One of my students, Drew Walgreen, recommended this article by Bryan A. Garner, published originally in the Michigan Bar Journal. Bryan Garner, if you haven’t already heard, is a noted legal writing specialist and author who has written books such as Legal Writing in Plain English. This article focuses on twenty common mistakes lawyers make when editing sentences. I like that the article gives an example of each mistake and the corrected version.
Each spring semester, when my first-year writing students have moved from objective writing from pre-selected authorities to persuasive writing and doing their own research, I have them keep track of their time. In law practice, time is money. Even if a lawyer does not bill her hours to a client, she is likely still required to keep track of their time, if only for that organization’s internal purposes. For better or for worse, practicing attorneys must know well each .1 of an hour they work, on what, and for whom.
The time-keeping exercise is designed to provide students practice with billing their time, learning, for example, how to convert, say, twenty minutes of reading cases to .3 of research. It’s also an exercise designed to give them practice on what kinds of activities to bill. The time spent online looking for case law? Yes. The writing of the brief? Of course. But what about that one-hour meeting with the professor? Sure. I’d call that an office conference and lawyers have those all the time.
After students have finished their first briefs and have turned in their time sheets, I have them reflect on keeping time and ask them what they learned from the exercise. Most students aren’t fond of the exercise, but do recognize its value. One student once asked why I couldn’t ask them to keep track of their time in “normal” increments, like .25, .50, .75, and 1.00. This year, one student responded that keeping time was, for him, incredibly painful. You see, he said, he has Attention-Deficit, Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
April is National Poetry Month, which may be Marquette University President Scott R. Pilarz, S.J.’s favorite month. And for good reason. Poetry can sometimes say what we can’t; it can touch our hearts and our souls with its inspiration, its longing, its joy, and its sadness.
Last year, on this blog, several of us wrote about poetry, sharing our favorites, composing new poetry in both traditional and different ways, or exploring poetry in and about the law. As student Gabe Houghton noted this post, there are some judges who compose opinions in verse.
As April closes, I just wanted to remind everyone that poetry should be celebrated all months and remember that there are many kinds of poetry. Songs can be considered poetry set to music. There are also poetry slams. My favorite in this last genre is Taylor Mali, teacher and poet. You can see him perform his poem “Totally like whatever, you know?” here. It’s a nice reminder for those of us who love language that what we say, as well as how we say it, matters.