools should place a greater …

The Gaps Model And Faculty Services: Quality Analysis Through A “New” Lens, Alex Zhang, Sherry Xin Chen

Scholarly Articles

Faculty service is an important function of U.S. academic law libraries. This article evaluates three types of faculty services programs using the Gaps Model to identify, analyze, and propose ways to fill four main gaps: knowledge, policy, delivery, and service quality.

Correcting The Record: Post-Publication Corrections And The Integrity Of Legal Scholarship, Janet Sinder

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Get With The Pronoun, Heidi K. Brown

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Anonymous Plaintiffs And Sexual Misconduct, Jayne S. Ressler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

St. Thomas Law Review

Front Matter includes Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 32, Issue 2, Spring 2020.

Predictability Of Arbitrators' Reliance On External Authority?, Ariana R. Levinson, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Paige Marta Skiba

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Generalist Judges And Advocates' Jargon, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Clerking is a privilege. Fresh out of law school and eager to begin their careers, law clerks at any level of the federal or state judiciary covet the opportunity to learn from a judge’s reservoir of knowledge. But law clerks who anticipate careers writing as advocates are also well-positioned to learn about something that a judge may not know when briefs or other adversary submissions land on the desk.

That “something” concerns jargon, this article’s focus because its use by advocates can impede the court’s understanding of a case’s facts and law. “Jargon” refers to “special words or expressions that …

The Restatements And The Rule Of Law, Kristina Daugirdas

Book Chapters

This chapter explores the promotion of the rule of law. In drafting and publishing Restatements of Foreign Relations Law, both the American Law Institute and the reporters have understood the projects as contributing to the rule of law at the international level, at the domestic level, or both. There are at least three distinct ways that these Restatements might promote the rule of law. First, they might do so by clarifying the content of the law. Second, the Restatements might contribute to the development of new legal rules, specifically to the evolution and consolidation of customary international law. Finally, the …

Eighty Years Of Federalism Forbearance: Rationing, Resignation, And The Rule Of Law, Gil Seinfeld

Reviews

Andrew Coan’s book, Rationing the Constitution, offers a novel account of the forces that drive Supreme Court decisions across a wide array of highly controversial, vitally important areas of law. The project is ambitious. It endeavors to improve our understanding of forces that constrain the form and, ultimately, the substance of our constitutional law along each of its major axes: federalism, the separation of powers, and individual rights. I think it succeeds. The book’s central claim—that familiar (but underexplored) institutional constraints and background norms sharply limit the range of choices available to the Court when it is called upon to …

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

True Friends Never Disappear, Alberto R. Gonzales

Law Faculty Scholarship

In this reflective essay published in Student Lawyer, Alberto R. Gonzales recounts his personal and professional journey from a childhood marked by poverty to service at the highest levels of state and federal government, including as U.S. attorney general. Gonzales describes how early material deprivation fueled his ambition, leading him to elite educational institutions and a prestigious legal career. Yet, despite significant professional accomplishments—including service as a Texas Supreme Court justice, White House counsel, and attorney general—he reflects that achievement alone did not bring lasting fulfillment. Instead, he emphasizes the enduring importance of authentic relationships, particularly with family and …

Protecting Participants In Genomic Research: Understanding The "Web Of Protections" Afforded By Federal And State Law, Leslie E. Wolf, Catherine M. Hammack, Erin Fuse Brown, Kathleen M. Brelsford, Laura M. Beskow

Law Faculty Scholarship

Advances in genomic research increasingly rely on large-scale datasets combining biospecimens, electronic health records, and behavioral data. This article examines the complex legal framework governing privacy and confidentiality protections for participants in genomic research in the United States. Through a combination of qualitative interviews with national thought leaders and systematic legal analysis of federal and state statutes, the authors assess how existing legal protections operate in practice. The study evaluates several hypothetical research scenarios—including the return of individual results, data breaches, and legal demands for data access—to illustrate how laws such as the Common Rule, HIPAA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination …

Hierarchies Of Elitism And Gender: The Bluebook And The Alwd Guide, Steven K. Homer

Faculty Scholarship

Hierarchies persist in legal academia. Some of these, while in plain view, are not so obvious because they manifest in seemingly small, mundane choices. Synecdoche is a rhetorical device used to show how one detail in a story tells the story of the whole. This Article examines hierarchies of elitism and gender through a lens of synecdoche. The focus is on the choice of citation guide. Even something as seemingly benign and neutral as choosing a citation guide can reveal hierarchies of elitism and gender bias in legal education and the legal profession. Put another way, the choice of citation …

Legal Writing Manual, Jean Mangan, Chase Lyndale, Gabrielle Gravel

Books

This manual provides you with an overview of first-year legal writing topics and provides checkpoints during your writing process. On the other hand, this manual does not answer every question you have ever had on any legal writing concept and it is certainly not a spellbook that will make you instantly awesome at legal writing. Writing as a skill is a lifelong development process. Everyone can be an effective legal writer. Put in the time to study the concepts and then to practice using those concepts in your writing. Seek feedback on your writing and implement the feedback you receive. …

Academic Law Libraries And Scholarship: Communication, Publishing, And Ranking, Dana Neacsu, James Donovan

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The context in which academic libraries operate is fast evolving, and the current COVID pandemic has underscored the new demands on libraries to reinvent themselves and their scholarship role. The library’s role has always been focused on scholarly dissemination and preservation, more recently by archiving their faculty work on mirror sites known as academic repositories. Libraries connect scholarship and users by offering the space for users to come and use the archived knowledge. However, if historically their role was to collect and provide secure access to sources, that role is in the midst of radical transformations.

In our age of …

An Unusual Suspect? Unreliable Narrators In Fiction And Law, Cathren Page

Articles

This article discusses the common traits of unreliable narrators and provides solutions for those seeking to defeat unreliable narrators in legal battles. Since the unreliable narrator concept first developed and evolved in literary analysis, the article explores and compares unreliable narrators in both fiction and law.

When the audience cannot depend on the accuracy or reliable character of a narrator’s account, literary criticism deems these storytellers “unreliable narrators.” Unreliable narrators exhibit certain “tells,” which disclose to savvy or intuitive audience members that some aspect of the narrators’ tale is dubious. These unreliable narrators can be divided into two broad categories, …

Regarding Narrative Justice, Womxn, Geeta Tewari

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The story within this article explores how narrative justice can be applied as a form of advocacy for persons seeking access to justice. The questions—what is narrative justice? How do we define it?—deserve a separate space, which will be shared in a forthcoming article. Meanwhile, in short, narrative justice is the power of the word—written, spoken, articulated with the emotion or experience of an individual or collective, to shape or express reaction to law and policy.

Hendiadys In The Language Of The Law: What Part Of "And" Don't You Understand?, Elizabeth Fajans, Mary R. Falk

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.