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Law Library Blog (January 2019): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Review Of Draft No. 4, Beth Hirschfelder Wilensky

Reviews

"Draft No. 4" is an essay collection by John McPhee about his long career as a journalist for The New Yorker. This book review uses the essay collection as a jumping-off point to discuss the similarities and differences between legal writing and long-form journalism, and what legal writers can learn about the writing process from journalists like McPhee.

Inside The Black Box Of Search Algorithms, Susan Nevelow Mart, Joe Breda, Ed Walters, Tito Sierra, Khalid Al-Kofahi

Publications

A behind-the-scenes look at the algorithms that rank results in Bloomberg Law, Fastcase, Lexis Advance, and Westlaw.

Taxing Combat, Samuel Kan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

When you are being shot at or dodging landmines you are in a combat zone. Diplomatic niceties aside, these brave warriors are in danger because of the policies of their Government and we must take care of them. Quite frankly, we must act to insure that we do not have a repeat of what happened in Somalia. In Somalia, the families of the soldiers who lost their lives could not receive the benefits that should have gone to them under the Tax Code because the President never declared it a combat zone.

We don’t know exactly where we’re at in …

Predetermined? The Prospect Of Social Determinant-Based Section 1115 Waivers After Stewart V. Azar, Griffin Schoenbaum

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Section 1115 of the Social Security Act allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the “Secretary”) to waive some of Medicaid’s requirements so states can enact “demonstration projects.” A demonstration project is an experiment a state can conduct by modifying aspects of its Medicaid program. To waive Medicaid’s requirements for this purpose, the Secretary must determine that the proposed demonstration project will likely assist in promoting Medicaid’s objectives.

Using this standard, President Trump’s Secretary has approved waiver requests to enact demonstration projects that contain “community engagement” requirements. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has heard each …

Stepping Up Access To The Indiana Code: Partnering For Increased Access And Preservation, Susan David Demaine, Benjamin J. Keele, Hannah Alcasid

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Books, Debate, Specificity, Neal Kumar Katyal

Michigan Law Review

Foreword to Volume 117, Issue 6 of the Michigan Law Review.

Masthead

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bibliography Of The Writings (1979-2019) Of Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin (1938-2019) was a major family law practitioner in Pennsylvania for the last 40 years. Members of the section paid tribute to her in the October 2018 issue of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer as did Judge Daniel Clifford who gave a Memorial Minute published in the Spring 2019 issue of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer from which the following is summarized.

Goodrich-Amram: Who Were They?, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Generations of Pennsylvania judges and lawyers have used Goodrich-Amram Procedural Rules with Forms as a major treatise on the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. The authors wrote the first edition beginning in 1940 as Pennsylvania Procedural Rules Service, with Forms: Civil Practice Under the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, published by Matthew Bender and Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company. There were four volumes with updates published as pamphlets refilling the volumes as needed. Two additional publications were A 1963 Supplement to the Rules Binder (binder) and a September 1977 pamphlet to the Rules Binder.2 In 1976, a …

We Carry Each Other, Heidi K. Brown

Faculty Scholarship

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One Legal Argument, Robin Boyle-Laisure

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

A governing rule may be composed of a single legal argument, or multiple legal arguments, particularly if the client’s question requires analysis of multiple elements or factors. Each legal argument that an attorney builds will have the same components. Those components are

• A statement identifying the legal issue to be addressed.

• The rule governing the legal issue and, where needed, an explanation of the relevant authorities or cases supporting that rule.

• An application of the law to the facts of your client’s case.

• A final conclusion or prediction about how a court might rule on …

The Unparalleled Benefits Of Teaching Parallelism, Rachel H. Smith

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

As a student, I never learned how to use parallel structure, or “parallelism,” as a writing technique. I didn’t even know the official term until I started teaching legal writing. But even if I couldn’t name it, I always knew I liked it. As a high-school history student, I felt its force in speeches like Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, William Jennings Bryan’s Cross of Gold, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream. Parallelism always felt to me like the place where poetry meets prose—where even the most mundane writing can start to sing.

Live And Learn: Live Critiquing And Student Learning, Patricia G. Montana

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

After nearly fifteen years of teaching first-year and upper-level legal writing courses and commenting on thousands of student papers, I decided to experiment with a new way of giving feedback. In a break from the traditional written feedback I had become accustomed to in the form of margin comments and a combination of line edits and end notes, I opted to live a little and learn a new practice: live critiquing. Live critiquing is essentially the process of giving students feedback on their work “live” or in-person, rather than in writing. In the most liberal approach to live critiquing, …

The Legal Imagination: Studies In The Nature Of Legal Thought And Expression, Rachel H. Smith

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

This book, now available in a 45th-anniversary edition, is a marvel for its breadth and creativity. It remains a must-read for lawyers, law students, and law professors, even those who are not familiar with the Law as Literature movement for which the book was a founding contribution. Those who read it decades ago would be well served by a revisit because the book’s care and attention to legal language remain uniquely powerful.

Finding Balance: Using Employment Law Problems To Achieve Multiple Learning Goals In Persuasive Legal Writing, Rosa Castello

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Legal Writing professors, like myself, face the same challenge each new semester: how can I effectively and efficiently help students learn one of the most important skills for a practicing lawyer? And one large hurdle in this quest to make our students good legal writers is creating a trial motion or appellate brief problem that helps them develop the particular skills required for persuasive legal writing. The act of creating the problem is sometimes like tightrope walking̶ finding just the right balance of facts and law to challenge students and help develop and enhance vital research, analytical, organizational, writing, …

Table Of Contents

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fake News, Alternative Facts, And Disinformation: The Importance Of Teaching Media Literacy To Law Students, Marin Dell

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.