1. Introduction

Judge Gerald Lebovits remarked that “good legal writing is clear, concise, and engaging in ways unheard of in college.”[1]  

Teaching law students how to quote and cite effectively has always been challenging. An emerging citation practice—a parenthetical that says “cleaned up”—promises an easier way to quote and cite altered quotations. This should be cause for celebration, but as this article explains, (cleaned up) offers simplicity at the expense of accuracy.

Last year, I faced a double challenge: teaching a synchronous, online, required advocacy course and doing it at 8:00 a.m. During the long, northern, Idaho winters, an 8:00 a.m. class meant that we met in the dark for most of the semester. During the first class, my students were visibly sleepy and participation was low. During the second class, I knew what to expect and tried to inject more energy into my teaching, attempting to liven up the students. The result: I succeeded, but was exhausted by 9:15 in the morning.

I’ve been looking for ways to teach contract drafting to my students in a way that is more like what I did in practice. Teaching students to write clearly and unambiguously is an important component of any drafting class. But students need to also learn how to apply the statutes and cases to contract clauses. When I practiced law, I contributed to the substance of the documents I drafted so I thought my students would be better prepared if I had them read and apply cases in my class.

Lawyering skills professor, law librarian, licensed attorney . . . and video producer? The COVID-19 pandemic caused most of us to take on unexpected roles, both inside and outside of the classroom. Even so, I never would have predicted that one of my new roles would be a combination of screenwriter, actor, director, editor, and producer of a series of video lectures that I used in my newly-flipped lawyering skills classroom.

COVID-19 has caused havoc in the world as we know it, altering every aspect of life, including education. The pandemic forced me and other educators to teach online, and by doing so, it has made me a better teacher. I now (1) employ more teaching techniques; (2) assess more frequently; and (3) engage every student. As I emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, I have reflected on the positive lessons I learned from teaching online, lessons that I plan to bring with me when I return to the classroom.  

Like most of my colleagues who switched to Zoom classes almost overnight in March 2020, my life changed very dramatically when quarantine began. The various conferences I had planned to attend fell like dominoes, and our University announced a policy that it would not approve any travel for the foreseeable future. The school was locked down overnight. Thus, with all of my plans cancelled indefinitely (including going anywhere at all), I was left with a lot of scheduled time that suddenly became unscheduled time.

Introduction

The 2020-2021 academic year felt like an eon. It was an eeeeeeeeoooooooonnnnnn—a tiny word, suspended, stretched into an unrecognizable form.

That eon ran its course in a flash. Time flew even as it stood still, with every moment predictably offering novel and surprising challenges. Somehow, the spring semester abruptly ended when we were simultaneously hitting our stride and suffering burnout. A seventy-five-minute class on Zoom often felt equivalent to twenty minutes in a physical classroom. 

A cappella. Zoom. Tax law.

Never before did these three things go together as well as they did during the spring 2021 semester in my legal writing and oral advocacy course at Suffolk University Law School.