Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Vol. 4, No. 4 (February 6, 1981)

Exordium

No abstract provided.

Writing From A Legal Perspective By George D. Gopen, Douglas E. Abrams, Jay Wishingrad

Faculty Publications

Criticism of legal writing has come with increasing frequency and stridency in recent years from lawyers and nonlawyers alike. Judges have criticized the writing of advocates, and lawyers have complained about the writing of judges and other lawyers. Law professors have bemoaned both their students' inability to write the King's English5 *1062 and their own tendency to write ‘unintelligible gibberish.’ And all law school graduates have been pilloried by a general public that has grown increasingly resentful of the unnecessary complexity of ‘legalese.

Annotated Bibliography

Michigan Journal of International Law

Corporate concentration of both a national and transnational character is one of the more oblique topics in antitrust literature. Books and articles in the area tend to focus on narrow aspects of this issue, or on the regulatory efforts of particular countries and international organizations. The annotations which follow highlight some of the leading writings on industrial concentration.

Techniques Of Legal Drafting: A Survival Manual, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

The charge that we lawyers cannot write plain English is often supported by the quality of our legal documents. Legal drafting has aspects of complexity and precision not found in the great bulk of writing with which pre-law students are familar. Yet the traditional apprentice method for training competent legal draftsmen has failed "either because the typical young lawyer has been apprenticed to the wrong master or because the law schools have been unable to provide enough competent ones." This lack of a proper emphasis on legal drafting skills in America is demonstrated by the fact that of the four …

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 …

Techniques Of Legal Drafting: A Survival Manual, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to identify and demonstrate various legal drafting concepts and techniques in order to give the law student and legal practitioner a working knowledge of the fundamental principles of legal drafting. Although this article does not purport to be an exhaustive treatise on the subject, it is offered to law students and practitioners alike for what it is-a basic survival manual for the aspiring legal draftsman.

Faithful Magistrates And Republican Lawyers: Creators Of Virginia's Legal Culture, 1680-1810, E. Lee Shepard

University of Richmond Law Review

That well-known but inadequately understood institution, the county court, was brought to life and placed in clear perspective as an integral part of the life of colonists of every variety of status and calling nearly thirty years ago in Charles Sydnor's classic, albeit impressionistic, study, Gentlemen Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington's Virginia (1952). Sydnor proclaimed that in eighteenth-century Virginia planters, not lawyers, dominated the political scene and thus dispensed with the legal profession. Sydnor's domain was politics; his discussion centered on the "county oligarchies." In recent years scholars have recognized the pressing need for a deeper understanding of the operations …

Postconviction Remedies, And Federal Jurisdiction: Tensions In The Allocation Of Judicial Power, Robert Popper, William B. De Meza

University of Richmond Law Review

Postconviction Remedies deals with a subject of great importance to the practitioner of criminal law. It is concerned with the procedures available to persons who seek relief from their convictions after trial and after direct review in the appellate courts. Though not usually a part of the law school curriculum and therefore not part of the attorney's formal training, the intricacies of postconviction remedies must be mastered by the lawyer who wishes to render skillful service to the convicted client. The trial and appeal are important battles, but others remain to be fought which can decide crucial issues seriously affecting …

Teaching Legal Reasoning In Law School, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

With the understanding that reasonable scholars and critics may differ, it is nevertheless this article's contention that law schools today must still strive to teach the basic logical principles-and process-of legal reasoning. By analogy, a swimmer must learn at least a few basic strokes in order to survive in his new environment. The same is true with law students and legal reasoning. An elementary foundation in legal reasoning skills, limited though it may be, is still better than nothing at all-especially when the latter alternative offers only confusion and misunderstanding.

The purpose of this article is to discuss one such …

European Community Law- A Selective Bibliography Of Publications In English, French And German With Annotations, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Earl Warren: The Judge Who Changed America. By Jack Harrison Pollack, Richard Y. Funston

Vanderbilt Law Review

Earl Warren was a decent, personable, and humane man who had the good fortune to preside over the Supreme Court of the United States at a peculiarly propitious moment. That, surely, is enough to say for any man's lifetime, and someday the definitive biography of Warren will say it. In the meantime, it remains some-thing of a mystery why aging liberals find it necessary to canonize the late Chief Justice. Nevertheless, journalist Jack Harrison Pollack's Earl Warren: The Judge Who Changed America is the latest addition to the Warren hagiography. In it you meet Warren,the self-effacing, underpaid, young District Attorney; …

Blueprint For A Legal Research And Writing Course, Ruth Fleet Thurman

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Works Of Reed Dickerson: A Bibliography, Colleen K. Pauwels

Indiana Law Journal

The Board of Editors dedicates this issue to Professor of Law F. Reed Dickerson upon the occasion of his retirement, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the study of law

Stating Objectives For A Legal Writing Course, Roger W. Andersen

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Lawyer's Writing, Richard C. Wydick

Michigan Law Review

A review of How To Write Plain English: A Book for Lawyers & Consumers by Rudolf Flesch

How To Write And Speak More Effectively As Advocate, Negotiator, Or Counselor -- Suggestions To The Budding Lawyer, Arthur R. Landever

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

How best to give you some ideas about legal communication? The traditional approach is to focus narrowly upon a particular type, for example, appellate oral argument. My approach is different. I view communication in its total aspect -- whatever its general nature (e.g. writing or speech), degree of formality (e.g. brief or office negotiation), or audience (e.g. lawyer or layman). My ideas proceed from a fundamental assumption: As a student you can gain insights about the subject, by first studying the broad canvas. As you then reflect upon any particular mode, it can be set against that background. The suggestions …

Teaching Legislative Drafting In Law School: A Model Course, Robert J. Hopperton

Duquesne Law Review

Law Schools traditionally have failed to provide adequate instruction in legislative drafting and this failure has been the subject of recent criticism. The author, a teacher of legal writing, advances for consideration his model course in legislative drafting as a means of increasing writing abilities and applying analytical skills. The author discusses the operation of his course and has included many of the materials he has developed for use in the course.

Should Plain English Be Legislated?, F. Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Secondary Legal Sources: A Selected Subject Bibliography Of Treatises, Looseleaf Services And Form Books Fourth Edition, Bruce S. Johnson, Steven M. Barkan, Mary C. Wilson

Law Library Publications

The fourth edition of this bibliography is a subject arrangement of selected English language treatises, looseleaf services and form books. Most all of the works listed were published in this country and all are in the collection of this law library.

Our object in revising this bibliography has been to present to the law students of The University of Michigan a reasonably thorough listing of useful and current secondary sources covering dorr1estic and international Jaw. The inclusion of a work in this bibliography does not mean that the Law Library is endorsing either the author's style or the substance of …

The Need For Clear Structure In 'Plain Language' Legal Drafting, Layman E. Allen, C. Rudy Engholm

Articles

Language is not simple. To pretend otherwise is to mislead. In practice the aspect that is handled most ineptly in written legal materials is the structure. The focus of this article is upon structure and how to improve it. At the outset, let one thing be absolutely clear. In seeking to achieve clarity of expression, those who have no more to recommend than short sentences, simple words, and readability formulas are offering a cracker in circumstances where a full gourmet feast is gleaming in the chef's eye for those with the wit but to ask for the menu. To practice …

Copyright And The Library Reserve Room, Fritz Snyder

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

This article examines the issue of copyright and the photocopying of materials for library reserve within the fair use doctrine.

Language, Law, And Logic: Plain Legal Drafting For The Electronic Age, Layman E. Allen

Book Chapters

The achievement of current demands for clearer legal drafting in the United States (New York, 1973 and President's Executive Order, 1978) and Great Britain (Renton Report, 1975) can be aided by applying modern logic to improve the language of the law. In considering how the expression of legal norms can be clarified by using some formal language techniques, particular attention will be given to alternatives for dealing with problems of inadvertent imprecision in current legal drafting, alternatives that facilitate human understanding as well as enhance the possibilities for analysis by computer. A brief sketch of the imprecision of the expression …

Rewriting First Year Legal Writing Programs, Michael Botein

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Clear Legal Drafting: What's Holding Us Back?, F. Reed Dickerson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

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.

The "Plain English" Trust, J. Rodney Johnson

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Johnson argues in favor of, and then provides an example of, a trust drafted in "plain English."

Legal Opinion Letters And Texas Usury Laws., Albert H. Hiller, G. Christopher Scruggs

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Rewriting First-Year Legal Writing Programs, Michael Botein

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

France: Libraries Of Law And Librarians, Claire M. Germain

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews In Law Reviews: An Endangered Species, David F. Cavers

Michigan Law Review

Introduction: Book Reviews in Law Reviews: An Endangered Species