Legal Research and Writing at Stetson Law

5
C O M M U N I C A T I O N C U R R I C U L U M L I B R A R I A N S c o n t i n u o u s l e a r n i n g d o c t r i n e R E S E A R C H S T R A T E G IE S C O U R S E S M E T H O D O L O G Y e t h i c a l p r o f e s si o n a l s e r v ic e S O L U T I O N S C atheri ne C a m er o n D I S C IP L IN A R Y L E A D E RS H I P D R A F T S l a w f i r m s K i r s t e n D a vi s R E C O G N I T I O N C O L L E G E Brooke B o w m a n L e g a l Re s e a r c h a n d W r i t i n g STETSON LA W REVIEW INTERNATIONAL L A W Legal Reasoning NA TIONAL LEADERSHIP advanced ORAL ADVOCACY authori ty JUDGES f eedbac k LEGAL COMMUNI CA TI ON synthesi s L ea di ng the W ay f a c ul t y l a w and r het or i c best or alist webinars HIGH EXPECT A TIONS rigor ous seven credit hours in the first year TEAM TEACHING pr ogram m atic t enur e lawyer SUCCESSFUL c o u r t s y s t e m S P O K E N W O RD I N D I V I D U A L IZ E D E X P E R I E N C E A P P E L L A T E B R I E F m o o t c o u r t J O U R N A L S p e r s p e c t i v e s S T A T U T E S F A C U L T Y S C H O L A R S H I P c o m p e t e n c y B U R T O N A W A R D S D I V E R S E F I E L D S L E G A L D R A F T I N G L i n d a A n d e r s o n J o u r n a l o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l A g i n g L a w a n d P o li c y INTER N A TIO N A L E N V I R O N M E N T A L M O O T C O U R T C O M P E T I T I O N B L A C K S L A W D I C T I O N A RY c a s e b ri e f I N T E GR A L P U B L I C A T I O N a w a r d s O P P O R T U N I T I E S a n a l y t i c a l m e t h o d s a d v o c a c y U N I T E D S T A T E S u p p e r - l e v e l a n a l y s i s H O N O R S P R O G R A M P R E S E N T A T I O N S E D U C A T I N G A D V O C A T E S W R I T I N G A S S I G N M E N T S c a s e l a w a c a d e m i c d i s c i p l i n e V I S I N T E R N A T IO NAL CO M M E R C IA L A R B I T R A T I O N M O O T v i r t u a l l e g a l w r i t i n g c o n f e r e n c e p r o c e s s M A S T E R O F L A W S visitin g j u s ti c e s te n u r e - t r a c k S P E A K E R S A C A D E M Y l e a r n i n g t h e o r y PERS U A S I V E C O M M U N I C A T I O N a d u lt l e a r n i n g t h e o r y a n a l o g i c a l A T T E N T I O N O N L I N E A P P E L L A T E A D V O C A C Y pr oj ect f or ex cel l enc e i n l egal communi cat i on Jerey Minneti pr epar ed pr of essi onal dev el opm ent i ndependent r esear c h wisdom Nati onal Pr etri al Com pet i ti on Ann M. Piccard DE CI S I O N S S T E T S O N PRETRIAL PRACTICE conf er ences pedagogy MEMORAND A CONSTITUTION s out heast art i cl es DILIGENCE EXCELLEN CE PROBLEM-SOL VI N G learning styles A D V O CACY POLISHING FOR PROFESSIONALS TEA CHING AD V OCA CY SKILLS e x empl ary perf or manc e CLASSROOM I NTERA CTI ON paradigm shift c l e a r a n d s u c c i n ct PRODUCTIVE justices cour t TOP A W ARDS art of communication r e a s o ni ng responsibility i nteracti on law school BRIEFS C o nf er e nc e s BEST BRIEF POWER OF WORDS negotiation cases tr ai ni ng SKILLS teams profes s i onal i s m l egal STRENGTH vi si t research competence courtrooms scholarly education AWARD-WINNING ORAL ARGUMENT instruction CRITIQUING Marilyn L. Uzdavines careers BLUEBOOK seminars professors associations TRENDS DISCOURSE EDITORIAL BOARD FIRST-YEAR SUCCESS essays juris doctor editing rhetoric BOOKS Kelly Feeley LAWS STYLE KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT Supreme Court memo writing appellate FLORIDA advice Jason Palmer legal practice persuasive TEACHING citation INTERESTS PROFESSIONAL GROWTH traditional CONCENTRATION Stephanie Vaughan TECHNOLOGY book chapters Rebecca Trammell student papers Joan Catherine Bohl F l o r i d a s S e c o n d D i s t r i c t C o urt of A p pe a l La nc e Long JOURNAL OF INTERNA TIONAL WILDLIFE LA W AND POLICY Legal Research and Writing

description

An overview of Stetson's legal research and writing programs from the first semester of law school and beyond.

Transcript of Legal Research and Writing at Stetson Law

COMMUNICATION

CURRICULUM LIBRARIANS

continuous learning doctrine

RESEARCH STRATEGIES COURSES

M ETHODOLOGY ethicalprofessional service SOLUTIONS

Catherine Cameron

DISCIPLINARY LEADERSHIP

DRAFTS law firmsKirsten Davis RECOGNITIONCOLLEGE Brooke Bowman

Legal Research and Writing STETSON LAW REVIEW

INTERNATIONAL

LAWLegal Reasoning

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP

advanced ORAL ADVOCACY authority JUDGES

feedbackLEGAL COMMUNICATION synthesis

Leading the Way faculty law and rhetoric

best oralist webinars HIGH EXPECTATIONS rigorous

seven credit hours in the first year TEAM TEACHING

programmatic tenurelawyer SUCCESSFUL

court systemSPO

KEN W

ORD

IND

IVID

UA

LIZEDEXPERIENCEAPPELLATE BRIEF

moot court

JOU

RN

ALS

perspectivesSTATUTES

FACULTY SCHOLARSHIPcompetencyBU

RTON

AWA

RD

SD

IVERSE FIELD

SLEGAL D

RAFTING

Linda Anderson

Journal of Inter

natio

nal A

ging

Law

and

Pol

icy

INTER

NATIO

NAL E

NVIRO

NMEN

TAL M

OOT C

OURT

COMP

ETITI

ON B

LACK

’S LAW

DICTI

ONARY

case

brief

INTE

GRAL

PUBL

ICA

TIO

N

awar

ds

OPPORTUNIT

IESan

alyt

ical m

etho

dsad

voca

cyU

NIT

ED S

TATE

S

upper

-level

anal

ysis

HONORS PROGRAM PRES

ENTA

TIONS

EDUCATING ADVOCATES WRITIN

G A

SSIG

NM

ENT

S cas

e law

academic discipline

VIS IN

TERN

ATION

AL CO

MMER

CIAL A

RBITR

ATIO

N MO

OT vir

tual le

gal w

riting

confe

rence

proc

ess

MAST

ER OF

LAW

Svis

iting j

ustic

es

tenu

re-tr

ack

SPEA

KERS

ACAD

EMY

lear

ning

theo

ry

PERS

UA

SIV

E C

OM

MU

NIC

ATI

ON

adult

learn

ing th

eory

analo

gica

lAT

TENT

ION

ON

LIN

E

APPELLATE AD

VO

CAC

Y

project for excellence in legal communication Je�rey Minneti

prepared professional development independent research wisdom

National Pretrial Competition Ann M. Piccard DECISIONS

STETSON PRETRIAL PRACTICE

conferencespedagogy MEMORANDA

CONSTITUTIONsoutheastarticles

DILIGENCE

EXCELLENCE

PROBLEM-SOLVING learning stylesADVOCACY

POLISHING FOR PROFESSIONALS

TEACHING ADVOCACY SKILLS exemplary performance CLASSROOM INTERACTION paradigm shift

clear and succinct PRODUCTIVEjustices court

TOP AWARDS

art of communication

reasoning responsibility

interaction law schoolBRIEFS

Conferences BEST BRIEF

POWER OF WORDSnegotiationcases

trainingSKILLSteams

professionalismlegal STRENGTH visit researchcompetence

courtrooms

schola

rly

education

AWARD-WINNING

ORAL ARGUMENT

instructionCRITIQUING

Marilyn L. Uzdavines

careers

BLUEBOOK

seminarsprofessors associations

TRENDS

DISCOURSE

EDITORIAL BOARD

FIRST-YEAR

SUCCESSessays

juris doctoreditingrhetoric

BOO

KS

Kelly Feeley

LAWSSTYLE

KNOW

LEDGE

ASSESSMENTSupreme Court

memo writin

g

appellate

FLORIDAadvice

Jason Palm

er

legal practice

persuasiv

e

TEACHING

citation

INTERESTS

PROFESSIONAL GROWTH

traditio

nal

CONCENTRATION

Stephanie Vaughan

TECHNOLOGYbook chapters

Rebecca Trammell

studen

t papers

Joan Catherine Bohl

Flor

ida’

s Sec

ond

Dist

rict C

ourt

of A

ppea

l Lan

ce L

ong J

OURN

AL OF

INTE

RNAT

IONAL

WILD

LIFE L

AW AND PO

LICY

Legal Research and Writing

U.S. News and World Report ranks Stetson’s Legal Research and Writing Program third among law schools across the country. Stetson seeks to educate students as ethical, self-motivated and excellent legal communicators and to develop legal writing as an academic discipline on a local, national, and international level.

Rigorous First-Year RequirementAs a leader in legal research and writing education, Stetson requires seven credits of legal research and writing in the first year of law school, four in the first semester. The courses emphasize legal problem solving, analytical methods, research strategies and techniques, and effective predictive and persuasive communication.

Professionalism is a core value in Stetson’s legal research and writing courses. Students are expected to meet the ethical demands of lawyers, including the professional obligations of competency, diligence, autonomy and integrity. Low student-to-professor ratios in legal writing courses increase classroom interaction, and students are expected to perform as lawyers in their courses. Extensive feedback on writing assignments helps support students’ professional growth.

Advanced Upper-Level Curriculum After their first year, Stetson ensures that law students have multiple opportunities to excel at researching and writing. Students can take courses in legal drafting, appellate advocacy and pretrial practice; these courses maintain small enrollments to support individualized feedback. Students can write articles and serve as editors for Stetson’s three law journals: the Journal of International Aging Law and Policy, the

“Knowing what to say and how to say it well, whether in written or spoken word, is what separates a successful

lawyer from an unsuccessful one.  My goal is to teach my students the

power of words.”

– Ann M. Piccard, Professor of Legal Skills

Teaching Excellence Exemplary PerformanceJournal of International Wildlife Law and Policy, and the Stetson Law Review. Stetson’s highly acclaimed Moot Court Board allows students to refine persuasive writing and oral advocacy skills. Upper-level students also serve as Legal Research and Writing Teaching Assistants.

Expert, Experienced and Engaged FacultyThe first-year legal research and writing curriculum is taught by full-time, tenured and tenure-track faculty members who produce scholarship that contributes to the growth of knowledge about legal research and writing, the refinement of communication in legal practice, and the improvement of pedagogy in the discipline. Faculty have held positions in state and federal government, as judicial clerks, in international and public interest organizations, and as attorneys in large and small firms. They hold leadership positions in state, regional and national legal research and writing organizations. Some hold or are working toward advanced degrees in law, human communication, library science, and other fields, enriching their perspectives on the legal research and writing curriculum and disciplinary development. Six Stetson legal skills faculty have received tenure and promotion to full Professor of Legal Skills since the creation of the programmatic tenure-track in 2008. In addition, the Director received tenure as an Associate Professor of Law in 2010.

In all, more than 30 individuals are involved in Stetson’s Legal Research and Writing curriculum, including faculty members, librarians, and a team of Legal Research and Writing Teaching Assistants. The award of programmatic tenure recognizes the unique teaching, scholarship, and service contributions of legal writing faculty.

2010–2011 Moot Court Writing Awards• 2010 Robert Orseck Memorial Moot Court Competition: Best Brief

• 2010 E. Earle Zehmer Workers’ Compensation Moot Court Competition: Best Brief

• 2010 Navy JAG Corps National Moot Court Competition: Best Brief

• 2011 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition: First-Place Memorial

• ABA Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition: Second-Best Brief

• Willem C. Vis (East) International Commercial Arbitration Moot: (Hong Kong), Eric Bergsten Award for Best Memorandum on Behalf of the Claimant and Honorable Mention, Respondents’ Memorandum

• 2011 Robert Orseck Memorial Moot Court Competition: Best Brief

National Writing AwardsIn recent years, three Stetson University College of Law graduates have won the Burton Legal Writing Award. Forrest Bass won the award in 2010 and Elizabeth Wood Voss won in 2009 (both pictured below). Alumna Carrie Ann Wozniak won in 2005.

Stetson’s team of Jason Lambert, Chad Burgess and Brooke Geiger won the championship, best brief and best final-round oralist awards at the 2011 Robert Orseck Memorial Moot Court Competition.

“I want my students to continue learning throughout their careers, and it is essential that I do the same.  I remain engaged in discussions of best practices for and emerging ideas to improve teaching and student learning, both in the specific field of legal writing and in legal teaching more generally.”

–Linda Anderson, Professor of Legal Skills and Associate Director of Legal Research and Writing

DisciplinaryLeadership

Selected Research and Writing Faculty ScholarshipLinda Anderson, Incorporating Adult Learning Theory into Law School Classrooms: Small Steps Leading to Large Results, 5 Appalachian L.J. 527 (2006).

Brooke J. Bowman (with Coleen M. Barger), ALWD Companion: A Citation Practice Book (Aspen Publishers 2010).

Joan Catherine Bohl, Generations X and Y in Law School: Practical Strategies for Teaching the “MTV/Google” Generation, 54 Loy. L. Rev. 775 (2008).

Brooke J. Bowman, Research Across the Curriculum: The Road Must Continue Beyond the First Year, 61 Okla. L. Rev. 503 (2009).

Kirsten K. Davis, Legal Forms as Rhetorical Transaction: Competency in the Context of Information and Efficiency, 79 U.M.K.C. L. Rev 1 (2011).

Kirsten K. Davis, The Rhetoric of Accommodation: Considering the Language of Work-Family Discourse, 4 U. St. Thomas L.J. 530 (2007).

Kirsten K. Davis, Building Credibility in the Margins: An Ethos-Based Perspective on Commenting on Student Papers, 12 Leg. Writing 71 (2006).

Kirsten K. Davis, Designing and Using Peer Review in a First-Year Legal Research and Writing Course, 9 Leg. Writing 667 (2003).

Kelly M. Feeley, Hear a Song—Write a Wrong, Poor Grammar in Song Lyrics: An Old and New Enemy to Clear and Succinct Legal Writing, 2008 Scrivener 4.

Royal C. Gardner, Lawyers, Swamps, and Money: U.S. Wetland Law, Policy, and Politics (Island Press 2011) (includes chapter on advocacy).

Royal C. Gardner & Darby Dickerson, Advancing Environmental Education Through Moot Court, 1 Int’l J. Envtl. Consumerism 63 (2005).

Lance N. Long & William C. Christensen, Does the Readability of Your Appellate Brief Affect Your Chance of Winning an Appeal?—An Analysis of Readability in Appellate Briefs and Its Correlation with Success on Appeal, 12 J. App. Pract. & Process __(forthcoming 2011).

Lance N. Long & William C. Christensen, Clearly Using Intensifiers Is Very Bad—Or Is It? 45 Idaho L. Rev. 171 (2008).

Jeffrey Minneti & Catherine Cameron, Teaching Every Student:  A Demonstration Lesson That Adapts Instruction to Students’ Learning Styles, 17 Persps. 161 (Spring 2009).

Jeffrey Minneti & Catherine Cameron, Using Student Learning Preferences to Compare and Contrast Objective Memo Writing with Essay Exam Writing, 22 Second Draft 10 (Spring 2008).

Ann Piccard, Teaching to Different Levels of Experience: What I Learned from Working with Experienced Writers from Different Fields, 17 Persps. 115 (Spring 2009).

Stephanie A. Vaughan, Persuasion Is an Art…But It Is Also an Invaluable Tool in Advocacy, 61 Baylor L. Rev. 101 (2009).

Selected Research and Writing Faculty PresentationsBrooke J. Bowman & Stephanie A. Vaughan, Learning the Process: Developing Your Critiquing Methodology, and Using the Process: Working with Your Critiquing Methodology, Educating Advocates: Teaching Advocacy Skills, Gulfport, Florida, May 2010.

Brooke J. Bowman & Stephanie A. Vaughan, Team Teaching: A Combination of Good Parenting and Good Cop/Bad Cop? Southeastern Regional Legal Writing Conference, Gulfport, Florida, September 2009.

Catherine J. Cameron, Lance Long & Jason Palmer, Paradigm Shift: Effectively Transitioning Students between Professors during the First-Year Writing Curriculum OR Let’s Talk about Switching It Up, Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference, Tucson, Arizona, March 2010.

Kirsten K. Davis, Roundtable, The Meaning of Being “Faculty,” Association of Legal Writing Directors Biennial Conference, Sacramento, CA, June 2011.

Kirsten K. Davis, You Are Already Working on a Legal Writing Article: A Workshop, Association of Legal Writing Directors Biennial Conference, Sacramento, CA, June 2011 (with Karen Sneddon & Cassandra Hill).

Kirsten K. Davis, What? Take a Gamble on a Legal Research and Writing Exam? Yes, You Can Bet on It!, Rocky Mountain Regional Legal Writing Conference, Las Vegas, NV, March 2011.

Kirsten K. Davis, Panelist, Reflect, Reconnect, Re-Energize—Retreat! How a Program Retreat Can Move You Forward, Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference, Marco Island, Florida, June 2010.

Kirsten K. Davis, Panelist, Kenneth Burke, Law, and Rhetorical Theory, Law and Rhetoric Panel, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference, Palm Beach, Florida, August 2009.

Lance N. Long, How to Avoid Writing Like a Loser: The Theory of Argumentative Threat, 2011 Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 25, 2011.

Jeffrey J. Minneti, Pre and Post Testing: An Effective Instructional Tool for Professors and Students in the Legal Writing Classroom, Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference, Marco Island, Florida, June 2010.

Jason Palmer, Associates Boot Camp: Nuts and Bolts of Drafting for Clients, American Bar Association 2009 Fall Meeting, Miami, Florida, October 2009.

Stephanie A. Vaughan, Moderator, The Status of Legal Writing Faculty in the Academy, Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Conference, Palm Beach, Florida, August 2010.

Faculty accomplishmentsKirsten K. Davis Associate Professor of Law Director of Legal Research and Writing B.A., J.D., The Ohio State University; Ph.D. candidate, Arizona State University

Professor Davis is a member of the board of directors of the Association of Legal Writing Directors and serves on the Executive Committee for the AALS Section on Women

in Legal Education. She served as Scholarship Committee co-chair for ALWD and as a member of the Legal Writing Institute’s Awards Committee and Plagiarism Committee. She regularly presents at regional and national legal writing conferences. Professor Davis is pursuing a doctorate in human communication, and her scholarship focuses on legal method and writing, law and rhetoric, professional responsibility, and work/life law. Her recent article appearing in the University of Missouri Kansas City Law Review explores the intersect between rhetorical theory and legal form use. In addition to legal research and writing, Davis teaches professional responsibility and is the Gulfport Campus Director of Stetson’s Pre-Law Institute. She is an affiliate member of The Florida Bar and has been admitted to practice in Arizona, Ohio and West Virginia.

Linda S. Anderson Professor of Legal Skills Associate Director of Legal Research and Writing A.B., College of the Holy Cross; J.D., Franklin Pierce Law Center (now University of New Hampshire Law School)

Professor Anderson practiced law in northern New Hampshire before entering the legal academy. She also worked for the New Hampshire court system and as the

assistant director and associate contract officer of The Hitchcock Foundation. Professor Anderson regularly makes presentations about assessment and learning outcomes at regional and national conferences of the Legal Writing Institute, serves as an assistant editor of Legal Writing: Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, and is a member of the LWI Professional Development Committee. In addition, Professor Anderson is Chair-Elect of the AALS Section on Part-Time Programs. Professor Anderson’s research focuses on assessment and learning theory as applied to legal education, parenting rights of non-traditional parents, and the intersection of reproductive technology and the law.

Joan Catherine Bohl Professor of Legal Skills B.A., Boston University; J.D., Suffolk University

Professor Bohl joined Stetson’s legal writing faculty in 2004 after 13 years of teaching legal writing at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. She served for five years as staff attorney to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, becoming counsel to the Court’s Ethics Advisory Panel. During this period, she also taught

college writing to evening students at Providence College, Rhode Island. Professor Bohl was a visiting professor of Law at the Santa Clara University School of Law during the 2009–2010 academic year. Her scholarship has focused on legal ethics, custody and visitation. Professor Bohl is a nationally recognized expert on grandparent visitation. Four state supreme courts, four state appellate courts and more than 40 law review articles have cited her work in evaluating the constitutionality of grandparent visitation statutes. Professor Bohl’s most recent book, Children and the Law: The Competing Rights, Privileges, and Interests of Children, Parents and the State, was published by Vandeplas Publishing in 2010.

Brooke J. Bowman Professor of Legal Skills and Moot Court Advisor B.S., Indiana University, Bloomington; M.S., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; J.D., Stetson University

Professor Bowman co-authored the ALWD Companion: A Citation Practice Book (with accompanying Teacher’s Manual). She has published articles in the Oklahoma Law Review, The Second Draft, Stetson Law Review, and Perspectives: Teaching

Legal Research and Writing. She regularly presents at national and regional conferences on teaching strategies, citation, research, scholarship, and working with research assistants. She is the Assistant Editor In Chief and a member of the editorial board for Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute. Professor Bowman is also the Moot Court Advisor, and she has coached a number of award-winning moot court teams. In addition, she is the co-director of Stetson’s International Environmental Moot Court Competition and a member of the competition committee for Stetson’s National Pretrial Competition. She teaches Research and Writing, as well as a workshop on “Polishing for Professionals.”

Ann M. Piccard Professor of Legal Skills B.A., Florida State University; J.D., Stetson University; LL.M., University of London

Professor Piccard teaches U.S. Legal Research and Writing to Stetson’s J.D. and International LL.M. students. She also teaches and writes in the area of international human rights law, with an emphasis on international distributive

justice. Her most recent scholarship includes “U.S. Ratification of CEDAW: From Bad to Worse?” in Law and Inequality, and “The United States’ Failure to Ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Must the Poor Be Always with Us?” in The Scholar: St. Mary’s Law Review on Minority Issues. She presented her current research on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at the AALS Workshop on Women Rethinking Equality in Washington D.C. in June 2011.

Wanita Scroggs Library Liaison for Legal Research and Writing B.A., Texas A&M University; M.L.I.S., University of South Florida; J.D., Arizona State University

Wanita Scroggs is the foreign and international law librarian for Stetson University College of Law. She is a member of the Florida Bar and the American Association of Law

Libraries, where she serves as a mentor to new law librarians. She also is a member of the American Society of International Law, where she serves as a research attorney in the International Legal Research Interest Group. She is immediate past president of the Central Florida Association of Law Libraries. She teaches Advanced Legal Research with an international law focus. Her research interests also include environmental law and bioethics.

Rebecca S. Trammell Law Library Director, Director of Electronic Education and Professor of Law B.A., Lindenwood University; M.L.S., Dominican University; J.D., University of Denver; Ph.D. candidate, Nova Southeastern University

Professor Trammell has directed legal research programs and has taught live and online courses in basic and advanced legal research, advanced legal research in tax, and cyberlaw. Her research interests focus on technology and technology in legal education.  She is the author of Werner’s Manual for Prison Law Libraries (3d ed., William S. Hein & Co. 2004) and numerous articles on research and writing.  

Marilyn Uzdavines Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Skills B.A., J.D., University of Florida

Professor Uzdavines joins Stetson from private practice, where she was a shareholder at the Uzdavines Law Group in Tampa. She also worked as an associate for Holland & Knight LLP and as an extern for the Middle District of Florida for Judge Susan C. Bucklew. During law school, she served as

symposium editor of the Florida Law Review and teaching assistant for legal research and writing, appellate advocacy, and trial practice courses. Professor Uzdavines is a member of the Order of the Coif and speaks fluent Spanish and Italian.

Swamps, and Money: U.S. Wetland Law, Policy, and Politics, was published by Island Press in 2011.

Lance Long Associate Professor of Legal Skills and ADR Board Co-Advisor B.A., J.D., Brigham Young University

Professor Long taught legal research and writing for nine years at Brigham Young University and the University of Oregon before joining the Stetson faculty. His scholarship focuses on empirical analyses of language patterns in

appellate briefs and opinions and the development of a theory of argumentative threat. He is a regular presenter at national and regional legal writing conferences. His most recent article, “Does the Readability of Your Appellate Brief Affect Your Chance of Winning an Appeal?—An Analysis of Readability in Appellate Briefs and Its Correlation with Success on Appeal” is forthcoming in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process. Before entering academia, Professor Long practiced law in California and Utah in the areas of intellectual property, contract, and construction law.

Jeffrey J. Minneti Associate Professor of Legal Skills and Director of Academic Success B.A. University of South Florida; M.B.A., J.D., Cumberland School of Law, Samford University

Professor Minneti recently published “Relational Integrity Regulation: Nudging Consumers Toward Products Bearing Valid Environmental Marketing Claims” in

Environmental Law and “Is it Too Easy Being Green?  A Behavioral Economics Approach to Determining Whether to Regulate Environmental Marketing Claims” in Loyola Law Review. He co-authored two articles in the spring 2009 edition of Perspectives: “Law Students Are Different from the General Population: Empirical Findings Regarding Learning Styles” and “Teaching Every Student: A Demonstration Lesson that Adapts Instruction to Students’ Learning Styles.”  Professor Minneti has served as resident director for Stetson’s summer abroad programs in Granada, Spain, and The Hague, Netherlands, and he has coached First Amendment and criminal procedure moot court teams. In May 2010, he received the Dean’s Award for extraordinary service to the College of Law. 

Jason Palmer Associate Professor of Legal Skills B.A., University of Virginia; J.D., George Washington University

Professor Palmer’s scholarship focuses on developing trends in international mass claims processes, and he has written articles and book chapters on the topic. He presented on “live commenting” in student conferences as

a panelist at the 2010 Legal Writing Institute One-Day Conference. He also presented “The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Will Ratification Lead to a Holistic Approach to Post-Secondary Education for Persons with Disabilities” at the 2010 Florida Legal Scholar Forum and the Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2011 Annual Meeting, and on ““The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Holistic Approach to Disability” at the Association of American Law Schools 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Professor Palmer serves as deputy or co-editor for several scholarly journals and was a moderator for Stetson’s Virtual Legal Writing Webinar on Upper-Level Writing Programs.

Catherine J. Cameron Professor of Legal Skills B.A., M.A., J.D., University of Florida

Professor Cameron’s scholarship focuses on media law and legal research and writing. She is co-authoring a legal writing textbook with Professor Lance Long titled The Science Behind the Art of Legal Writing, which focuses on the empirical research that supports many of the theories

behind legal writing instruction. During the next two summers, Professor Cameron will conduct a sabbatical project at the Poynter Institute, where she will research media law issues that journalists are facing in the age of online publishing. Her recent scholarship includes “Fixing FOIA: Pushing Congress to Amend FOIA Section b(3) to Require Congress to Explicitly Indicate an Intent to Exempt Records from FOIA in New Legislation” in Quinnipiac Law Review, and “Jumping Off the Merry-Go-Round: How the Federal Courts Will Reconcile the Circular Deference Problem between HIPAA and FOIA” published in the Catholic University Law Review. Professor Cameron regularly presents at national and regional conferences and has coached several moot court and negotiation teams.

Tishia A. Dunham Assistant Professor of Legal Skills and Director of Bar Preparation Services B.S., Florida State University; J.D., Indiana University

Prior to joining the Stetson faculty, Professor Dunham practiced law for seven years in the areas of employment law, commercial and business litigation and real property

with an emphasis on community associations. She served as a bar exam grader for the Florida Board of Bar Examiners for five years. While in private practice, she volunteered her time to help repeat takers pass the Florida Bar exam.

Kelly M. Feeley Associate Professor of Legal Skills B.S., Florida State University; J.D., Stetson University

Professor Feeley teaches Legal Research and Writing as well as Interviewing and Counseling. She advises Stetson’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Board, which consists of competition teams for arbitration, client counseling, mediation, and negotiation. Professor Feeley

coached the first and second place regional arbitration teams and the national semi-finalist arbitration team in 2010-2011. She coordinated the American Bar Association Law Student Division Regional Negotiation Competition in November 2010. Professor Feeley served as a liaison to the St. Petersburg Bar Association in 2010-2011.

Royal C. Gardner Interim Dean, Professor of Law, and Director of the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy A.B., Georgetown University; J.D., Boston College

Dean Gardner serves on the editorial boards of Wetlands Ecology and Management and the Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy. He is a co-founder and co-director of Stetson’s International Environmental Moot Court

Competition and serves on the advisory board for the Surana & Surana International Attorneys Moot Court Competitions in India. Dean Gardner received a 2006 National Wetlands Award for his scholarship. He teaches Research and Writing II, focusing on advocacy in an environmental law context. Dean Gardner’s most recent book, Lawyers,

Virtual Legal Writing Conference Webinars Stetson recognizes the importance of fostering a national conversation among faculty about legal research and writing topics to the growth and development of the field. To that end, Stetson launched a webinar series through its Project for Excellence in Legal Communication in fall 2009. Over the last two years, Stetson has hosted eight webinars with more than 20 presenters and 250 attendees for the live events. Topics have included outcomes and assessment in legal writing, coaching moot court teams, advanced writing course innovations, the definition of “legal writing scholarship,” technology for giving feedback, and new ideas and voices in legal writing scholarship. Stetson will continue its webinars, and archived presentations are available by registering for free at www.law.stetson.edu/arc, and then clicking on the “Project for Excellence in Legal Communication” category.

 “As legal writing faculty, we are part of a continuing conversation about important issues of pedagogy, service, professional development and scholarship.  When we come together at our conferences, we are invigorated by our interactions, renewed in our commitment to the profession, and stimulated by the presentations to think more deeply about those topics of significance to our community.  The goal of the Virtual Legal Writing Conference is to create an online opportunity for legal writing faculty to have the ‘conference experience’ — education, invigoration, and professional renewal — without needing a travel budget.” – Kirsten K. Davis, Director of Legal Research and Writing and Associate Professor of Law

Praise for the webinars from the participants: “It far exceeded my expectations.  The insight was very practical and extremely useful.”

“I enjoyed the webinar very much and learned a lot. In fact, I’ll be downloading the conference to go over some of the points again, and hope to share it with some of my colleagues.”

“Very informative and just the right length for an online course.”

“This is a wonderful idea.  Our depleted resources have made it impossible to attend many valuable conferences offered in the legal writing community. ... Great information delivered in an economically friendly package!”

Stephanie A. Vaughan Professor of Legal Skills and Special Assistant to the Dean for Alumni and Development B.A., University of Alabama; J.D., Stetson University

Professor Vaughan teaches Research and Writing and co-teaches International Sales and Arbitration. She served as Moot Court Advisor to Stetson’s award-winning Moot Court Board for over a decade. During

her tenure, the school won 17 championships, 22 best brief awards, and over 40 oralist awards. This year, she coached the Houston National team and both Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration teams (one went to Hong Kong and the other to Vienna, Austria). Professor Vaughan was awarded the first-ever Moot Court Board Cornerstone Award for her decade of distinction as its advisor. She has served as the resident director of overseas programs, administering study-abroad programs in Lausanne, Switzerland; Freiburg, Germany; the Cayman Islands; Buenos Aires, Argentina; The Hague, Netherlands; and Tallinn, Estonia.  

Stetson University College of Law1401 61st Street SouthGulfport, FL 33707

www.law.stetson.edu/academics/lrw

Legal Research and Writing • Full-time tenured and tenure-track legal writing professors with substantial

practice, teaching, publication, and leadership experience

• Seven credits of legal research and writing courses required in the first year

• Individualized attention for first-year legal writing students, including office conferences, oral arguments and small classes

• Specialized moot court training in Stetson’s award-winning advocacy program

• Seven courtrooms featuring advanced technology

• 2009 host of the Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference

• 2010 host of Legal Writing Institute One-Day Workshop for Legal Writing Faculty

• Three academic law journals: Stetson Law Review, Journal of International Aging Law and Policy, and Journal of International Wildlife Law and Policy

• Project for Excellence in Legal Communication produces legal writing programs and materials

• Scholarly Writing Series for students in seminars and independent research courses

• Championship moot court teams who have won 25 brief awards in past five years

• Home of the International Environmental Moot Court Competition and the National Pretrial Competition

• One of few law schools to share space with a working court, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal

• Honors Program for top-ranking students

• Frequent awards for student writing excellence, including two consecutive Burton Legal Writing Award winners

• Host of Virtual Legal Writing Conference Webinars

• Committed to developing the discipline of legal writing

• Dedicated faculty for academic success and bar preparation

Now available: Recorded webinars onlineYou can now watch archived webinars from Stetson’s Virtual Legal Writing Conference series by logging into our Advocacy Resource Center at www.law.stetson.edu/arc. Access is free to law professors and students.