Other Conferences

What You Will Find on This Page:

On this page you will find information about the following conference-related subjects, in the following order, by scrolling down the page:

Upcoming International Conferences

Upcoming Regional Conferences

Other Upcoming Conferences

Access to Virtual Legal Writing Conferences / Archives

Recently Held Conferences (2012-10)

If you are involved in planning or publicizing an upcoming legal writing conference,  or if you have updated information concerning any conference currently appearing on this page, please contact the Legal Writing Institute website committee by emailing Dan Real.

Upcoming International Conferences:

July 22-24, 2013:  Applied Legal Storytelling Conference

The fourth biennieal Applied Legal Storytelling Conference will take place in July 2013 at Gray's Inn, and Inn of Court at City Law School, which is part of City University, London, UK.

This popular conference series fosters innovative collaboration and invigorating dialogue about the use of story across the spectrum of lawyering skills. This conference will bring together academics, judges, and practitioners to explore the role of narrative in legal practice and to discuss curricular strategies that will prepare students to use story and narrative as they enter the practice of law.

For more information, view the call for proposals.  The deadline for submission of proposals is December 14, 2012.  Submissions should be made on the submission form and sent, electronically, to:  Jovana Anderson, Lewis & Clark Law School.

For any additional questions, feel free to contact the conference planning committee:  Steve Johansen, Brian J. Foley, Stefan H. Krieger, Robert McPeake, Ruth Anne Robbins, and Erika Rackley.

Upcoming Regional Conferences:

Savannah Law School is proud to host the 2013 Southeastern Legal Writing Conference in historic Savannah, Georgia.

The conference will kick-off on Friday, April 26, at 1:30 p.m. with a symposium entitled, "Legal Writing: A Doctrinal Course." A distinguished panel, including Linda Edwards (UNLV), Michael R. Smith (Wyoming), J. Christopher Rideout (Seatlle), Lucille Jewel (Atlanta's John Marshall), and Teri McMurtry-Chubb (Mercer) will speak to the issue of how the substantive work of legal writing professors is substantially similar, if not identical, to what other doctrinal professors do in their classrooms. The discussion will include a socio-anthropological analysis of the definition of legal writing doctrine, a defense of legal writing as a doctrinal discipline, a discussion of how professionalism requires formal training in discourse and rhetoric, suggestions for incorporating the study of master briefs to teach analysis, and a proposal that legal writing professors move beyond the use of paradigms that can undermine the discipline's credibility. Space for the symposium is limited, although there is no additional charge; you must indicate whether you intend to attend when you register.

Friday's events will also include a welcome reception, with cocktails and hor d'oevours. This will be a wonderful opportunity to network and reconnect with colleagues. When you register, please indicate if you intend to attend the reception.

Saturday will feature approximately 50 presentations by over 60 legal writing professors from around the world. Topics include legal storytelling, pedagogy, rhetoric, scholarship, legal writing across the curriculum, and teaching techniques. A full schedule is posted on the conference website.

To register, please go to the CONFERENCE WEBSITE. Any questions may be directed to Elizabeth Megale, Director of Legal Skills & Professionalism, Savannah Law School.

September 27-28, 2013:  Central States Legal Writing Conference.

The University of Kansas School of Law will host the Central States Legal Writing Conference on Friday and Saturday, September 27-28, 2013. The conference theme is "Creating Context & Connections." Conference planners hope to have presentations that include ideas for creating context in the legal writing classroom and helping students connect what they learn in legal writing to other courses, clinics, and law practice.

The call for proposals may be found on the conference website. Proposals are due by May 20, 2013. If you have any questions contact Pam Keller at the University of Kansas School of Law. Conference planners hope many of you will come to Lawrence and enjoy a fall weekend in a wonderful college town!

Other Upcoming Conferences/Workshops:

June 26, 2013: ALWD Innovative Teaching Workshop

To be held in connection with the ALWD 2013 Conference at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this informal, pre-conference workshop is designed to provide legal writing faculty an opportunity to highlight, share, and further develop their creative teaching ideas and techniques. Participants will be divided into small groups led by experienced legal writing teachers. Each participant will have 25 minutes to present a topic and receive feedback from the group.

There is no fee for the workshop, but participants must enroll in the workshop by submitting this registration form. Enrollment is limited to 24 and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants will be asked to submit a one-page description of their workshop presentation three weeks before the workshop and have a short telephone conference with their workshop group leader.

Email your completed form as an email attachment to: msackey@tulane.edu or Pam Keller.    

Access to Virtual Legal Writing Conferences/Archives:

Stetson University College of Law hosts periodic "Legal Writing Conference Webinars."   You can access the webinars, including previously held webinars, by visiting the LEGAL WRITING CONFERENCE WEBINARS PAGE on Stetson's website.

Recently Held Conferences (2013):

April 20, 2013:  2013 Empire State Legal Writing Conference.

Albany Law School hosted the 2013 Empire State Legal Writing Conference in Albanay on Saturday, April 20, 2013.  More information will be coming soon, but for now be sure to save the date.

For more information, email Pam Armstrong, Conference Chair, Albany Law School, with a copy to empirestatelw@gmail.com.

March 16, 2013:  Colonial Frontier LRW Conference: Technology and the Teaching of Legal Writing.

Duquesne University School of Law, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hosted the Colonial Frontier LRW Conference in March 2013. The conference was sponsored by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, with additional support from Lexis-Nexis and Thomson Reuters Westlaw.

This conference was intended to provide legal writing professors and other interested law school faculty members with the opportunity to improve the ways in which they use computer technology for teaching legal research and writing.  The program was also approved for five CLE credits.

More information can be found at the CONFERENCE WEBSITE. Please direct any questions to Prof. Jan M. Levine.

March 1-2, 2013:  Third Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference.

American University College of Law hosted the Third Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, 2013.  .

Information is available on the CONFERENCE WEBSITE.  If you have any questions, contact Lise Beske at American University College of Law.

Previously Held Conferences (2012):

Late November & Early December 2012:  One-Day Legal Writing Workshops

Various one-day legal writing workshops were held at host sites across the country again this past year, in late November and early December.  The Legal Writing Institute selected four themes for the workshops:  (1) The evolving legal writing classroom; (2) Preparing practice-ready students; (3) Student populations: diversity matters; and (4) The scholarly way.

For a list of schools hosting workshops, the dates for each workshop, and more information about each host's plans or contact information, check out the 2012 LWI Workshops Wiki page.

August 10-11, 2012:  Second Annual Western Regional Conference.

The University of Oregon School of Law hosted the 2012 Western Regional Conference in August 2012. The conference theme was, "Olympic Gold: The Teaching, Scholarship, and Service Triathlon."  Dean Judy Stinson, the 2012 Outstanding Faculty Member at Arizona State University was the keynote speaker.

Please visit the conference website for more information.

June 23, 2012: Third Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference.

The Third Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference was held on Saturday, June 23, 2012, at the University of Buffalo Law School in Buffalo, New York.  In conjunction with this year's conference, there was also a half-day ALWD Scholars' Forum on Friday, June 22. Registration is now open.

You can find further details and register at the conference website.

This year's conference featuree more than 20 presentations on a wide range of topics, including:  implementing learning outcomes and assessment, conducting student-led conferences, teaching continuity and structure, developing advanced writing course and specialized research courses, teaching visual persuasion, developing and placing scholarship, and teaching writing skills actually used in practice.  Many of the presentations involved classroom-ready teaching exercises, including plain language skills, research skills, and legislative advocacy.

In addition, the conference featured Sarah Ricks from Rutgers School of Law - Camden as the keynote speaker. Sarah addressed the overlap between legal writing programs and 'experiential' learning (such as hybrid clinical/writing courses), as well as collaboration between legal writing faculty and professors who teach in clinical, pro bono, and externship programs.

The conference program committee included Stephen Paskey (Buffalo), Robin Boyle (St. John's), Ian Gallacher (Syracuse), John Mollencamp (Cornell), Ann Nowak (Touro), Amy R. Stein (Hofstra), and Marilyn Walter (Brooklyn). If you have any questions, please contact the conference chair, Stephen Paskey.

March 23-24, 2012:  2012 Rocky Mountain Regional Legal Writing Conference.

The 2012 Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference was held on Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24, 2012, at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe. As in previous years, there was no registration fee for this conference. 

The conference schedule is  available on the conference website, HERE.

Questions can be directed to the conference co-chairs, Kim Holst or Carrie Sperling.

March 12-14, 2012:  Seventh Global Legal Skills Conference.

The Seventh Global Legal Skills Conference was held in San Jose, Costa Rica from Monday, March 12, through Wednesday, March 14, 2012.   Questions can be directed to Mark Wojcik at the John Marshall Law School.

March 9-10, 2012: Second Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference.

The Georgetown University Law Center hosted the Second Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference, on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, March 9-10, 2012.  There was no conference fee.

The Planning Committee included, among others, Kristen Tiscione (chair), Sonya Bonneau, Michael Cedrone, Vicki Girard, Sarah Laubach, Sue McMahon, Julie Ross, and Rima Sirota.  If you have any questions, please contact the committee at:  capitallegalwriting@gmail.com.

Previously  Held Conferences (2011):

December 16, 2011: New England Consortium of Legal Writing Teachers Regional Conference, "Creating Practice-Ready Assignments and Exercises."

The University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord hosted the NECLWT Regional Conference. This year's conference was titled, "Creating Practice-Ready Assignments and Exercises." For more information, visit the conference website.

For additional information, contact Amy Vorenberg.

December 15-16, 2011: Legal Persuasion: An Advanced Workshop.

The William S. Boyd School of Law was proud to host this workshop in legal persuasion in December 2011. The workshop brought together practicing attorneys, trial consultants, and academics from across the country to participate in an intensive workshop devoted to discussing contemporary insights into all forms of legal persuasion. The workshop provided an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in all facets of legal persuasion: negotiation, written and oral advocacy, and visual persuasion.

Information is available at the workshop website. The workshop was designed to assure a good mix of participants, including judges, lawyers, academics, and consultants. The event was also noteworthy for the conversations outside the formal workshops.

If you have any questions, email UNLV Associate Dean Jay Mootz. 

December 2, 2011:  LWI One-Day Workshops.

The Legal Writing Institute held one-day workshops at various locations around the country on Friday, December 2, 2011.  Locations for these workshops included law schools in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, as well as Washington D.C/Northern Virginia.

The topics included in the workshops included teaching legal writing; teaching persuasive writing, appellate advocacy, and moot court; legal research update; and other innovations.

The workshops have proven a great opportunity for legal writing faculty around the country to meet and share ideas and a great opportunity for adjunct faculty who are often unable to travel to gain some valuable experience and insight. The one-day workshops were a fundraiser for the LWI, and attendees were asked to pay a $100 registration fee, which was donated to the LWI to enable it to continue its many fine and important programs. As in past years, scholarships were available for persons who could not pay the registration fee.

For more information, see this post on the Legal Writing Prof Blog.  If you have questions contact Mark Wojcik. 

The John Marshall Law School in Chicago hosted the 7th Biennial Central States Legal Writing Conference  on Friday, September 16, and Saturday, September 17, 2011.  The conference featured over 75 presenters.

You can find the schedule and all conference information at the conference website.  Contact Anthony Niedwiecki with any questions.

August 26-27, 2011:  2011 Western Regional Legal Writing Conference.

The University of San Francisco School of Law hosted the 2011 Western Regional Legal Writing Conference, "How to Hit the Ground Writing:  Meeting the Expectations of the Changing Legal Market."  During the conference, participants explored legal employers' expectations of research and writing for first-year lawyers given the changing legal market and presenters showcased how legal writing professors are helping their students meet those expectations.

Professor Emeritus Richard Wydick of the UC Davis School of Law, author of Plain English for Lawyers, and the 2005 Golden Pen Award recipient, opened the conference on Friday afternoon with his talk, "Ambiguity."  Panels of legal employers and presentations from legal research and writing faculty followed.  The employer panels discussed the research and writing skills of their first-year lawyers, focusing on how their expectations are changing and whether first-year lawyers are meeting those expectations.  Presentations from legal research and writing faculty focused on innovative teaching ideas that demonstrate how legal writing professors can prepare their students to meet employers' changing expectations.

More information is available at the conference website, here.  E-mail any questions to Grace Hum, Amy Flynn, or Eugene Kim.

 July 8-10, 2011: Third Biennial International Applied Storytelling Conference.

LWI and CLEA co-sponsored the third biennial International Applied Storytelling Conference, July 8-10, 2011 at University of Denver, Sturm College of Law.  The conference registration site can be found here.  A bibliography of articles from the first two conferences can be found here.

June 10, 2011:  New England Consortium of Legal Writing Teachers (NECLWT).

Roger Williams University hosted the latest conference of NECLWT on Friday, June 10, 2011.  The conference, titled "Three to Get Ready:  Three Different Perspectives on Getting Students 'Practice Ready,'" featured both recent graduates and legal writing professionals on three panels.  The first panel featured recent graduates discussing what it means to be "practice ready" from their perspective and included members from both private practice in firms and government employment.  The second panel featured recent graduates who had elected to hang their own shingle discussing legal practice skills they found essential.  The final panel included legal writing professors discussing how they've shaken things up in the classsroom.  The panels included discussion of both what participants felt they had learned and found most useful in law school, as well as what they felt they would have liked to have learned more about.

More information is available at the conference website.

May 13, 2011:  Second Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference.

St. John's University School of Law hosted the Second Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference on Friday, May 13, 2011.  The keynote speaker, Professor Tina Stark, illuminated key points in teaching transactional drafting. The conference  featured over 50 presenters from around the country.  Various themes were intertwined throughout the day, such as the following:  ethics, professionalism, and plagiarism; reaching today's millenials; grading efficiently; perspectives from the bench, bar, and clinical programs; experiential techniques; polishing drafts; oral presentations; lessions from international law; and current-day email memos.

The conference website, with more details, is available here.

There was also an ALWD Scholars' Forum on Thursday, May 12.   Lisa Eichhorn and Marilyn Walter provided critique during the workshop, in addition to St. John's Robin Boyle.

May 5-7, 2011:  Global Legal Skills Conference.

The most recent Global Legal Skills Conference was held in Chicago, IL (at the John Marshall Law School) in May 2011.    This was the Sixth Global Legal Skills Conference.

 April 15-16, 2011: Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference.

Mercer University School of Law hosted the 2011 Southeast Regional Legal Writing Conference in April 2011. 

For questions or more information, please contact any of the following at Mercer:  David Ritchie (ritchie_d@law.mercer.edu); Jennifer Sheppard (sheppard_jl@law.mercer.edu); Karen Sneddon (sneddon_kj@law.mercer.edu); or Sue Painter-Thorne (painter_s@law.mercer.edu).

February 25-26, 2011: Capital Area Legal Writing Conference

The George Washington University Law School hosted the First Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference,  held on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, February 25-26, 2011.

The conference explored a wide range of topics related to teaching legal research and writing, and featured 65 presenters from over 25 law schools in 20 States.  It was sponsored in part by Lexis, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, Westlaw, and Carolina Academic Press.

Dr. George D. Gopen, Professor of the Practice of Rhetoric at Duke University, and the 2011 recipient of the Legal Writing Institute’s Golden Pen Award,  delivered the Keynote Address.  In addition, a plenary session featured Professor Teresa Godwin Phelps of American University’s Washington College of Law, and winner of the 2009 Terri LeClercq Courage Award.

A complete agenda of the conference listing all presenters is available here.

The Planning Committee included, among others, Karen Thornton (co-chair), Iselin Gambert (co-chair), Christy DeSanctis, and Jessica Clark.  If you have any questions, please contact the committee at:  capitallegalwriting@gmail.com.

 March 5, 2011: Second Colonial Frontier Legal Writing Conference.

Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA, hosted the Second Colonial Frontier Legal Writing Conference in March 2011.  The theme of the conference was "The Arc of Advanced Legal Writing: From Theory through Teaching to Practice."

There were six presentations.  The three lead presentations were from nationally-renowned scholars of advanced legal writing:  Michael Smith (Wyoming), Elizabeth Fajans (Brooklyn) and Mary Ray (Wisconsin). They were followed by Sheila Miller (Dayton), Susan Wawrose (Dayton), Victoria VanZandt (Dayton) and Johanna Oreskovid (Buffalo), who spoke about surveys of the bench and bar, reporting on the advanced writing skills that lawyers and judges believe new attorneys should have. Then Julia Glencer (Duquesne), Erin Karsman (Duquesne), and Tara Willke (Duquesne) spoke about the team-taught advanced legal writing "law firm simulation" course they created, supported by an ALWD Research Grant. The closing session was a panel of law firm partners addressing how law firms can be agents of curricular change, encouraging law schools to implement advanced legal writing courses.

The Duquesne Law Review will be publishing a Proceedings Issue containing articles reflecting the presentations. CLE credit will be available for attendees. Aspen Law and Business will be the prime sponsor for the event.

For more information please visit the conference website for last year's conference.

March 25-26, 2011:  Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference.

UNLV hosted the 11th Annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference in March 2011. 

Previously  Held Conferences (2010):

 December 10, 2010:  New England Legal Writing Conference

Boston College Law School hosted the 2010 New England Legal Writing Conference.  The topic for the conference was, "What Legal Employers Want . . . and Really Need."  The conference featured a panel on the writing skills legal employers (large firms, medium firms, small firms, government, public interest, etc.) see as essential in lawyers entering law practice, followed by breakout sessions on questions raised by the panel.  The "Really Need" portion of the program title was designed to capture the question of whether "practice ready" is something law schools can, or should, achieve or whether, given what we know about how professional knowledge is acquired, "practice ready" may be unrealistic.

 May 14, 2010:  First Annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference.

Hofstra Law School in Hempstead, New York, was the location for the first annual Empire State Legal Writing Conference, held on May 14, 2010.  The Conference was a one-day event, timed in such a way that people in the greater NYC area could easily travel to the Law School and back on the conference day.  Out of town participants were welcome, and there was a conference rate at a local hotel, as well as transportation to the Law School.  The Planning Committee included Robin Boyle, St. John's; Ian Gallacher, Syracuse; Tracy McGaugh, Touro; John Mollenkamp, Cornell; and Marilyn Walter, Brooklyn, as well as Amy Stein, Scott Colesanti, Susan Joffe and Frank Gulino from Hofstra.  Richard Neumann  also offered his expert assistance.  

March 19-20, 2010:  Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference.

The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson hosted the ninth annual Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference. The conference was held on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, March 19-20, 2010, at the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law.

There was no conference fee and most, if not all, meals were provided to participants free of charge.

 For more information, please contact the conference chair, Professor Suzanne Rabe, at rabe@law.arizona.edu or (520) 626-2426. Program co-chairs were Professor Rebecca Scharf (rebecca.scharf@unlv.edu) and Professor Stacey Dowdell (stacey.dowdell@asu.edu). 

February 25-27, 2010:  Global Legal Skills Conference V.

Facultad Libre de Derecho de Monterrey hosted the Global Legal Skills Conference V in February 2010.  The call for proposals and further details are available at the conference website here.

If you are involved in planning or publicizing an upcoming legal writing conference,  or if you have updated information concerning any conference currently appearing on this page, please contact the Legal Writing Institute website committee by emailing Dan Real.