Oct

11

Law School Hosts Regional Writing Conference

Posted by: Rebecca K. Blemberg | October 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment

This weekend, from Friday evening through Saturday, the Law School hosted the Central Region Legal Writing Conference, welcoming more than 100 attendees, not only from the central United States but from all over the country.  The theme was “Climate Change:  Alternative Sources of Energy in Legal Writing,” and those who attended seemed energized by the [...]

Sep

24

Article Compares Research Results Using Westlaw and Lexis

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

This morning the Law Librarian Blog reports on a study that makes concrete the different research results achieved through the Westlaw and Lexis research systems.  The author of the paper, Susan Nevelow Mart, a reference librarian at UC-Hastings, provides this abstract on SSRN:

Feb

17

Dollars and Sense

Posted by: Alison E. Julien | February 17, 2009 | 4 Comments

I was scanning the Legal Writing Prof Blog this afternoon, and I noticed a post stating that, in an effort to save money, one large law firm is now requiring its attorneys to use Loislaw, rather than Lexis or Westlaw, for some of their research.  Evidently, the firm has imposed a three-part policy:

All non-billable [...]

Jan

26

Marquette to Host 2009 Central States Legal Writing Conference

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | January 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As just reported on the Legal Writing Prof Blog, the law school will host this fall’s Central States Legal Writing Conference.  The conference planning committee (led by our wonderful Alison Julien) met last Friday, and I am already excited for the event.  The regional legal writing conferences tend to focus on ideas for improving our [...]

Dec

16

What’s New in the Classroom: Fastcase

Posted by: Megan A. O'Brien | December 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

What’s new in the legal research classroom?   As was mentioned in previous posts, there is a new database, Fastcase, available to all Wisconsin bar members.   In the Advanced Legal Research classrooms this past semester students were introduced to Fastcase.  Now that it is available to all members of the Wisconsin bar, we plan to expand [...]

Dec

12

What’s New in the Classroom: Legal Research in the Real World

Posted by: Julie A. Norton | December 12, 2008 | 2 Comments

The Advanced Legal Research courses at Marquette have a “real world” focus.  For my part, I have tried to select research problems for final projects and assignments that place students in real world practice situations. 
To the extent that I can, I avoid the “hunt and find” type research problems for which there is one right [...]

Dec

10

Cobb and Kaltsounis, “Real Collaborative Context”

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | December 10, 2008 | 2 Comments

As I just mentioned, the latest issue of JALWD, which was themed “Legal Writing Beyond Memos and Briefs,” has a number of really interesting articles.  Another one I would recommend reading is Tom Cobb and Sarah Kaltsounis’s “Real Collaborative Context:  Opinion Writing and the Appellate Process.”
I have experimented with collaboration in the classroom in a [...]

Nov

24

Court Holds That Wikipedia Entries Are “Inherently Unreliable”

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | November 24, 2008 | 5 Comments

On the Legal Writing Prof blog, Jim Levy noted today (hat-tipping BNA Internet Law News) that a court expressly rejected an appellant’s attempt to rely on Wikipedia.
In State v. Flores, an unpublished decision by the Texas Court of Appeals for the 14th District dated October 23, 2008, the court refused the appellant’s request to take judicial [...]

Nov

5

Should Non-Precedential Opinions Be “Precedential But Overrulable” Opinions?

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | November 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A post at Legal Theory Blog alerted me to Amy E. Sloan’s new article, If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em:  A Pragmatic Approach to Nonprecedential Opinions in the Federal Appellate Courts, 86 Neb. L. Rev. 895 (2008), available on SSRN.  Amy Sloan is an Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Legal Skills program [...]

Oct

31

Fastcase Now Available to Wisconsin State Bar Members

Posted by: Elana Olson | October 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Members of the Wisconsin State Bar now have access, at no additional cost, to Fastcase, the online legal database described earlier this month. The announcement from the State Bar provides more information about this new member benefit, including instructions for the simple process to access the database. Wisconsin Bar members select “Fastcase” from the drop [...]

Oct

15

The Wisconsin Supreme Court Amends Its Rules to Permit Citation of Unpublished Opinions, with Limitations

Posted by: Jessica E. Slavin | October 15, 2008 | 1 Comment

As you probably already know, yesterday the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard the petition of the Wisconsin Judicial Council to amend Wisconsin Statue section 809.23(3), to permit citation of unpublished Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinions as persuasive authority.
Beth Hanan, managing member of Gass Weber Mullins and Vice Chair of the Wisconsin Judicial Council, kindly offered the following [...]

Oct

2

Fastcase Update: To Be Offered at Marquette Law Library

Posted by: Leslie Behroozi | October 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment

In a post earlier in the week, Jessica Price highlighted Fastcase, the online legal database that will soon be available to members of the Wisconsin State Bar at no additional cost. The Marquette Law Library explored Fastcase over the summer and is in the final integration stages of a subscription that will allow law students [...]