Plagiarism In addition to the discussion in the Course Rules and Ethics Guidelines, here are some additional materials about plagiarism that you may find helpful:

David E. Sorkin, Practicing Plagiarism
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1100323
This is a short column about plagiarism that I wrote for the Illinois Bar Journal several years ago.

Judith D. Fischer, Avoiding Plagiarism in Legal Documents
http://ssrn.com/abstract=992332
K.K. DuVivier, Nothing New Under the Sun--Plagiarism In Practice
http://law.du.edu/images/uploads/Lawyering_Process_/Duvivier_articles/may%202003.pdf
These short articles (from Kentucky and Colorado's state bar journals) also discuss plagiarism in the practice of law.

Richard A. Bales, Quotations
http://ssrn.com/abstract=919303
This article is about the use of quotations in legal writing, but it includes a brief discussion of plagiarism. (Professor Bales's view on direct quotes seems to be similar to mine: Don't use them unless you have a very good reason.)

Also, the Legal Writing Institute offers a collection of materials on plagiarism.

 

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Questions and rules In chapter 7 of the writing textbook, take a look at Exercise 7-B (pages 187-188), regarding the Questions Presented section of a memo. We'll get to this next Tuesday (9/2).

Also on Tuesday, we will discuss Legal Rules: Elements, Alternatives, and Factors and the material on plagiarism in the Course Rules and Ethics Guidelines.

 

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The legal memo This Thursday (8/28) we're going to talk about the legal memorandum. Please read Memorandum Format along with the assigned chapters in the textbook. There are also some sample memos linked from the Course Materials page. When we get to small-scall organization (chapter 5), we'll discuss the IRAC model; you may find this Brief Guide to IRAC helpful.

One more thing -- here is a link to the web page of John Marshall's Writing Resource Center.

 

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Assignment for first class Our first class meeting is Thursday, August 21, 2008.

For that class, please read chapters 1 and 2 in Writing and Analysis in the Law. (You may skip over the exercises for now, although we may discuss some of them in class.)

The first several pages of chapter 1 are posted here, in case you don't yet have the textbook.

 

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Welcome! Welcome to The John Marshall Law School, and to Lawyering Skills I.

Here is a short article that you may find helpful as you begin your legal studies:

Orin S. Kerr, How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1160925

 

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