Happy Third Blogday!

Three years ago today, we launched the Marquette Law School Faculty Blog.  With 1,648 posts, 2,560 comments, and 379,000 site visits, we are still going strong.

Although blog posts tend to be ephemeral by their nature, some have a more timeless quality.  In case you missed them the first time around, here are a handful of posts from our first couple of months that are still well worth reading today:

David Papke on the classic 1L film The Paper Chase;

Bruce Boyden on work-life balance and legal practice;

Judi McMullen on fear of sex offenders;

Lisa Mazzie on laptops in the classroom; and

Jessica Slavin on the law professor who influenced her the most.

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A Plea for E.N.E.

One of the oldest maxims in writing is to never apologize for your work.  With that said, I do need to couch this article.  I stand by my premise 100%.  However, there are always exceptions to a rule.  One of my biggest influences in mediation is a former judge, and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.  I am not saying that a judge cannot mediate, but that you need to go in with your eyes open.

Too often when litigators are choosing a mediator (or even worse when a sitting judge is ordering mediation at a scheduling conference) the conversation goes something like, “So, should we use Judge X or Judge Y?”  What does being a former judge necessarily have to do with being a mediator, let alone a good mediator?

As the late great comedian Mitch Hedberg said,

When you’re in Hollywood and you’re a comedian, everybody wants you to do things besides comedy. They say, “OK, you’re a stand-up comedian — can you act? Can you write? Write us a script?” . . .  It’s as though if I were a cook and I worked [] to become a good cook, they said, “All right, you’re a cook — can you farm?”

I am certainly not the first to recognize this disturbing trend. 

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George Orwell on Writing Well

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm are familiar reading for many of us. A few years ago a student suggested I also read his essays, and in particular, “Politics and the English Language.” George Orwell, A Collection of Essays 156-71 (10th ed. 1981).

In this essay, Orwell claims that the English language is in decline, and that the decline has “political and economic causes.” (156) Orwell asserts, however, that the “bad habits” in written English can be avoided. (157) He reasons that in getting rid of these habits, “one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.” (157)

Continue ReadingGeorge Orwell on Writing Well