Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Getting The Reader To Say “Yes”: Applying Negotiation Principles From The Books Getting To Yes And Getting Past No To Achieve Effective And Persuasive Legal Writing, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

This Article explores the relationship between the strategies of principled negotiation and effective persuasive legal writing as articulated in the best-selling books, Getting to Yes and Getting Past No. Though there is substantial scholarship advocating adding a negotiation component to legal writing instruction, there is little scholarship addressing how to apply the concepts of principled negotiation to persuasive writing itself. In this Article, the Author explains the foundational concepts of principled negotiation and then shows how they relate and apply to drafting an effective piece of persuasive legal writing. Looking at written advocacy through a negotiation lens reinforces good …

Ai Lawyering Skills Trainers: Transforming Legal Education With Generative Ai, Alexandria Serra

Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet

The integration of generative AI (GenAI) tools in legal education is not just an innovation—it's a transformative shift redefying how law students acquire and refine advocacy skills. This article examines AI’s critical role in modernizing legal education, emphasizing its potential to offer personalized, one-on-one coaching that enhances student learning and engagement. As AI reshapes the legal profession, law schools must evolve to prepare students for an AI-driven future.

Serving as a practical guide, this article provides a step-by-step framework for educators and institutions to develop AI tools that simulate real-world courtroom scenarios and provide continuous, personalized feedback. It also highlights …

Feedback Loops: Challenge & Recovery, Patrick Barry

Articles

About halfway through the course on feedback I teach to law students, I tell them to take out their calendar and look over their recent schedule. How many days in the previous few weeks, I ask them, felt like "challenge days"? I explain that challenge days are days when you have to perform at a high level, whether because a major task requires a lot of your energy and mental bandwidth-studying for a big test, preparing for a tough negotiation, dealing with an unexpected family crisis-or because the time available to handle a lot of minor tasks seems cruelly inadequate. …

Tone Coach, Patrick Barry

Articles

Think of how many emails you have sent in the past week, month, and year. Did you always strike the appropriate tone? Did you always use the right words? Did you consistently sound the way you intended? I encourage my law students to use these questions to periodically give themselves some self-feedback. Take a look at your recent (and not-so-recent) correspondences, I tell them. Read your words aloud. Assess whether the voice you hear is the voice you want others to hear.

The Role Of Tradition In Classical And Contemporary Argument, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

Integrating tradition in legal arguments remains an effective persuasive strategy, serving as a source of legitimacy and appeal, fostering the establishment of a shared identity between the speaker and the audience, and cultivating a sense of belonging to a distinct group with defined notions of its identity. This chapter examines the strategic utilization of the concept of tradition in forensic rhetoric. It investigates how communicators shape and influence discourse within forensic settings by leveraging enduring cultural norms, purported intentions and beliefs of esteemed historical figures, and narratives concerning a people's historical trajectory. By examining cases from the popular courts of …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Free To Be You But Not Me?, Leah Litman

Reviews

In Gendered Liberty, Prof. Laura Portuondo presents a doctrinal puzzle: While claims to individual liberty are in decline in some spaces, they are ascendant in others. As Portuondo describes things, constitutional law has become increasingly hostile to claims by people who seek to defy gendered stereotypes. That includes the women who, for whatever reason, do not want to become mothers when they are pregnant, as well as the women whose lives, health, or fertility would be in jeopardy if they became mothers. The Supreme Court overruled their claims to liberty in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Ecosocialism, Degrowth, And Global South Thought: Critical Legal Transformations, Nicholas F. Stump

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article explores how Critical Legal Research (CLR) can help drive transformations of our ecological political economy towards true system change. CLR entails a critical legal theory–informed approach to legal and broader socio-legal research. After articulating the CLR framework, this Article explores its potential in the context of leading and intertwined bodies of theory for transformative change: ecosocialism, degrowth, and Global South and Indigenous thought. Next, this Article offers concrete avenues to help pursue such emancipatory change—i.e., specifically focusing on the popular conception of an “ecosocialist transition.” Ecosocialist transition strategies include non-reformist reforms, dual power, a radical just transition, and …

Feedback Loops: Feedback Thresholds, Patrick Barry

Articles

The idea that folks "Become more comfortable about talking because they see other people do it" may seem simple. But the effect can be profound-on jury pools, in classrooms, and when trying to get a robust dose of feedback from an initially reticent group.

Design Problems, Mark P. Mckenna, Jessica Silbey

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay draws on our empirical research into designers and their work to investigate the limits of intellectual property law for achieving its goal of progress in the design context. We focus on two related aspects of our research and also address a pressing doctrinal question in design patent law. The two research questions we discuss are: (1) How do designers conceive of and solve design problems through innovative design practice?; and (2) How do designers incorporate human values of coherence, inclusivity, and sustainability in their process, imbuing their practice with a kind of politics? The related doctrinal question concerns …

Brief Amicus Curiae Of Professor Jed Hanelsman Shugerman In Support Of Respondents, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

Amicus Curiae Jed Handelsman Shugerman is a Professor of Law at Boston University. He holds a JD and a PHD is History. Shugerman subscribes to the interpretation of the Constitution based on original public meaning (i.e. originalism). He has written extensively on the history of presidential power and the original public meaning of Article II.

Shugerman and Gary Lawson have co-written "Presidential Removal as Article I, not Article II," offering originalist alternatives to limit Congress's power to restrict presidential removal power, while allowing good-cause conditions in traditional exceptional cases. This amicus brief summarizes these alternatives and shows how they are …

What We Should Know About The Reliability Of Empirical Legal Studies, Kathryn Zeiler

Faculty Scholarship

The findings of replication studies conducted in the early 2010s led many to declare that science was in the midst of a “replication crisis.” Since then, a growing number of reforms have been proposed and tested. The field of empirical legal studies seems behind other fields such as psychology, economics, political science, medicine, biology, and others that have taken significant steps toward uncovering the general reliability of the field’s empirical work, investigating the causes of observed unreliability, and instituting and testing the effects of various reforms. The purpose of this Article is to summarize what we know about the reliability …

The Prosecutor Vacancy Crisis, Adam M. Gershowitz

BYU Law Review

There is a prosecutor vacancy crisis in the United States. Prosecutors are quitting in droves and there are few applicants to replace them. In Houston and Los Angeles, more than 15% of prosecutor positions are open. In Detroit, the vacancy rate exceeds 20%. In Alameda, 25% of prosecutor positions are empty. And in Miami, a staggering 33% of prosecutor positions are unfilled. The situation is equally dire in many large and small counties across the nation.

Drawing on data and interviews from more than two-dozen district attorney’s offices, this Article documents how low salaries, massive caseloads, lack of remote work …

Reply Brief For Plaintiff-Appellant Brandon Velez, Stephen T. Martin, Seth J. Hipple, Madeline H. Meth

Faculty Scholarship

Defendants don’t want to face the evidence, including video footage, that shows them escalating a traffic stop in front of Velez’s home to a forceful arrest because Velez exercised his First Amendment rights. So, instead of dealing with the record directly, Defendants rely entirely on the district court’s (improper) view of the record, which on appeal from that court’s grant of summary judgment is subject to this Court’s de novo review. Besides ignoring the evidence that favors Velez, Defendants leave unaddressed this Court’s key cases, citing only precedent in which officers confronted wildly different circumstances from those presented here.

When …

Corpus Linguistics At The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office, Tabrez Y. Ebrahim

BYU Law Review

This Article examines the intersection of corpus linguistics and patent law. It introduces the foundations of corpus linguistics and its application to the law and advances the potential for its application to patent examination at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Historically, the disciplines of corpus linguistics and patent law did not intersect until scholars began to consider the application of corpus linguistics to patent litigation for interpretation of terms in patent claims. Interpretation of legal language provided by corpus linguistics and applied to patent examination at the USPTO has yet to be addressed and is a novel …

Whose Information Is Whose? Adult Adoptees And The Silent Struggle To Access Records, Alyssa Traina

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The United States has fifty-one different laws pertaining to adult adoptee access to their original birth certificates and adoption court records, with only fifteen states being unrestricted. These states give adult adoptees access to their documents upon request. Fifteen states are restricted, meaning they require a court order to obtain documents, which involves proving “good cause” to a judge. This requirement of “good cause” has no standard definition. The remaining twenty-one states are compromised, meaning they have complex requirements to obtain documentation. My research uses case studies of the restricted laws of California, the unrestricted laws of Louisiana, and the …

Wrongful Death Actions In Missouri, Brad Matteuzzi

Law Student Works

This pathfinder covers the law that governs wrongful death actions in the state of Missouri. It focuses on the sources of law, who can bring the action, available damages, and relevant examples.

This pathfinder is primarily intended to provide an overview of Missouri wrongful death actions for law students or practitioners that are unfamiliar with wrongful death actions generally or new to the practice in Missouri. Many civil litigation firms dealing in personal injury will necessarily handle wrongful death actions.

The purpose of this pathfinder is to provide a simple and repeatable guide to locating the necessary resources to quickly …

Service Animal Rights In Hospitals & Other Businesses That Offer Public Accommodations: Americans With Disabilities Act - Title Iii, Yara Duran

Law Student Works

This pathfinder guide provides an overview into the laws that govern an animal’s rights and restrictions in hospitals, healthcare facilities, and other businesses that offer public accommodations. This guide is intended for attorneys, hospital administrators, and business owners who wish to understand what the law requires in their interactions with service animals. The information gleaned through this research can be used to develop legally compliant policies that protect all interested parties. Secondarily, this guide is intended for law students who would like to learn more about the legal rights and restrictions of service animals.

The guide will begin by discussing …

Cancellation Of Removal For Inadmissible Non-Citizens, Anna Vanbuskirk

Law Student Works

Cancellation of removal is a defensive application for non-citizens in immigration removal proceedings. It is often colloquially referred to as “42B cancellation of removal” based on the form number of the associated application. This Pathfinder research guide provides an overview of cancellation of removal for inadmissible non-citizens. Those who satisfy the criteria in INA § 240A(b)(1) and successfully petition an immigration judge for 42B cancellation of removal are eligible for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence.

This guide navigates the researcher through an overview of the cancellation of removal criteria and how to find the relevant federal statutes, applicable …

W&L Law Library Newsletter, Vol. 4, Iss. 1 (Dec. 2024), The Law Library At Washington And Lee University School Of Law

W&L Law Library Newsletter

W&L Law Library Newsletter, Volume 4, Issue 1 (December 2024).

Enforceability Of Consumer Arbitration Agreements In Missouri, Bobbie L. Crew

Law Student Works

Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution in which parties agree to "choose one or more neutral third parties to make a final and binding decision [to] resolv[e] the dispute" outside of court. Courts generally cannot overturn a binding decision made under a valid arbitration agreement. Arbitration may be used to resolve a variety of disputes, but this Pathfinder explores the enforceability of arbitration agreements in the consumer context. Consumer arbitration agreements are made between a business offering a product or a service and its direct consumer. Businesses are increasingly including arbitration provisions in their Terms & Conditions and …

Reshaping Intellectual Property Scholarship From Within, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

Written for the Symposium collecting papers from the Race + IP 23 Conference, this article explores intellectual property scholarship that has been either overlooked or marginalized. Because scholars of color are often outsiders looking in, the article identifies opportunities to reshape intellectual property scholarship from within. Even though the focus of this article was chosen with readers of this Symposium in mind, its insights will be relevant to all scholars.

This article begins by calling on scholars to develop a deeper appreciation of the intrinsic motivations of authors and inventors. It then discusses the oft-overlooked inequalities of creativity and innovation …

Georgia’S Law Of Rules: Textualism And A Survey Of The Canons, Matthew P. Cavedon

Mercer Law Review

Before a travel guide can be written, there has to be a map; before treatises can be written, there have to be surveys. This Article is a survey of Georgia textualism and every canon the Supreme Court of Georgia has recognized in its 180-year history. I begin with a general overview of textualism: the priority of plain meaning, legal context, and legal history (Part I). If there is no ambiguity, “our search for [legal] meaning is at an end.”

But of course, this frequently fails to be the case, so I have read nearly 4,000 cases in search of the …

One Is Not Enough: Session, The Social Status Provision, And Consistent And Definitive Constructions, Miles C. Skedsvold

Mercer Law Review

Originalism really is “a theory working itself pure.” But most of the blood, sweat, and tears in the enterprise are spilled over the federal constitution. At least partially as a result of those efforts, though, more and more important legal questions are examined under state law—and in particular, state constitutions. And so it is more important than ever to work through the hard methodological questions that will help produce answers. Presiding Justice Nels S.D. Peterson’s landmark article “Principles of Georgia Constitutional Interpretation” breaks key ground in this area—and this Article aims to take the shovel and keep digging. ...

Thus, …

The Enduring Relevance Of Congress Despite The Court's Shift To “Ordinary Reader” Statutory Interpretation, Abbe R. Gluck, Laila M. Robbins

Journal of Law and Policy

Has Congress become irrelevant to statutory interpretation? The dominant theoretical and doctrinal paradigm in American statutory interpretation has always been the conversation between Congress and the courts. Today, however, the Court’s new, second-generation textualists claim they have left Congress behind. They argue they have changed textualism’s perspective, from an “insider” perspective focused on Congress’s textual choices, to an “outsider” perspective based on how “ordinary people” read statutes. The Court’s self-professed shift away from a legiscentric approach, if true, would be a seismic shift in the conception of the judicial role. Whereas judges and scholars—including first-generation textualists—had for a century focused …

The Broad Church Of Modern Textualism, Nicole Steitz, Brian G. Slocum, Kevin Tobia

Journal of Law and Policy

Nearly thirty years ago, Justice Scalia’s Tanner lectures branded Holy Trinity Church v. United States (1892) as the anti-textualist archetype, a decision trumping the text’s plain meaning with a suspect judicial investigation of the law’s purpose or spirit. And so Holy Trinity seemed, until Gales and Solan’s groundbreaking empirical study supported an alternative reading of the key statutory term (“labor or service”) that would avoid this conflict between text and purpose. Taking inspiration from Gales and Solan, we reconsider Holy Trinity using the precepts of modern textualism, with its increased emphasis on context, pragmatics, anti-literalism, legal meaning, holistic meaning, non-compositionality, …