The journal, Legal Communication and Rhetoric: JALWD, (formerly the Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) will publish its twentieth volume this year. The journal has this mission statement:

The journal is dedicated to encouraging and publishing scholarship (1) focusing on the substance and doctrine of legal writing. Legal writing is broadly defined to include many types of writing in a lawyering setting; (2) grounded in legal doctrine, empirical research, or interdisciplinary theory; and (3) accessible, helpful and interesting to all “do-ers” of legal writing: attorneys, judges, law students, and legal academicians. Published articles are intended to reach all of those audiences.[1]

The journal regularly includes articles that appellate practitioners will found helpful and it publishes articles written by practitioners as well as academics. Here are just a few examples:

  • Raffi Melkonian, Thoughts and Worries About Appellate Practice Post-Pandemic, 19 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 129 (2022)
  • Stephen Boscolo, Using Judicial Motives to Persuade Judges: A Dramatistic Analysis of the Petitioners’ Brief in Lawrence v. Texas, 17 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 103 (2020)
  • Scott Fraley, A Primer on Essential Classical Rhetoric for Practicing Attorneys, 14 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 99 (2017)
  • Barbara K. Gotthelf, The Lawyer’s Guide to Um, 11 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 1 (2014)
  • Stacy Rogers Sharp, Crafting Responses to Counterarguments: Learning from the Swing-Vote Cases, 10 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 201 (2013)
  • Scott Fraley, A Primer on Essential Classical Rhetoric for Practicing Attorneys, 14 Legal Commc’n & Rhetoric 99 (2017)

You’ll find a complete archive of the journal here Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD

 

[1] https://www.alwd.org/aboutlcr

Photo of Charles Oldfield Charles Oldfield

Charles W. Oldfield is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of Legal Writing. Before joining the law school, he was an attorney at Green Haines Sgambati Co., L.P.A., and a law clerk in the Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals. The focus…

Charles W. Oldfield is an Associate Professor of Law and Director of Legal Writing. Before joining the law school, he was an attorney at Green Haines Sgambati Co., L.P.A., and a law clerk in the Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals. The focus of his legal practice included appellate law, labor and employment law, and education law.  He has argued cases before several Ohio district courts of appeal, the Ohio Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  He is admitted to practice in Ohio, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

He is a graduate of The University of Akron School of Law (1999), magna cum laude, and Bluefield State College. He has served as President of The University of Akron School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors and as an Akron Law trial team coach. He has taught seminars for the Ohio Association for Justice, Ohio Education Association, and Community Legal Aid.

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