the (new) legal writer

Appellate-practice materials from my “Bridging the Gap” presentation

This afternoon, I’m joining Justice Harry T. Lemmon (retired) in presenting the appellate-practice hour of the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Bridging the Gap seminar for newly minted lawyers. For those participants and others who may be interested:

• My heavily annotated outline of Louisiana appellate practice (PDF).
• PDF copy of my PowerPoint presentation.
• A Writ in Time (my article on how to calculate the deadline to apply to a court of appeal for a supervisory writ).

Participants may also be interested in these two articles by Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit:

• In Praise of Moot Court — Not!, in which Judge Kozinski discusses the differences between law-school moot-court programs and real-world appellate practice.
• The Wrong Stuff, in which Judge Kozinski explains how to lose an appeal that, for whatever reason, you must lose.

Two great appellate seminars in November

If you’re an appellate lawyer, or if you’re a litigator who does any appreciable amount of appellate work, then listen up. There are two great appellate CLE programs coming up in November.

On November 5–6, DRI will hold its eights appellate-advocacy seminar in La Jolla, California (near San Diego). Here’s a link to my prior blog post about this seminar. DRI’s appellate seminars usually include at least one segment on briefwriting. Thus, this edition will include a presentation on storytelling by Prof. Timothy Terrell. According to the brochure, “Professor Terrell will discuss the rhetorical power embedded in good legal storytelling: choosing among alternative structures of legal arguments and factual presentations.” For more information about this seminar, read my prior blog post, download the brochure, or visit DRI’s web site.

Two weeks later (November 19–22), the Appellate Judges Educational Institute will hold a seminar in Orlando, Florida for judges, appellate lawyers, and appellate staff attorneys. The program will include a panel discussion on how judges think and make decisions, a presentation by Prof. George Gopen titled “A New Understanding of the ‘Plain’ in Plain English,” and a presentation by Stephen V. Armstrong (co-author with Prof. Terrell of Thinking Like a Writer) on effective and efficient editing. To learn more about this seminar, visit the AJEI web site or download the brochure.

Bryan Garner hits the road

In September and October, Bryan Garner is hitting the road with three CLE seminars: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing, Ethical Communications for Lawyers, and Advanced Legal Drafting. Bryan knows his stuff, and he presents it as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. Here’s a rundown of the stops on his tour:

• Phoenix: Sept. 1 (ALW&E and ECL) and Sept. 2 (ALD)
• Denver: Sept. 14 (ALW&E)
• Atlanta: Sept. 17 (ALW&E and ECL) and Sept. 18 (ALD)
• Portland, OR: Sept. 21 (ALW&E)
• Seattle: Sept. 22 (ALW&E and ECL) and Sept. 23 (ALD)
• San Diego: Sept. 28 (ALW&E)
• Los Angeles: Sept. 29 (ALW&E and ECL) and Sept. 30 (ALD)
• Sacramento: Oct. 7 (ALW&E)
• San Francisco: Oct. 8 (ALW&E and ECL) and Oct. 9 (ALD)
• New Orleans: Oct. 13 (ALW&E)

To download the brochure, click here. To register on-line, click on the seminar links above.

DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar

If you’re a lawyer looking for first-rate appellate CLE, then please consider registering for the DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar, to be held November 5–6, 2009 in La Jolla, California (near San Diego), at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. Here’s the lineup:

• How to Win More Appeals, a panel discussion featuring three state’ chief justices: Paul J. De Muniz (Oregon), Wallace B. Jefferson (Texas), and Jean Hoefer Toal (South Carolina).
• Persuasion and the Art of Storytelling, Prof. Timothy P. Terrell.
• U.S. Supreme Court Cutting-Edge Issues, Miguel A. Estrada.
• Diversity on Appeal and the Appeal of Diversity, Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey (U.S. 6th Cir.).
• Media Interaction with the Appellate Courts, Tony Mauro.
• The Judges Answer Your Questions, a panel discussion with three appellate judges: Judith L. Haller (California Court of Appeal), James B. Loken (U.S. 8th Cir.), and Kim M. Wardlaw (U.S. 9th Cir.).
• How to Build an Appellate Practice, Thomas C. Goldstein.
• Abraham Lincoln–President and Lawyer, Walter E. Dellinger.
• Moot Courts: Their Various Uses and Benefits, a panel discussion with Prof. Pamela S. Karlan (Stanford Law School) and Timothy K. Lewis.
• The Important Role of Appellate Counsel in Litigation, a panel discussion with two in-house lawyers: Lawrence E. Henke (Trane Residential Systems) and Rita M. McConnell (Medtronic, Inc.).
• Ethical Issues in Appellate Practice, Marc J. Poster.

To download the brochure, click here.

Save these dates

Those who like to plan way ahead will want to block out June 27–30, 2010. That’s when the Legal Writing Institute will hold its 14th Biennial Conference. Though most of the doings will interest mainly legal-writing teachers, this edition of the conference will feature a special practitioner’s track for practicing lawyers. The venue will be exquisite: the Marriott Beach Resort at Marco Island, Florida.

The bravest among you may be wondering how to get invited to speak at the conference. For information about that, download this. (Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get to work on my proposal.)

Counting Each Shot — seminar materials

This morning I gave a one-hour presentation at a legal-writing seminar sponsored by the Louisiana State Bar Association. The presentation was based on Counting Each Shot, an article I wrote last year and posted here. I’m most grateful to seminar chair Beau Sagona for giving me the opportunity to speak. I’m also grateful to the attendees for listening, laughing at my jokes, and offering good questions and comments.

For those who are interested, here are PDFs of my written materials and my PowerPoint presentation.

Reminder: LSBA legal-writing seminar

This post is just a reminder about the Louisiana State Bar Association’s upcoming legal-writing seminar, Effective Legal Writing: From Commas to Contracts to Courtrooms. It will be held on March 20 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, 500 Canal Street. It’s approved for six hours of Louisiana CLE credit, including one hour of professionalism. I am on the program and will give a one-hour presentation on using structure to create emphasis or de-emphasis.¹ The full schedule is here, the flyer is here, and the registration form is here.

The sooner you sign up, the cheaper the registration fee. Advance registration up to March 13 is $250; advance registration after March 13 is $275, and on-site registration is $315.
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¹It’s not as highfalutin as I just made it sound.

CLE opportunities

If you’re looking for some good legal-writing CLE, then check these out:

• Between February 3 and April 1, Bryan Garner will hit the road with his Advanced Legal Writing & Editing seminar. Tour stops are in Detroit, MI (Feb. 3), Kansas City, MO (Feb. 6), Miami, FL (Feb. 20), Louisville, KY (Mar. 3), Nashville, TN (Mar. 9), Austin, TX (Mar. 17), Houston, TX (Mar. 20), Phoenix, AZ (Mar. 24), and Dallas, TX (Apr. 1). He will also teach his Advanced Legal Drafting seminar in Phoenix, AZ (Mar. 25) and Dallas, TX (Apr. 3). Several years ago, I attended the Advanced Legal Writing & Editing seminar, so I can assure you that it will be well worth your time and money. I’ve never attended the Advanced Legal Drafting seminar, but if it’s a typical Bryan Garner seminar, it too will be worthwhile.

• On May 29–31, the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers will holds its 14th Appellate Practice Institute at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. This seminar is unique in that it requires registrants to do some work. It’s like a moot-court workshop. A few weeks before the seminar, registrants will receive record and must write and send in a short brief (15-page limit). During the seminar, each registrant presents oral argument to a panel of three faculty members (two judges and one seasoned appellate attorney). Both the brief and the oral argument are critiqued. I attended this seminar when it was held in New Orleans in (I think) 2000. It’s very good, especially for younger lawyers. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a registration link on the CAL web page. So I’ve taken the liberty of scanning and uploading the flyer, which you can download by clicking here.

• Finally: The Louisiana State Bar Association is holding a legal-writing seminar in New Orleans on March 20. A few weeks ago, I plugged the seminar here. I’m on the program; my session will show how to emphasize things without doing this, or this, or THIS!!!!, and how to de-emphasize things without doing this, or    .¹ For information about the other speakers and topics, see my prior blog post or the official schedule.

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¹ this

Louisiana legal-writing seminar

For those who like to plan their CLE way ahead of time: the Louisiana State Bar Association is holding a legal-writing seminar in New Orleans on March 20, 2009. The seminar will be held at the Sheraton, 500 Canal Street. Yours truly is on the program, which includes the following sessions:

• 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.: Writing 101: Everything You Have Forgotten Since Graduation, by Tina M. Boudreaux, Erin Ann Donelon, and Michael Sackey.

• 9:30 — 10:30 a.m.: Creating Contracts: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Lawyer, by Albert J. Derbes IV.

• 10:45 – 11:45 a.m.: Counting Each Shot: Techniques for Emphasis and De-emphasis, by Raymond P. Ward.

• 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.: Finding and Using Your Main Message for Maximum Persuasive Power, by Michael R. Fontham.

• 2:00 –3:00 p.m.: Writing a Brief a Judge Would Want to Read, by Michael R. Fontham.

• 3:15 – 4:15 p.m.: Professionalism in Written Argument: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, by Judges Terri F. Love, Fredericka Homberg Wicker, and Ulysses Gene Thibodeaux.

It’s still too early to register, but not too early to mark your calendars.

CLE opportunities

If you’re a procrastinator still in need of some 2008 CLE hours, then consider signing up for Persuasive Legal Writing, a two-hour webcast seminar scheduled for December 10, 2008 from noon to 2 p.m. EST. The speaker is Prof. Timothy Terrell of Emory University Law School. Recently I saw Prof. Terrell give a presentation at the DRI Annual Meeting in New Orleans. It was excellent. Prof. Terrell is co-author of Thinking Like a Writer, which sells for a mere $25 on Amazon. (Someone apparently forgot to tell him that law books are supposed to be ridiculously expensive.)

If you’re an anti-procrastinator who likes to plan CLE way in advance, then you may want to block out May 29–31, 2009 for the Appellate Practice Institute, to be held at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. This program is being put on by the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers. This is a hands-on CLE, sort of an appellate version of NITA. Several weeks before the seminar, participants receive a case problem and must write a brief. At the seminar, they must deliver oral argument, and both the brief and the oral argument are critiqued. I participated in this program several years ago when it was held in New Orleans. It was well worth the time and the money. It’s still too early to register, but if you visit the CAL web page, you can subscribe to the e-mailing list to receive future announcements about the seminar.