Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Dethroning The Hierarchy Of Authority, Amy J. Griffin

Publications

The use of authority in legal argument is constantly evolving—both the types of information deemed authoritative and their degree of authoritativeness—and that evolution has accelerated in recent years with dramatic changes in access to legal information. In contrast, the uncontroversial and ubiquitous “hierarchy of authority” used as the cornerstone for all legal analysis has remained entirely fixed. This article argues that the use of the traditional hierarchy as the dominant model for legal authority is deeply flawed, impeding a deeper understanding of the use of authority in legal argument. Lawyers, judges, and academics all know this, and yet no scholarly …

Book Review, Anna Spain Bradley

Publications

No abstract provided.

Bloomberg’S Points Of Law: Can They Compete With Headnotes?, Jill Sturgeon

Publications

No abstract provided.

Tracking Colorado Legislation, Robert Linz

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Consensus Myth In Criminal Justice Reform, Benjamin Levin

Publications

It has become popular to identify a “consensus” on criminal justice reform, but how deep is that consensus, actually? This Article argues that the purported consensus is much more limited than it initially appears. Despite shared reformist vocabulary, the consensus rests on distinct critiques that identify different flaws and justify distinct policy solutions. The underlying disagreements transcend traditional left/right political divides and speak to deeper disputes about the state and the role of criminal law in society.

The Article maps two prevailing, but fundamentally distinct, critiques of criminal law: (1) the quantitative approach (what I call the “over” frame); and …

Publishing Basics: How To Get Started & Where To Begin: Tips For First-Time Writers Looking To Get Published, Shamika Dalton, Michele A. L. Villagran

Publications

No abstract provided.

Applying Daubert To Flaubert: Standards For Admissibility Of Testimony Of Writing Experts, Heidi K. Brown

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

How Academic Support Professionals Can Better Support Lgbtq Law Students – And Why We Should, Sarah J. Schendel

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This short essay addresses the unique role that academic support professionals can play in supporting LGBTQ students.

Freedom In Structure: Helping Foreign-Trained And International Graduate Students Develop Thesis Statements By Component, Elizabeth R. Baldwin

Articles

This article explains how foreign-trained and international graduate students can use a thesis development template to find and articulate narrow, novel, non-obvious, and useful claims for their final, academic papers in law. These students, in particular, are in need of clear direction and methods for crafting well-developed claims (or thesis statements), given that many are non-native speakers of English who trained in different legal and educational systems with different expectations about what constitutes good academic writing—in any genre, let alone law. Through the use of a thesis development template (adapted from writing advice by Joseph M. Williams and Eugene Volokh), …

Ask A Director: Reporting Accomplishments, Caroline L. Osborne

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Securing Professional Development: Getting To Yes, Caroline L. Osborne, Carol A. Watson, Amy J. Eaton

Scholarly Articles

None available.

Information Literacy In A Fake/False News World: An Overview Of The Characteristics Of Fake News And Its Historical Development, Carol A. Watson

Scholarly Works

Prior to designing strategies and information literacy programs to combat the dissemination and proliferation of fake/false news, it is instructive for legal information professionals to understand the characteristics of fake news and the context of its historical development.

Securing Professional Development: Getting To Yes, Caroline Osborne, Carol A. Watson, Amy J. Eaton

Scholarly Works

This article provides tips for employees seeking funding and training, and how supervisors can balance priorities and respond to requests.

It Is A Mindboggling Dilemma: To Play Or Not To Play Youth Sports Due To Concussion Risks?, Tracey Carter

Law Faculty Scholarship

Concussions and their long term effects resulting from football collisions have recently entered the forefront of social debate. Movies like Concussion as well as high-profile lawsuits due to post-concussion health effects have casted a spotlight on brain injuries at the collegiate and professional level. However, this debate has equal application in youth sports—recent studies show that sports-related concussions at the elementary, middle, and high school levels are equally concerning. Youth sports are safer when fewer athletes suffer from sports-related concussions. But litigation is not the best avenue to make youth sports safer. Youth sports can be improved by: 1) primary …

Law Schools, Bar Passage, And Under And Over-Performing Expectations, Jeffrey S. Kinsler, Jeffrey Omar Usman

Law Faculty Scholarship

The focus of this article is to build a foundation for exploring whether there is a meaningful solution to help address the bar passage problem that can be found looking to the legal education programs of law schools that are particularly successful in preparing students to pass the bar exam. To accomplish this aim, a critical and essential step is to begin to identify the law schools that are adding the most in terms of assisting their students to pass the bar exam. That first critical step is the step taken by this article. A common-sense assumption, which finds support …

Title Ix Policy Changes From An Administrative Law Perspective, Amy Moore

Belmont Criminal Law Journal

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2018 Symposium by Amy Moore looking at administrative law for a better handle on how to treat all of the documents that come along with Title IX, that interpret the pieces. There are a lot of pieces of Title IX, and a lot of different types of documents, but this presentation focuses on the sexual harassment guidance documents.

Attorney Advertising In 'The Litigators' And Modern-Day America: The Continued Importance Of The Public's Need For Legal Information, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Essay addresses the phenomenon of attorney advertising from several vantage points. Part II of the Essay addresses how best-selling author John Grisham depicts attorney advertising in his great book The Litigators. Part III discusses the legal framework of how the U.S. Supreme Court protected attorney advertising as a form of protected commercial speech. Part IV addresses how the states and bar regulators have treated attorney advertising. Finally, Part V addresses the recent Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers Report and the American Bar Association’s proposed changes to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct regarding attorney advertising. Part V briefly …

Thirty Years Of Hazelwood And Its Spread To Colleges And University Campuses, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article first examines K-12 student speech law before Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier and then discusses the Hazelwood decision. Next, the article focuses on the spread of Hazelwood and its deferential standard to the college and university level. This section examines cases from five different areas where the standard has been utilized with increasing frequency. Finally, the Article offers a few concluding thoughts on the Hazelwood standard and why it should be limited, if not interred.

First Amendment Tests From The Burger Court: Will They Be Flipped?, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article provides an overview of the Lemon test, Miller test, and the Central Hudson test, assessing how they fared in subsequent years, and offers thoughts on their continuing vitality.

Losing The Spirit Of Tinker V. Des Moines And The Urgent Need To Protect Student Speech, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay first examines the Tinker case and reminds readers of the powerful language Justice Fortas used in his majority opinion. It explains that the test from Tinker was designed to be a speech-protective standard for student litigants. The second part of the essay evaluates several recent cases, which demonstrate that the once speech-protective standard in Tinker has become a test that is often favorable and deferential to school officials embroiled in student, free-speech controversies.