Legal Writing & Research: 25 Practical Pointers

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Overview

A NEW 6-hour course for 2020!  A fast-paced look at very practical ways to improve your legal writing & research -- including pointers on making the process faster and less of a chore!

Includes real-world tips on:

• Making sure you haven't "missed something" in your legal research
• Avoiding the most common errors that cause legal documents to be misinterpreted
• Simple punctuation fixes that make your briefs and other writings more "readable"
• Much, much more!

Speakers

William R Newman of The University of Southern Mississippi

Agenda for Friday, the 14th of August 2020

8:30 am Central Time - Webcast Begins

(Please register and sign into the website at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start)

(Agenda is approximate and tentative)

8:30am -  10:15am - Legal Research: 1) Review of the cheaper alternatives to Westlaw and Lexis, 2) Refresher on constructing more effective Boolean search queries

10:15am - 10:30am  -  Break

10:30am - 12:15pm - Legal Research: 1) New ways to make more productive use of secondary sources, 2) How to find expert lawyers who will help you for free, 3) The relative strengths and weaknesses of Westlaw and Lexis

12:15pm - 1:30pm  -  Lunch Break

1:30pm - 3:00pm - Legal Research: 1) Finding reliable forms online (and in books!), Legal Writing: 1) The most aggravating deficiencies in lawyer writing (according to trial and appellate judges), 2) The Oxford Comma and The Bluebook, 3) General strategies for making your writing more readable

3:00pm - 3:15pm -  Break

3:15pm - 4:15pm -  Ethics: The surprising ethics complaints that arise from incompetent or complacent legal research and writing