...I. Introduction Regardless of the legal specialty, location, or practice size, there is one truism that rings throughout the legal community: lawyers write. What students learn in the Legal Writing and Analysis, Appellate Advocacy, and other courses that fulfill the upper-level writing requirement is essential to becoming an effective advocate. As in many law schools' writing courses, students learn the basics for formulating, writing, and defending a legal argument — research, jurisdiction, use of authority, standards of review, and effective methods for completing written legal analysis. II. Distinguishing Features. Legal writing places heavy reliance on authority. In most legal writing, the writer must back up assertions and statements with citations to authority. This is accomplished by a unique and complicated citation system, unlike that used in any other genre of writing. Legal writing values precedent, as distinct from authority. Precedent means the way things have been done before. For example, a lawyer who must prepare a contract and who has prepared a similar contract before will often re-use, with limited changes, the old contract for the new occasion. Or a lawyer who has filed a successful motion to dismiss a lawsuit may use the same or a very similar form of motion again in another case, and so on. Many lawyers use and re-use written documents in this way and call these re-usable documents templates or, less commonly, forms. Legal writing extensively...
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...|Plain English Examples |Appendix B | | | | | | This appendix contains “before” and “after” examples from participants in the Division of Corporation Finance’s plain English pilot. The Division’s staff added marginal notes to show how aspects of the plain English rules apply to specific documents. These annotated examples are excerpted from the booklet, Before & After Plain English Examples and Sample Analyses, prepared by the Division of Corporation Finance. Although we revised the presentation and wording of the marginal notes in this appendix, the filings remain identical to those from the booklet. To get a complete copy of the book-let, please call the SEC’s public reference room at (202) 942-8090. Differences between the proposed and final amendments to Item 501 When the issuers prepared these documents, they relied on staff interpretations for filings in the plain English pilot and the proposed amendments to Item 501. The following information was not required under Item 501 as proposed, but this information is required under Item 501 as adopted: • the market(s) and the trading symbol; • the underwriter’s over-allotment or similar option, if applicable; • a prominent cross-reference to the risk factors section including the page number; ...
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...what the writing is focused on. As a paralegal, you must be able to separate the important information from the unimportant information. The purpose of writing a report, memo, or a brief is to make something happen. The clearer your writing is, the more likely you are to attain the results you are aiming for. When writing, write as if you were talking face to face with your reader. Every word that you write should be tailored to the reader. For example, a brief submitted to the court must support and persuade. While a memorandum to a client must analyze, report and recommend. Organization is key to successful legal writing. Organizational structure guides the reader through your text, and encourages readability. Legalese or legal jargon are words such as...
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...gentle makeshift wonder reject nudge keepsake beetle driven ghost tickled carton opal neon dwelling suitcase digit nozzle civics dental griddle ideal alien leapfrog grinding ooze hamburger rotten organic wrong feast storage youth January expire vision worthy background standard lantern rookie service cheerful poison mention volley tasteless favorite reek dillydally invention slogan bellyache gnash abnormal yoga quench neckwear heartthrob whittle anchor yearning eavesdrop furious optimism innocent wrench funnel infectious citizen dignify ferret clearance triumph gallant warrior penguin auburn salute designer fortnight hamlet meteor destination cavity Study Words for Fourth Graders poach knowingly station infinity niece letterhead umbrella castle listener feud envision magical unify serenely quaint visibility Scripps National Spelling Bee | Study Words for Fourth Graders | 2010–2011 School Year This list includes 50 challenging fourth grade words and, to extend learning, 50 challenging fifth grade words. slogan bellyache gnash abnormal yoga quench neckwear heartthrob whittle anchor yearning eavesdrop furious optimism innocent wrench funnel infectious citizen dignify ferret clearance triumph gallant warrior penguin auburn salute designer fortnight hamlet meteor destination cavity poach knowingly station infinity niece letterhead umbrella castle listener feud envision magical unify serenely quaint visibility biscuit abolitionists yippee preferable multitude...
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...gentle makeshift wonder reject nudge keepsake beetle driven ghost tickled carton opal neon dwelling suitcase digit nozzle civics dental griddle ideal alien leapfrog grinding ooze hamburger rotten organic wrong feast storage youth January expire vision worthy background standard lantern rookie service cheerful poison mention volley tasteless favorite reek dillydally invention slogan bellyache gnash abnormal yoga quench neckwear heartthrob whittle anchor yearning eavesdrop furious optimism innocent wrench funnel infectious citizen dignify ferret clearance triumph gallant warrior penguin auburn salute designer fortnight hamlet meteor destination cavity Study Words for Fourth Graders poach knowingly station infinity niece letterhead umbrella castle listener feud envision magical unify serenely quaint visibility Scripps National Spelling Bee | Study Words for Fourth Graders | 2010–2011 School Year This list includes 50 challenging fourth grade words and, to extend learning, 50 challenging fifth grade words. slogan bellyache gnash abnormal yoga quench neckwear heartthrob whittle anchor yearning eavesdrop furious optimism innocent wrench funnel infectious citizen dignify ferret clearance triumph gallant warrior penguin auburn salute designer fortnight hamlet meteor destination cavity poach knowingly station infinity niece letterhead umbrella castle listener feud envision magical unify serenely quaint visibility biscuit abolitionists yippee preferable multitude...
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...This article will explain the ethical issues that managers must abide by when hiring new employees. There are many issues that must be reviewed before a final decision is made. Managers should not discriminate against race, religion, sex, disabilities, marital status, or sexual orientation. There have been several companies that have had legal trouble because of their hiring ethics. Ethical issues are important in the workforce. Managers should be trained in ethics so that any ethical issues that may arise during the hiring process can be stopped from escalating and becoming an issue later on. The article will go into detail on what to do and what not to do when hiring. Ethical Issues in Hiring The main characteristics of a profitable and long lasting company are ethics and social responsibility. There are many companies that have stood the task of time, all being built on a strong ethical background. There have also been some companies that have shown some less than outstanding ethics and social responsibility, examples include Enron, ImClone, and Wal-Mart. Unethical behavior can be found in all aspects of a business, which may include insider trading, employee relations and unethical accounting practices. One issue that is surrounded by ethics and morals is employee hiring. When a company acquires new employees they need to make sure that they are facilitating the ethical behavior...
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...Chief Justice John Roberts Language is the central tool of our trade. You know, when we’re looking at a statute, trying to figure out what it means, we’re relying on the language. When we’re construing the Constitution, we’re looking at words. Those are the building blocks of the law. Language is vitally important — whether it’s a lawyer arguing a case and trying to explain his position, whether it’s a legislator writing a law, whether it’s a judge trying to construe it. Another point is people develop a lot as a writer the more they read. And so whenever John Roberts has a lot of time to read, he improved a good bit as a writer. Roberts reads a lot, as other people do, of course, in high school and college. And the interesting thing is, people lose a lot of writing ability when they get to law school because you tend to read a lot of stuff that isn’t that well written. And you tend to stop reading other stuff that is well written because you don’t have time. Focused on some badly written cases from whenever or some badly written laws, first of all, and you’re not reading anything good. So you tend to start writing not as well as you might have earlier. Maybe law students ought to make sure they have time to read good things apart from the law throughout law school. Roberts talks a lot about the importance of being clear in your writing and to know what you are talking about. Surround yourself with all the raw materials — the record in the case, the important precedents...
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...You need to have a way of identifying each specific customer. Names usually aren’t a very good way of doing this. If you have a common name, you probably understand why. Consider Julie Smith from the Customers table, for example. If you open your telephone directory, you may find too many listings of that name to count. You could distinguish Julie in several ways. Chances are, she’s the only Julie Smith living at her address.Talking about “Julie Smith, of 25 Oak Street, Airport West” is pretty cumbersome and sounds too much like legalese. It also requires using more than one column in the table. What we have done in this example, and what you will likely do in your applications, is assign a unique CustomerID.This is the same principle that leads to your having a unique bank account number or club membership number. It makes storing your details in a database easier. An artificially assigned identification number can be guaranteed to be unique. Few pieces of real information, even if used in combination, have this property. The identifying column in a table is called the key or the primary key.A key can also consist of multiple columns. If, for example, you choose to refer to Julie as “Julie Smith, of 25 Oak Street, Airport West,” the key would consist of the Name, Address, and City columns and could not be guaranteed to be unique. Databases usually consist of multiple tables and use a key as a reference from one table to another. Figure 8.2 shows a second table...
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...Ethical Obligations When conducting scientific research, there must be a certain degree of disclosure, without having a serious impact on the authenticity of the test results, which allows people to know their role in the experiment. Facebook was responsible for notifying the group of users that were chosen to partake in the study and they should have been given the option to opt out. Companies cannot hide their intentions of doing research and testing under their terms and conditions. Facebook’s Data User Policy agreement is a full page of legalese that most users ignore and accept just so they can have access to the website. Prior to conducting research, a third party consultant should make sure that testing meets the company’s ethical, legal, and security guidelines. For example, academic research must be approved by an external Institutional Review Board. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) publicly stated that the study did not breach any research guidelines. However, it did admit that some of the practices were not completely in agreement with how test subjects should consent to be part of a scientific study. After the serious backlash received by the online community and its users, Facebook reviewed the company’s research guidelines. The company stated that it will increase the amount of people who will review the research process. Researchers will receive extensive training to make sure that all testing meets the legal, privacy, and...
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...just committed a drive by and killed two innocent bystanders? There is no judgement for the judger who judges the judgmental. In some cases there is only blame to give and it shouldn’t be that way. Over the course of this paper, I plan to describe and lay the foundations covering the use of deadly force, what it means to the police, the limits for such use if there are any, how the latter is outlined in the fourth amendment, as well as identify the difference in position between the people doing the shootings through use of deadly force. Officer involved shootings, to begin with, has a direct correlation with the use of deadly force. If this is the case, it is important that we understand what the use of deadly force exactly means. In legalese, According to the legal Information Institute (1992), the use of deadly force is “force that a reasonable person would consider likely to cause death or serious bodily harm ( Legal Information Institute (LII), 1994). In other words, the use of deadly force, is force that if inflicted would cause grave bodily harm or even death. From the latter, we can assume that the reasonable person should know, or have an idea of the possible outcomes that could possibly result from their actions if the use of deadly force is conducted. For example, If the above assertion is true, if person A gets in her car and floors it right into the side of person’s B bicycle, because of the use of force person A choose to use, they should reasonable expect great...
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...Going International Exporting and international business can be interesting, exciting and in many cases challenging. In every case it should be a profitable choice as this is what fuel’s the business’ growth (Trade Start.CA, n.d.). Doing business internationally is not the same as doing domestic business. New skills are needed to learn in regards to laws and regulations, customers have different buying habits, and changes would need to be made to marketing strategies to appeal to the new market you are entering (Trade Start.CA, n.d.). Before entering a foreign market it is essential to clearly identify the motivations behind the decision to explore in the new marketplace. Determine what your domestic marketing strategy has been and how the plan employed by your company on local level might need to change in a positive way to tailor to the international territory (Forbes Woman, Sept. 2011). There are a few different things a business could do to prepare to leap in to the international market: educating yourself on the customs and business etiquette of the international market, gather historical data on the country’s currency value fluctuation and import/export timelines, becoming familiar with the country’s laws governing business, conducting a focus group to test the waters in the prospective international market, and find out what your competition is doing in the same market space (Forbes Woman, Sept. 2011). When entering a foreign market be sure to know the country’s...
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...Labor Laws and Unions HRM/531 23 Jan 2013 Dr. Michael A Barker University of Phoenix I have chosen to write about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA has been around since the mid-1950s conducting space exploration and happens to be near and dear to my heart as my late father made his career at the NASA located at Edwards AFB in California. However, I shall focus on the NASA Headquarters Professional Association (NHPA) Local #9 which is located in Washington DC and is also an affiliate of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). NHPA was established in 1984 to represent the non-supervisory scientist and engineers working for NASA in the immediate Washington DC area. In order for NHPA to exist they had to go through the unionization process first. Organization must begin with a drive of some sort, either organized by the employees themselves or at the union’s request. Once started the union must obtain at least 30% of the employee’s signatures on an authorization card. If the union receives more than 50% they have the opportunity to ask management for direct representation upon which if denied, they must petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election. If the union is successful during the election they are certified by the NLRB. Upon commencement, the union can provide many benefits for the employees and serves as their “voice” for many things. NHPA will often acting on behalf of bargaining...
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...The Ethics Game Simulation November 11, 2010 The Ethics Game Simulation This paper will discuss the ethical issues, the decision-making steps, perspectives used, and lenses chosen which helped to influence management decisions. These concepts will show strong correlations within the current workplace environment. The Quality Control Manager is responsible for documentation of test results and drafts regular production reports. This position helps G-BioSports to maintain their high standards and quality assurance within their industry. The first scenario took place after the Lab Director informed the Quality Control Manager that specimens received at his lab were found with a trace contamination of 100% in all the samples. Unfortunately these results were two weeks late and products from these specimens had already been released and shipped out to consumers. Although the contamination found was well below FDA standards, the QCM is faced with many concerning issues and decisions to be made. A few examples are; who needed to be informed and how quickly, how would information should be disseminated without creating a threat or scare to the public and stakeholders. How serious was this contamination and how much product was actually sent out. This also includes to what degree of ethics and legal concerns would need to address. Nevertheless, there are many concerning factors. As a manager, gathering all the facts is an important first step. Who to inform and how this information...
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...The interview Clara’s winning resume and brilliant cover letter has scored her an interview. It’s vital that Clara dresses professionally, and researches the company, but it’s also crucial she has all the right answers to her Interviewer’s questions! Top Tips for a successful interview: 1. Practice answers to potential questions before the interview Draft out questions you may be asked and think about how you would answer each one. 2. Be clear about your strengths – prepare specific examples! You say you’re a great problem-solver. Prove it with an example of how you overcame a difficult situation at work. 3. List a weakness that you have already overcome Find something you had trouble with before but have since dealt with. Perhaps you were disorganized before but have now learnt to prioritise. 4. Never allow yourself to be badgered about your salary It’s okay to give a salary range. Don’t be bullied into settling for a package unworthy of your qualifications. Interviewer: Why don’t you start by telling me about yourself? Clara: I’ve got five years of experience in the industry. I’m currently an Account Executive for several major clients in my company. Interviewer: Good. What would you say is your greatest strength? Clara: I handle change well. I was asked to be the team’s leader when my line manager was on maternity leave. I really enjoyed the challenge of this additional responsibility. I was able to discover how to get the best from the individual members of...
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...Today, consumers face a baffling health insurance marketplace, especially if they buy insurance on their own. Americans find it all but impossible to compare health insurance policies on an “apples-to-apples” basis because the policies are written in legalese and the terms of coverage are so varied. As lawmakers consider comprehensive health care reform, they have an opportunity to manage the way we “shop” for health insurance. Recommendations include new consumer-friendly rules for the health insurance marketplace. These rules require clear and consistent definitions of insurance terms, standardized health plan provisions, new health plan disclosure forms, unbiased enrollment assistance and rigorous enforcement at the state and national levels (Healthy Policy Brief, 2009). There is a more improved way to seek health insurance. We need a health insurance marketplace which has consumer protections commensurate with the importance of the purchase, new rules for insurance plan disclosure that considers real consumer decision-making behavior and less variation in health plan design so that consumers can easily compare benefits and costs. In order to create this new marketplace, there is a proposal of five specific changes that must be created: a manageable number of plan choices, standardized benefit designs, standardized consumer-friendly health plan materials, decision aids and a strong federal oversight body. Consumers should have a manageable number of “good” health plan options...
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