LLM – Georgetown Legal English Blog

Updates from the Georgetown Legal English Faculty (September 2024)

Post by Stephen Horowitz, Lecturer of Legal English

Here’s what the Georgetown Legal English faculty have been up to since the end of the spring 2024 semester….

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Ben Cheng

Returning from parental leave, Prof. Cheng is set to teach sections of Legal English I and Professional Responsibility this fall. Additionally, he is working on a new Legal English Negotiations curriculum for the spring 2025 semester.

John Dundon

Professor Dundon had a busy summer, which started with his teaching an Advanced Contract Drafting class to LL.M. students at IE Law School in Madrid, Spain. It was his fifth summer teaching at IE Law, and he always feels very honored to be there – the school community is very welcoming, and the students themselves are always extremely impressive.

Next, Professor Dundon presented his research at two linguistics conferences in the United Kingdom: the i-Mean 7 Conference on Meaning in Social Interaction in Bristol, and then the 5th European Conference of the International Association for Forensic & Legal Linguistics in Birmingham. His first presentation was an explanation of procedural and evidentiary rules in U.S. trials that can affect linguistic analysis of trial testimony. The second presentation summarized Professor Dundon’s recent research about how U.S. Supreme Court Justices and attorneys at oral arguments sometimes speak “on behalf” of institutions and clients, and how this phenomenon manifests in linguistic features.

Professor Dundon then spent a month in Taiwan, teaching Contract Drafting in English to law students at the National Chengchi University College of Law and practicing attorneys at the Taipei Bar Association. It was one of his largest-ever classes (over 100 students), and Professor Dundon learned an incredible amount about the Taiwanese legal system from his students. He’s been invited back for a similar program next year and hopes to expand the course offerings to cover additional material.

Finally, Professor Dundon taught U.S. Legal Research, Analysis & Writing in Georgetown Law’s Summer Experience Program for entering LL.M. students.

Heather Weger & Julie Lake

It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over! We have several personal and professional highlights to share.

Prof. Julie Lake (left) and Prof. Heather Weger (right)

Vacations & Family Time

Since our last blog post, we took time to relax with our respective families.

Professor Julie Lake spent much of the summer with family and friends in Cape May (New Jersey), Chapel Hill (North Carolina), and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). Though the sun was in full force in Cape May (aka, the “beach”), the jellyfish prevented her from swimming in the ocean. (It is hard to conquer these lifelong fears!) She was able to spend time with her husband and daughter, watching movies and TV shows about unicorns, playing her guitar, and completing kid-friendly art projects.

Professor Heather Weger traveled to Chicago (Illinois) and Richmond (Virginia) to visit her husband’s family), and she spent time with her Mom (from Arkansas) and sister (from North Carolina) as they visited her here in DC. She also spent a week at the beach (North Carolina), binge watching the Olympics, collecting sea shells with her children, and catching up on pleasure reading. Reconnecting with family always brings a renewed sense of identity and energy!

Summer Projects

Between family trips and vacations, we have continued to refine our asset-based approach to teaching Legal English. Specifically, we presented at the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) Biennial Conference in Indianapolis in July. In our presentation, “Linguists in Law School: Rebooting Legal Education to Empower Multilingual Law Students,” we highlighted the value that multilingual law students bring to law school and showed effective pedagogical strategies to enhance their Legal English. We also enjoyed the presentations we attended, and we came away with practices ratified (e.g., mindfulness of cultural and linguistic references in teaching), new practices introduced (e.g., a new approach to cultivating creativity), and some practices overturned (e.g., unexpected ways of handling plagiarism).

The Upcoming Academic Year

We look forward to another academic year with the Two-Year LL.M. program!

We are offering a newly designed course to the Two-Year LL.M. students, Academic Legal English: Special Topics, which engages students in experiential learning to enhance their oral communication skills, grammar skills, and professional language skills. The course topics include:

Reflecting on Legal English Skills
Listening to a Law School Lecture
Optimizing Study Strategies for Law School
Using (& Not Using) Generative AI in Law School
Participating in and Facilitating Law School Discussions
Using Grammar in Legal Contexts: Conditionals
Writing Academic and Professional Emails
Exploring the Scholarly Writing Genre

We also look forward to some exciting upcoming projects with our legal English colleagues at several Ukrainian law schools.

We will continue to participate in the monthly working group with Ukrainian linguists teaching in the law context.
We are working on designing and delivering a writing retreat for colleagues at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in December 2024.

As we reflect on its evolution over since 2008, we are proud of the quality legal English curriculum that the team has developed. We welcome the new cohort of students and look forward to staying in touch with the students in their second year!

Stephen Horowitz

16th Global Legal Skills Conference (Bari, Italy; June 6-8, 2024)

Had a fantastic and productive experience at the 16th Annual Global Legal Skills Conference in Bari, Italy where I presented on the topic: “Making Legal English Accessible: Ukraine, Afghanistan & the US Bar Exam.”

I was also extremely honored to receive an “Individual Award”Recognition of Achievement in Global Legal Skills Education” award from the Global Legal Skills Institute for “creating collaborative exchanges between US and Ukrainian Legal Educators and for Promoting Legal Skills Education Around the World.”

The other fantastic part was getting to meet so many wonderful members of the Global Legal Skills community in person, including Mark Wojcik, David Austin, Lurene Contento, Chantal Morton, Kim Holst, Artem Shaipov, Louise Kulbicki, Natasha Costello, Claudia Amato, Lindsey Kurtz, Susan Dudley, John Thornton, Shelly Saltzman, Bythia Loudon, Kateřina Chudová, and many others. And particularly special was getting to finally meet in person Ukrainian law professors Oksana Kiriiak (Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University) and Nadiia Maksimentseva (Oles Gonchar Dnipro National University), who had both been active participants in all of the legal English trainings over the past year.

Prof. Oksana Kiriiak (left), Prof. Nadiia Maksimentseva (middle), & Prof. Horowitz (right)

Fact of the day: The bones of St. Nicholas (aka Santa Clause) are buried in the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari. And thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I just started reading an amazing novel of historical fiction titled Nicked by M.T. Anderson which is set in Bari which tells the somewhat fictionalized story of how Santa’s bones ended up there.

Sri Lanka

Flew to Sri Lanka to lead workshops on legal English curriculum development for the University of Colombo and University of Jaffna in connection with USAID’s Efficient and Effective Justice (EEJ) Program in Sri Lanka. Also met with faculty from the Open University of Sri Lanka and University of Peradeniya to lay the groundwork for legal English curriculum support. Similar to the situation in Ukraine, law schools in Sri Lanka are in the process of moving to English-only curriculum.

Ukraine

Initiated conversations with Georgetown Law faculty to establish a sort of umbrella “Ukraine legal support” group within the Georgetown Law community in order to identify and connect the various people and entities within the law school that have been involved with providing law-related support to Ukraine. The goal is to be able to increase opportunities for collaboration and info sharing and also establish a central point of contact for inquiries, events, getting involved, etc.
Looking forward to re-starting the weekly Legal English Conversation sessions for Ukrainian law and legal English faculty that I’ve run for the past year. In each session, some subset of the 30+ Ukrainian faculty members and 30+ US/EU faculty members join and are paired off in breakout rooms for legal English conversation. (If interested in being added to the list of volunteers, please feel free to email me at stephen.horowitz@georgetown.edu.)
Looking forward to continuing to support the organization of Legal English trainings for Ukrainian law and legal English faculty.
Looking forward to continuing to support the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Peer-to-Peer Writing Project, which matches KMA students with American law students, including several from Georgetown Law for all three semesters the program has run so far.

ABA Afghan Legal Professionals Scholarship & Mentoring Pilot Program

Continued providing the online self-guided pre-LLM legal English program for fellows in the ABA Afghan Legal Professionals Scholarship & Mentoring Pilot Program. The course, which I co-created, is hosted on the USLawEssentials learning management system. The course is made available for free to all fellows in the program who have completed the legal English assessment designed by Prof. Lindsey Kurtz (Penn State Law), Prof. Dan Edelson (Seton Hall Law), and me last year to support the ABA Pilot Program.

The International Jurist

Was quoted in the article “Legal English Bridges law and language for foreign-educated LLM students,” written by Joshua Alter (Associate Dean of International Programs at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law) which appeared in The International Jurist June 21, 2024.

Bar Exam Support for LLM Students

*Once again co-taught with Prof. Daniel Edelson (Seton Hall Law) a 4-week bar essay skills course (for MEE and MPT) this summer through USLawEssentials using a “pay what you can” model to make legal English bar support accessible to all LLM students who need it.

Online Legal English

Continued my annual tradition of teaching part of the summer pre-LLM English for American Law School course for incoming LLM students at St. John’s Law School. After leaving St. John’s in 2020, I collaborated with Daniel Edelson to create an online version of the summer legal English program in St. John’s Canvas system. The course content, which we designed to be used as both a synchronous or self-guided course, helps students learn the basics of the US legal system, US law school culture, legal writing, and case reading and analysis.

Fall 2024 Semester

Excited to be teaching sections of both Legal English and US Legal Research & Writing this semester to the Two-Year LLM students this fall semester!

The Brief: “Bridging Language and Law at Georgetown”

A nice article via The Brief, Georgetown Law’s community newsletter, titled “Bridging Language and Law at Georgetown” in the January 18, 2024 issue that highlights the work of Professor Stephen Horowitz, the 2-Year LLM Program, and the Legal English faculty.

Click here to read the full article

Updates from the Georgetown Legal English Faculty (December 2023)

Post by Stephen Horowitz, Professor of Legal English

Here’s what the Georgetown Legal English faculty have been up to over the fall 2023 semester….

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Heather Weger & Julie Lake & Michelle Ueland

Legal English team members Professors Julie Lake, Heather Weger, and Michelle Ueland designed and delivered an intensive 5-week Legal English program for the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine from November 13-December 15, 2023. They collaborated with Georgetown Law’s Center on National Security (with Professor Mitt Regan and Anna Cave) and the Atrocity Crime Advisory Group (ACA).

It was an honor to work with such dedicated colleagues and students. We look forward to future collaborations of this kind. Stay tuned for a more detailed blog post in January!

John Dundon

This September, Professor Dundon was invited to participate as a panel discussant at a linguistics conference at the University of Bonn, Germany. The title of the conference was “Language as a Social Practice: Constructing (a)symmetries in legal discourse,” and Professor Dundon spoke on a panel (together with professors from Germany and Finland) about how asymmetries in legal discourse can lead to societal injustice.

He thoroughly enjoyed attending the conference and considers himself very fortunate to have been invited to meet with so many leaders in the field of language and law. The conference proceedings will be published (together with a contribution from Professor Dundon) in an upcoming volume with Cambridge University Press.

In other news, Professor Dundon is finishing up his final year of coursework towards his doctorate in sociolinguistics. This semester, he is researching interactional features of Supreme Court oral arguments, and specifically the “production format” of utterances made by attorneys as they negotiate having to speak on behalf of themselves, their client, and their legal team. Professor Dundon is also conducting a survey of ideologies about language use and language learning on the public-facing websites of local bilingual schools in the District of Columbia.

Stephen Horowitz

Ukraine

*Collaborated with Artem Shaipov of USAID’s Justice For All program and several other legal English professors (Alissa Hartig, Susan Dudley, Catherine Beck, Oksana Kiriiak, and Linda Pope) to provide multiple legal English trainings for Ukrainian law faculty and legal English faculty over the course of the Fall 2023 semester.

*Led one of the trainings–9 sessions of Legal English Conversation–and recruited a cohort of 15 additional law/legal English volunteers (including colleague John Dundon) to engage with Ukrainian faculty in each Legal English Conversation session.

*Currently in the process of setting up additional trainings during Spring 2024. And planning a new round of matching Ukrainian law schools with any international law school/legal English faculty interested in teaching a course, guest lecturing, providing support for academic publishing, or helping in other ways. (Email Stephen.Horowitz@georgetown.edu if interested in volunteering in some capacity.)

*Recruited Georgetown Law JD students to participate in a six-week peer-to-peer legal writing project with students from Kyiv Molhya Academy University during the fall semester that involved JD students from several other US law schools as well. Currently recruiting more Georgetown Law students for the next session to start late January.

*In collaboration with law professor Alan Blakely, helped set up the Ukraine-related Resources Page.

*Reached a 500-day Duolingo streak for Ukrainian language study!

Afghanistan

*Continued conducting assessments for Afghan judges and lawyers in connection with the ABA Afghan Legal Professionals Scholarship & Mentoring Pilot Program. The assessment project is in collaboration with Prof. Daniel Edelson (Seton Hall/USLawEssentials.com) and Prof. Lindsey Kurtz (Penn State Law).

*Created, with Daniel Edelson, a self-guided online pre-LLM legal English program (i.e., Fundamentals of the US Legal System; Reading Cases; Legal Writing) to help prepare Afghan candidates getting ready to start an LLM program at a US law school.

*Currently working with ABA program leaders to recruit additional mentors–both law faculty and law students–to provide legal English and other support for the candidates. (Email Stephen.Horowitz@georgetown.edu if interested in volunteering.)

Japan

*Guest-lectured in three classes for the legal English course at Keio University Law School on the topics of Case Reading Strategies and the Language of Analogy.

USA

*Teaching a December/January “Bar Essay Writing Skills for LLM Students” online course for USLawEssentials together with Prof. Daniel Edelson. The course is designed to be accessible to all students who need it regardless of finances, and provides specialized bar essay writing support geared to non-native English speakers.

*Was the subject of interviews by Wordrake (on Legal English and Plain English) and Amicus Partners (on my career path to becoming a legal English professor.)

*Provided a book cover blurb for The “Getting to Yes” Guide for ESL Students and Professionals: Principled Negotiation for Non-Native Speakers of English by Barrie J. Roberts at the request of University of Michigan Press.

*Received a wonderful email from a former student, reprinted with her permission:

“I found out I passed the New York bar yesterday! I wanted to thank you specifically because both torts and criminal law came up on the exam. The torts essay was asking for all elements of negligence so that was our entire final exam for Legal English 1. The criminal law essay had 4 sub issues and they were all about Miranda rights, custodial interrogation and whether the defendant waived it knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently. Thank you again for the classes. I remember writing everything I learned from classes instead of from the bar prep materials for those two essays. I’m really grateful for that!” —Sokunthyda Long (Cambodia), graduate of the 2-Year LLM Program at Georgetown Law

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Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and peace-filled holidays and New Year!

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Finale: Lucas Loviscek International Arbitration Partner Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

How did he rise to the top in international arbitration at BigLaw?

When Lucas came to the U.S. to pursue his LLM, he planned to work in the U.S. for a year or two before heading home. He was able to secure a position at Quinn Emanuel, the prestigious and the largest law firm in the world devoted solely to business litigation and arbitration. Eight years later, he never regretted his decision.

By Yi Song

Lucas Loviscek, International Arbitration Partner

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP

How did he rise to the top in international arbitration at BigLaw?

What did he do before and during his LLM to set him on the path of success? How did he land his first job? How did he use his previous connection to secure a position at BigLaw? What’s his advice on how to successfully network during law school to secure your post-graduation job offer?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Lucas’ story here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 9: Allan Achesa Maleche Human Rights Lawyer and Global Health Expert

How to change the world as an internationally trained lawyer?

On a regular Thursday, Allan started his day by moderating a UN General Assembly session in New York City on how to achieve inclusive governance and what we have learned from the HIV response. The day before, he won a case after 9 years in litigation, where four women living with HIV challenged their forced and coerced sterilization. The ruling marked a historic moment, as it was the first time a court had declared such an act discriminatory.

By Yi Song

How to change the world as an internationally trained lawyer?

Allan Achesa Maleche

Human Rights Lawyer and Global Health Expert

Allan is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards in social justice and human rights law, including Economic and Social Rights Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award and the Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award. What are the most important takeaway(s) from his legal education in the U.S.? What are the important lawyering skills internationally trained lawyers need to possess to excel and thrive? Who are his role models in the law?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Allan’s tory here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 8: Ruoke Liu Partner, Investment Funds, Morgan Lewis

By Yi Song

Ruoke Liu
Partner, Investment Funds, Morgan Lewis

The hiring partner tells you: what is BigLaw looking for when hiring internationally trained lawyers?

When Ruoke graduated from law school, the U.S. economy was in the midst of the subprime crisis. The job market posed unprecedented challenges. Undeterred, she persisted and eventually secured a position in the investment funds practice group.

Now, as a hiring partner at Morgan Lewis, she interviewed and hired many candidates. What lawyering skills and qualifications do BigLaw firms seek when hiring internationally trained lawyers? What advice does her have on effective networking? What was her most important takeaway about legal writing? Why does she believe that listening to English improves writing as a non-native speaker?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Ruoke’s story here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 7: Nikolaos Doukellis Associate Attorney, Investigations and White Collar Defense, Hogan Lovells

By Yi Song

How did he transition from the World Bank to BigLaw?

When Nick arrived in the U.S. for his LL.M, he planned to return home after graduation. However, a few weeks into the LLM, he found his classes intriguing, and he began to reassess his plan. Soon he realized that he would need to pass the bar to keep practicing law in the U.S. He took more courses after he graduated to meet the New York Bar requirement, he successfully passed the bar exam two years after he graduated. His externship at the World Bank became a permanent position, which he stayed on for five years with a short stint at PwC. Today he is an associate attorney at the Investigation, White Collar and Fraud practice at Hogan Lovells in DC.

What activities and events he attended during law school are the most helpful to develop his career? How did he get the externship at the World Bank? How did he turn his externship into a permanent position? Why did he say that law school is a journey of self-discovery?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Nikolaos’ story here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 6: Monica Murayama International Arbitration Attorney, Steptoe & Johnson LLP

By Yi Song

How to network and ace your BigLaw interview with a personal touch?

For most internationally trained lawyers, the job search in the U.S. begins on Day One of their LL.M. Program. For Monica, it started from Day Zero. She started searching for jobs in the summer before her LL.M. program began. She dedicated eight months to meticulous research, networking and interviewing with potential firms that could hire her. A Brazil-trained lawyer fluent in Portuguese, French and English, Monica had countless coffee meetings with BigLaw partners specializing in international arbitration. Some generously shared their own career journeys, while others were more blunt, “I have five minutes. What do you want?”

One day, while preparing for one of these informational interviews, Moica discovered that the senior partner who was to interview her had lived in Brazil for six months some thirty years ago. She seized this connection to add a personal touch to their conversation. Today she’s working with the partner at Steptoe & Johnson specialized in international arbitration.

How did she jumpstart on networking from Day Zero to land a prestigious externship? How did she turn the externship into a permanent position at another renowned firm? What’s her strategy to network with partners at BigLaw and effectively following up with them? How can you add a personal touch to the daunting process of networking?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Monica’s story here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 5: Ignacio Zabala Alonso, International Arbitration Lawyer licensed in NY, Spain and England & Wales, McDermott Will & Emery

By Yi Song

How did he turn his BigLaw externship into a post-graduation job offer?

When Ignacio walked out of his first interview for a competitive externship position, he wasn’t feeling optimistic. He was thrown off his pace by the interviewer’s first question: “So, do you have any questions for me?” He managed to get hired as an extern anyway in the International Arbitration Group at McDermott Will & Emery. The externship later turned into a long-term position that allowed him to stay with the firm after he graduated with his LLM degree.

How did he turn things around during the interview, even if he felt like he started off on the wrong foot? How did he turn the externship into a long-term position? What is expected of an internationally trained lawyer like Ignacio in BigLaw? Being a licensed attorney in Spain, England & Wales, what’s Ignacio’s take on the work culture difference between BigLaw in the U.S. and in Europe?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Ignacio’s story here.

Master of Laws Interviews Season 2: Episode 4: Evelyn Y. Riley, Counsel, Complex Litigation, Cozen O’Connor

by Yi Song

This is a story of transformation: an IP lawyer turned BigLaw litigation counsel.

When Evelyn was pursuing her specialized LL.M. in intellectual property, she planned on becoming an IP lawyer. Fate had other plans for her. Her pivotal career moment came through a judicial internship at the Chief Judge’s chamber at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The judge was one of her professors she took classes from. She ended up being the sole judicial intern selected by the judge from the LL.M. Program. The prestigious internship served as a launching pad for her next job in antitrust litigation, even if she had not taken any antitrust courses in law school. Today she’s at Cozen O’Connor, specializing in complex litigation.

How did she stand out among other candidates and secure the prestigious judicial internship? How did the internship lead her to her first permanent position in antitrust litigation? What are the essential skills employers are looking for when hiring internationally trained lawyers? What’s the one thing internationally trained lawyers should do during law school besides studying?

Subscribe to the LinkedIn weekly newsletter to receive FREE insider tips. Read Evelyn’s story here.