Friday, March 1
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Subotnick Center
250 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn
Co-Sponsors
BLS Legal Writing Program
Center for the Study of Law, Language and Cognition
Journal of Law and Policy
About the Symposium
Research into the psychology of decision-making has demonstrated that when people are called upon to process complex and ambiguous information, they rely on mental shortcuts to ease the cognitive burden of these tasks. Such heuristics and biases, as they are called, sometimes lead to faulty judgments because they are naturalistic and intuitive (involving, for example, “gut instincts” and personal experience), and prone to error more than are analytical judgments based on careful consideration and logical processing of the information presented.
The legal profession has explored the role of cognitive bias in many domains, ranging from their contributions to jury-based and judiciary decision-making to their influence on negotiation. This symposium refocuses the discussion by looking at the function and role of cognitive bias in legal writing and explores both the persuasive power and the related ethical challenges of cognitive bias in this realm, with an emphasis on improving legal writing and legal writing strategy.
View the agenda
Participants
Linda L. Berger
Family Foundation Professor of Law
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
William S. Boyd School of Law
Elizabeth Fajans
Associate Professor of Legal Writing
Brooklyn Law School
Michael J. Higdon
Director of Legal Writing and Associate Professor of Law
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville College of Law
Daniel S. Medwed
Professor of Law
Northeastern University School of Law
Bret A. Rappaport
Partner
Hardt, Stern & Kayne, P.C.
English Professor, Dominican University
Michael R. Smith
Director, Legal Writing Program;
Director, Center for the Study of Written Advocacy;
Professor of Law
University of Wyoming College of Law
Lawrence Solan
Director, Center for the Study of Law, Language and Cognition;
Don Forchelli Professor of Law
Brooklyn Law School
Kathryn M. Stanchi
Professor of Law
Temple University Beasley School of Law
Marilyn Walter
Director, Legal Writing Program;
Professor of Law
Brooklyn Law School