Appellate Advocacy at the Law School

Congratulations to the students in Appellate Writing and Advocacy, who are turning in their final briefs today.  This moment is a good one to reprint an article that Emily Lonergan, the Chief Justice of the Moot Court Board, wrote for the most recent De Novo newsletter.  De Novo is the publication of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Appellate Practice Section.  The Appellate Practice Section is active, and De Novo is a good source for news, information, and tips about appellate practice.  This article is reprinted with permission.

Marquette Helps Students Master the Art of Legal Writing, by Emily Lonergan, 3L

Marquette University Law School presents students with the opportunity to master the art of appellate advocacy in both the classroom and the courtroom.

The typical law student hoping to participate in Moot Court starts with an Appellate Writing and Advocacy course, offered to second- and third-year students during the fall semester. While the course is open to everyone, regardless of their interest in the Moot Court program, it is a prerequisite for anyone who hopes to compete in a national competition. The goal of the course is first and foremost to teach appellate advocacy. It teaches students in a traditional lecture format everything from preserving the record to when to file notice of appeal.

But the course also has a hands-on approach as well.

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Norman Rockwell and Storytelling

The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., recently opened a new exhibit entitled “Telling Stories:  Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.”*  Rockwell’s art speaks to filmmakers Lucas and Spielberg for its ability to tell a story.  Rockwell’s storytelling can also speak to lawyers seeking to use narrative in persuasive brief writing.   

The exhibit begins with a series of photographs that Rockwell used when selecting props in Back to Civvies, a painting about a soldier returning home and trying on his old (and now too-small) civilian clothes in front of his dresser mirror.  The photos show how Rockwell arranged real-life props such as a bomber model and poster, college pennant, and uniform jacket with campaign ribbons to depict the pilot’s life before leaving for World War II and after coming home.    

Rockwell found details from his life, often things appeared from his work room or house in his paintings.  Rockwell painted his own sofa in Let Nothing You Dismay, and he painted a ship model in The Toy Maker that can be seen hanging on the wall of his studio in a photo taken almost forty years after the painting.   Those details convey precision, realism, and give his stories credibility.  We can relate to these details: they present us with cultural and historical associations, and they evoke our emotions.

Even his titles convey much. 

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