Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

De-Democratizing Criminal Law, Benjamin Levin

Publications

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Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Lawyers, Religious Faith, And Virtues: Reflections On Tom And Nancy Shaffer, Robert F. Cochran Jr.

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Tribute to Tom and Nancy Shaffer

Thomas L. Shaffer, Legal Ethics, And St. Mary’S University, Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Tribute to Thomas L. Shaffer

A Jewish Perspective On Tom Shaffer: Zecher Tzadik Livracha (May The Memory Of The Righteous Be A Blessing), Russell G. Pearce

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Tribute to Thomas L. Shaffer

Considering Legitimacy, Gillian E. Metzger

Faculty Scholarship

This Article on Richard Fallon’s Law and Legitimacy in the Supreme Court focuses on public acceptance of the Supreme Court’s authority, what Fallon calls sociological legitimacy. After setting out Fallon’s accounts of legitimacy and constitutional argumentation, the Article looks at public opinion data and political science scholarship on the extent to which the Court’s decisions affect public acceptance of the Court. It then turns to the normative question of whether, even if the Court’s decisions may undermine its sociological legitimacy, that impact is a legally legitimate factor for the Court to consider. The Article argues that strategic consideration of the …

Exemplary Legal Writing 2019: Four Recommendations, Jed S. Rakoff, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

Part of the purpose of recommending exemplary law books of the past year to readers of the Green Bag is to bring to their focus books even such erudite readers may not have noticed that nonetheless deserve their attention.

Exemplary Legal Writing 2019: Five Recommendations, G. Edward White, Sarah Seo

Faculty Scholarship

In the song “Natalie Cook” from the musical podcast “36 Questions,” a married couple deals with the fallout from the husband’s discovery that his wife is really an individual named Judith, who “built a past / Made up a history / Details that fit this person named / Natalie.” When the husband accuses the wife, “You’re the one who made her up,” Natalie/Judith responds, “It was a bit more collaborative than you’re remembering.”

Identity: The Demand For Dignity And The Politics Of Resentment, Elizabeth Adamo Usman

Law Faculty Scholarship

This review examines Francis Fukuyama’s Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment and evaluates both its substantive thesis and its relevance to legal writing pedagogy. The reviewer summarizes Fukuyama’s three-part argument: that modern identity politics, rooted in the concept of thymos (the human desire for recognition), has reshaped political conflict; that this development poses a significant threat to liberal democratic institutions; and that a renewed, creedal national identity grounded in universal democratic values offers a necessary remedy. The review highlights major criticisms of Fukuyama’s historical framing, normative claims, and policy proposals, including his emphasis on assimilation and …

Why Fifty: An Analysis Of The Small Business Exemption Codified In The Family And Medical Leave Act Of 1993, Lynn Ridgeway Zehrt

Law Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the small business exemption codified in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), which limits coverage to employers with fifty or more employees and thereby excludes a substantial portion of the American workforce from job-protected leave. Situating the FMLA within the broader landscape of federal employment legislation, the author examines the legislative history that led Congress to adopt a significantly broader small business exemption than those found in comparable statutes such as Title VII and the ADA. The article demonstrates that political compromise—shaped by concerns about employer costs and small business burdens—produced a threshold that …

Justice Sonia Sotomayor: The Court’S Premier Defender Of The Fourth Amendment, David L. Hudson Jr.

Law Faculty Scholarship

This essay posits that Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the Supreme Court’s chief defender of the Fourth Amendment and the cherished values it protects. She has consistently defended Fourth Amendment freedoms—in majority, concurring, and especially in dissenting opinions. Part I recounts a few of her majority opinions in Fourth Amendment cases. Part II examines her concurring opinion in United States v. Jones. Part III examines several of her dissenting opinions in Fourth Amendment cases. A review of these opinions demonstrates what should be clear to any observer of the Supreme Court: Justice Sotomayor consistently defends Fourth Amendment principles and values.

Fixed Stars: Famous First Amendment Phrases And Their Indelible Impact, David L. Hudson Jr., Jacob David Glenn

Law Faculty Scholarship

Some passages in First Amendment law have taken on a life and legend of their own, entering our cultural lexicon for their particular power, precision or passion. Some phrases are just so beautifully written that they cannot escape notice. Others aptly capture the essence of a key concept in a memorable way. Still others seemingly have grown in importance simply by the frequency for which they are cited in later court decisions. This article analyzes ten phrases from U.S. Supreme Court First Amendment decisions that qualify as some of the most enduring passages in First Amendment jurisprudence.

The "Other" Market, Cody Jacobs

Faculty Scholarship

The hiring market for tenure-track non–legal writing positions is a world unto itself with its own lingo (i.e., “meat market” and “FAR form”), its own unwritten rules (i.e., “Do not have two first-year courses in your preferred teaching package.”), and carefully calibrated expectations for candidates and schools with respect to the process and timing of hiring. These norms and expectations are disseminated to the participants in this market through a relatively well-established set of feeder fellowships, visiting assistant professor programs, elite law schools, blogs, and academic literature on the subject.

But there is another market that goes on every year …

Technologies Of Language Meet Ideologies Of Law, Anya Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

This Article challenges this new prevailing wisdom, puts legal corpus linguistics in the context of other meaning-making technologies, and suggests an approach for analyzing any technology of language in the law. One of my aims is to caution against technological exceptionalism—a view that computerized, automated, or big-data approaches are somehow special, perhaps more trustworthy, less subjective, and most likely to succeed. Rather, I argue that we should ask the same questions and make the same demands of any method of interpretation.

Any technology, after all, is only as useful as the way it is used: Technology depends on technique. So …

The Patriation Of Canadian Corporate Law, Camden Hutchison

All Faculty Publications

Canadian corporate law belongs within a broader Anglo-American legal tradition, sharing many of the features of other common law jurisdictions, most notably England and the United States. Prior to Confederation, Canadian corporate law first emerged from nineteenth-century English legislation and continued to resemble English law – at least superficially – well into the twentieth century. Legislation is only one source of corporate law, however. Just as important is the creation of legal rules through the common law adjudicatory process. Thus, examining case law raises an important empirical question distinct from, though relevant to, the issue of legislative influence – namely, …

The Value Of An Academic Law Library In The 21st Century, Anne Klinefelter

Faculty Publications

Law school deans and university provosts may ask how law libraries can deliver value as new technologies, practices, and economic pressures inspire reassessment of legal education and of higher education more generally. The proliferation of information delivery systems, trends towards centralized management of higher education infrastructure, and changes in the law practice market suggest that the traditional law library may not meet current needs. But law libraries have the potential and opportunity to deliver strong value in this environment due largely to the sophistication of today's law librarians. The law library can be a center for expertise that can advance …

Exposing The Imposter: Imposter Syndrome & Legal Writing Faculty, Sara L. Ochs

Events at Dickinson Law

Legal academics often report crippling feelings of insecurity and inadequacy, symptoms of a widespread trend labeled as “imposter syndrome.” Experts have defined this phenomenon as a “deep and sometimes paralyzing belief that we have been given something we didn’t earn and don’t deserve and that at some point we’ll be exposed.” Given the evident hierarchies in legal academia, these feelings are especially prominent among legal writing faculty, and even more so among those in untenured positions. Using empirical data acquired from law professors, this presentation will analyze the prevalence and causes of imposter syndrome among legal writing faculty and will …

Research Instruction At Yale Law School, Julie Graves Krishnaswami

Events at Dickinson Law

At Yale Law School, the Law Librarians take a holistic approach to providing legal research instruction. With that approach, we meet students where they are – academically and curricularly – through courses, reference consultations, guest lectures, and workshops. We provide elective research instruction in a variety of fora to meet the needs of our students. Our research courses are elective and are supplemented by workshops and guest lectures in clinical and doctrinal courses, and for student groups. Yale Law School students recognize the need for research instruction, and we have expanded our offerings to meet demand. The Law Library’s holistic …

Making Two Separates Equal: Combining Graduation Requirements And Research And Writing Skills, Ann Walsh Long

Events at Dickinson Law

ABA Standard 303 requires that a law school offer a curriculum that requires each student to satisfactorily complete at least one professional responsibility course, one upper-level writing course, and one or more experiential course(s) totaling at least six credit hours. While the same class cannot count toward more than one of these requirements, Interpretation 303-1 allows one course to count as "either as an upper-class writing requirement or as a simulation course provided the course meets all of the requirements of both types of courses and the law school permits a student to use the course to satisfy only one …

The Traditional Legal Analysis, Research, And Writing Course: Does Subject Synthesis Serve Students Best?, Anna Hemingway, Sherri Keene

Events at Dickinson Law

Most law schools’ first-year curriculums include a course on legal analysis, research, and writing. At many law schools, the synthesis of these subjects into one course is considered the best way to teach first-year law students basic lawyering skills. Recently, however, law schools have begun to separate the topics into stand-alone courses. This presentation will review the different models law schools are currently using and will explore additional opportunities to remix the individual topics with other first-year courses.