As published by MSN
Scribes—The American Society of Legal Writers—held its first national CLE program on April 15th at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, one of the institutional members of Scribes.
The well-attended program, Legal Writing: From Basics to Application, included presentations by John Marshall Professors Kim Chanbonpin and Kevin Hopkins and remarks from Professor Mark E. Wojcik, the current vice president of Scribes. The event featured several panels focused on distinctive writing styles, including ethics and writing, storytelling for lawyers, opinion writing, and basic writing tips.
“Scribes takes legal writing seriously, and we were honored that John Marshall could host this first national CLE program for Scribes,” Wojcik said.
Professor Kim Chanbonpin, director of the Lawyering Skills Program at John Marshall, spoke as part of the Basic Writing Tips panel. She is the president-elect of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) and will become president at LWI’s summer conference in July. Professor Kevin Hopkins spoke as part of the Ethics and Legal Writing panel.
The CLE program was followed by presentations of Scribes Lifetime Achievement Awards to Frank Easterbook and Richard Posner, both former chief judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. They were interviewed by Scribes board member and former President Bryan Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary and author of more than a dozen books on legal writing.
Scribes is a national organization of legal writers dedicated to fostering a feeling of fraternity among those who write about the law. Founded in 1952, the organization encourages people who write about the law. Its core mission is to promote a clear, succinct, and forceful style in legal writing.
Each year John Marshall selects graduating students, based on their excellence in legal writing, to become members of the National Order of Scribes. At No. 5, John Marshall’s legal writing program is the top-ranked program in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report. John Marshall’s Lawyering Skills Program is one of the most rigorous research/writing programs in the country, and it houses the largest in-school writing resource center in the U.S.
