Legal Writing Institute Header
 
  President's Welcome
FAQs
LWI News
Membership - Join LWI
Member Directory
Member News
Legal Writing Listservs
Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Committees & Reports
By-Laws
Blackwell Award
Golden Pen Award
About LWI
LWI History
Contact LWI
 
 
Biennial Conference
Bibliographies
Speaker Videos
Other Conferences
 
  The Second Draft
Journal of the LWI
 
 
  Idea Bank
Grading Rubrics
Speakers Bank
Syllabus Bank
Teaching International Students
Plagiarism Resources
AALS Section Newsletter
ALWD Citation Rules
Bar Journal Columns
Faculty Standards
LW Links
 
 
Post a Job
Search for a Job
 
 
LWI Cafepress Store
 
 
ALWD/LWI Survey Cooperation Survey
 
 

Legal Writing Institute - Publications

 

Institutionalizing the Fight Against Plagiarism

Problems throughout the nation's law schools prompted the Legal Writing Institute to appoint a committee to investigate plagiarism policies and, if necessary, to create and disseminate a suggested policy. They contacted all ABA schools, and more than 120 schools submitted their policies, with comments and anonymous case histories.

 

The committee discovered:

  • many schools mention plagiarism only in a general Honor Code,
  • plagiarism definitions are inconsistent and even contradictory from school to school, and
  • plagiarism penalties are inconsistent and contradictory from school to school.

Thus, the committee created a policy brochure that schools can modify to suit their faculty and student needs.

A thorough discussion of the committee's findings and recommendations can be found in Terri LeClercq's Failure to Teach: Due Process and Law School Plagiarism, 49 J. L. Ed. 236 (1999).

You can download a printable PDF of the LWI plagiarism policy using the PDF viewer. If you do not have the PDF viewer, you can download it from Adobe free of charge.

 

Plagiarism Policy Contents

Institutionalizing the Fight Against Plagiarism
Law School Plagiarism
Changing Contexts, Changing Expectations
Rules for Working with Authority
Plagiarism Exercise
Exercise Answer Key
Hypotheticals for Class Discussion
For Further Reading
Student Acknowledgement Form
Online Plagiarism Sources
Matthew C. Mirow, Plagiarism: A Workshop for Law Students
Lawrence M. Hinman, Confronting College Cheating