Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialAnne Ralph @anneralph.bsky.social · 25/03/20261000% agree. Question: What are some other basic Word skills that should be in every lawyer’s toolbox? Asking as a prof teaching great future lawyers. #AppellateSly #LawSky 29558
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialEllie Margolis @elliemargolis.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Time for an old-school #legalwriting thread crowdsourcing all of the lawyers on here. I'm interested in what you think about law student use of generative AI in writing samples. If you are hiring students, do you think about this? Do you care? 1/2 244416
aznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 16/01/2026Writers: any suggestions for playful writing games to do with students in class? (Classic example = write a story for 2 mins, fold the paper over to show one line only, pass to next person to build on.) I work with adults but welcome games meant for kids, I can make it work! 000
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialJack Metzler (cleaned up) @scotusplaces.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Judge Langholz explains the origin of (cleaned up) and its rapid adoption, and then explains in plain terms why the parenthetical is useful. /2 162
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialJack Metzler (cleaned up) @scotusplaces.bsky.social · 31/10/2025Thanks to @djsziff.bsky.social for alerting me to this important special concurrence from the Iowa Court of Appeals. www.iowacourts.gov/courtcases/2... I didn't realize at first that opinion goes beyond simply noting how (cleaned up) is superior to the Bluebook's (citation modified) version /1 1196
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialaznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 16/10/2025Another good review, but this time with bonus state law (??!!) content. I appreciate in particular the succinct explanation of why (citation modified) is 👎🙄. bsky.app/profile/djsz... 144
aznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 16/10/2025My review was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and it’s still one of my favorite things I’ve read in a law journal. BB22 makes me long for the apparently halcyon days of BB20. 161
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialDavid Ziff @djsziff.bsky.social · 20/08/2025Question for the academic masses: What is conference swag you actually appreciate and use? Please limit your responses to affordable/reasonable things. (A free iPad would be cool, I guess... But come on.) Thanks! 52192
aznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Instead of “recommending” a substantive explanatory parenthetical when the cited authority isn’t otherwise clear to the reader, Bluebook 22 now “requires” the parenthetical in Whitepages Rule 1.5(a). (No change to Bluepage/practitioner rules! But RIP journal article word counts…) 051
aznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 30/07/2025This huge imperial moth was hanging out on the wall outside my office this morning. Those are standard sized bricks! 181
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialRaul Pacheco-Vega @raulpachecovega.bsky.social · 03/07/2025“I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shovelling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” ― Shannon Hale #AcWri #GetYourManuscriptOut #AmWriting #WritingSky #AcademicSky 0273
Reposted by @aznchew.bsky.socialLegal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD @jalwd.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Call for Proposals for commentary and critique, an opportunity to engage with previously published works from the LC&R archive. We will accept and review proposals for commentary and critique on a rolling basis. Submit your proposal to lcr@alwd.org. 123
aznchew.bsky.social @aznchew.bsky.social · 20/06/2025I feel seen. North Carolina is just big bites from here until November, with the occasional copperhead scare and a lot of sweating. 030
![LANGHOLZ, Judge (specially concurring).
I continue on, beyond what is needed for the court to decide this case, to explain my persistent use of the legal-citation parenthetical (cleaned up) despite the contrary guidance of the latest edition of the Bluebook. See The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation R. B5.3, at 9 (Columbia L. Rev. Ass’n et al. eds., 22d ed. 2025) [hereinafter “Bluebook”]. Some may question—perhaps rightly—the importance of such a technicality. But I find the organic adoption of (cleaned up) to be a remarkable innovation in legal citation that improves the readability of judicial opinions and written advocacy. And (cleaned up) more accurately describes the practice that it notes than the Bluebook’s alternative: (citation modified). In short, (cleaned up) is worth saving. And I hope that the bench and the bar will not be bullied by the Bluebook into letting it die.
The (cleaned up) Parenthetical. In 2017, an attorney proposed a new legal citation practice to address the problem of “excessive punctuation clutter” and “citation baggage” that accumulates when a legal writer quotes authority that itself](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dshgf6a4f3seo55fnm2nd7ku/bafkreicpivmpfxlmpsuy4mdyszoxw2ysg3ql4avi4h3vmpf5t5l44yrrzm)
