Mercer Law Review Symposium Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Legal Writing Institute

On November 5th and 6th, 2009 the Mercer Law Review hosted, in cooperation with Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Legal Writing Institute. The symposium brought together prominent members of the legal writing community to discuss the development of the field since the founding of the LWI in 1984. Mercer is currently the home of the LWI, and it was a great opportunity to showcase the development of teaching, scholarship and service by legal writing experts from across the country. Transcripts of the symposium will be published in an upcoming volume of the Mercer Law Review, and related articles will be published in volume 16 of Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute. More information about the symposium can be read here.

Educational Program for Brazilian Lawyers and Federal Judges

Mercer Law School hosted 18 Brazilian judges and lawyers in an intercultural educational program. The judges and lawyers came from all over the country of Brazil, and were in Macon to learn about the U.S. legal system, the educational process for lawyers in the U.S., and to view court proceedings in both the state and federal courts here. The program ran from September 15^th to the 24^th, 2009. While they were in Georgia, our visitors had a chance to visit the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center and National Monument, as well as the Carter Center. More information on the program can be found here.

Southeast Legal Writing Conference

On September 12, 2009 I gave a talk with Prof. Linda Berger entitled Beyond Mere Literary

Devices: Using Metaphor & Narrative to Structure Persuasion. The talk was part of the Southeast Legal Writing Conference, which was hosted by the Stetson University School of Law in Gulfport, Florida. The program can be seen here.

Back in Buenos Aires

I taught again in the Stetson University School of Law International and Comparative Law Institute in Buenos Aires in August, 2009. My course on comparative constitutionalism was offered again. This year, the program moved from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) to the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) in Puerto Madero.

Article on Law and Cinema Published in Suffolk Law Review

My most recent article--"Western" Notions of Justice: Legal Outsiders in American Cinema--has been published in the Suffolk University Law Review (42 Suffolk L. Rev. 849 (2009)). The article is included in a symposium volume focused on the theme of "Legal Outsiders in American Cinema" as a follow-up to the 2009 AALS Law and Humanities program.

Roundtable on Law, Business and Film at University of Illinois

On April 23 and 24 I participated in a round table discussion at the University of Illinois College of Law, entitled "Beyond Wallstreet: The Interplay Among Film, Business, and the Law." The program was an exploration of the way popular media portrays business and law. Participants attended the annual "Ebertfest," the yearly film festival hosted by film critic Roger Ebert. For more on the program, check the website of the Business Law and Policy Program at the U of I here.

Lecture on Legal Discourse at Stetson Law School

On April 22, 2009 I have a lecture entitled "Legal Writing: Gateway to the Legal Discourse Community" at the Stetson University School of Law in Gulfport, Florida. The lecture was part of the faculty development exchange between Stetson and Mercer.

Mercer Law School Program on "Law and Rhetoric"

I will moderate a panel at the Mercer sponsored program entitled "Law and Rhetoric: Legal Writing through a Rhetorical Lens," which will be held Jan. 5, 2009 in San Diego, California. I have the good fortune to moderate a panel that includes the widely regarded scholars Kirsten Davis (Stetson University School of Law), Linda Edwards (Mercer & UNLV), and Kate O'Neill (University of Washington School of Law). More information on the program can be found here: http://law.mercer.edu/lawandrhetoric/

AALS Law and Humanities Panel

I am the Program Chair for the 2009 Law and Humanities Section panel entitled "Legal Outsiders in American Film." The panel, which will be held during the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California focuses on the

"theme of one who stands outside the legal system, yet struggles for acknowledgment, justice, power, recognition, or truth. This theme is a perpetual one for film-makers. In virtually every genre of film, legal outsiders crop up over and over. Characters on the fringes of society and the margins of the legal system populate the narratives of both independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. These characters help define lawlessness and transgression. They also say a lot about American conceptions of law, social acceptance, and transformation."

The panel includes presentations from noted scholars on this issue, including Taunya Lovell Banks (University of Maryland School of Law), I. Bennett Capers (Hofstra University School of Law), Rebecca Johnson (University of Victoria School of Law), Orit Kamir (Hebrew University), and Cheyney Ryan (University of Oregon). Papers from the panel will be published in the Suffolk University Law Review.