Law | Katie Rose Guest Pryal

Atticus Finch and White America’s Worst Nightmare

by Katie | Jul 16, 2015 | Law, Social Justice

:: Atticus Finch has, for more than 50 years, allowed white America to sleep at night. Five years ago or so, I wrote and published a scholarly piece on To Kill a Mockingbird. I noted Atticus Finch’s “failure of empathy,” and said that white readers...

Unexpected Ways Having a Psychiatric Disability Is Annoying

by Katie | Apr 17, 2015 | Disability, Law

:: Did you know that being a person with psychiatrical disabilities (PPD) is annoying? Wait. Let me rephrase. Did you know that the WHOLE WORLD makes it really annoying to be a PPD? Here are some recent examples. Example A I decided to sign up for TSA Pre-Check....

Stetson Law and Rhetoric Colloquium 2013

by Katie | Mar 17, 2013 | Law, Teaching

This past week, I was lucky enough to participate in the Law and Rhetoric Colloquium at Stetson University College of Law, put together by the inimitable Professor Kirsten K. Davis. Below is the announcement of the Colloquium, which includes a picture of the...

On Page Limits and Concision

by Katie | Nov 17, 2012 | Law, Teaching

:: At the beginning of every school year, my legal writing students face a double, daunting challenge: to learn to write about a topic they are unfamiliar with (the law) in a dialect that they are unfamiliar with (legal discourse). They go bananas when I tell them...

Terrible Lawyer Email Signatures

by Katie | Oct 20, 2011 | Law, Teaching

:: Lawyers sometimes allow legalese to infect their writing—even their email signatures. Setting aside the implications* of this sort of email signature, I wanted to make a suggestion to all lawyers out there: please remove the obfuscating legalese from your “do...

Sunlight and Law School

by Katie | Aug 16, 2011 | Law, Teaching

:: Law schools have gone through an immense crisis. As surprising as it is, the class action law suit against New York Law School seems to fit right in with the recent trend of criticizing law schools for misrepresenting (1) scholarships, (2) grads’ employment...