[blindLaw] research and writing

Sun Oct 22 14:00:00 UTC 2023

Hi Paige,

What a bounty of awesome advice you have here! I hesitate to try and add to everyone’s helpful insights. But I will echo Sanho’s offer to listen, and be available to talk. Please reach out by text or call. My phone number is: 716-563-9882.

I vividly  remember the frustration and pain of the year long slog through  legal research and writing. Your message prompted one particular memory. Second semester, I reached out to my professor, feeling overwhelmed by the drafting process for  a motion for summary judgment. He responded with three words. “Just keep swimming. “ 

On the one hand, that was perfect advice. My ability to make it through law school had as much to do with intellectual ability, as tenacity. Simply not giving up is very important. On the other hand, I wanted to poke him in the eye for such a flippant response. Coincidentally, a day or two after his message landed, my husband put finding Nemo on for our, then two-year-old. I came out and snuggled up on the couch with the little guy and at  some point one of the fish was chanting, just keep swimming! That felt like an affirmation to hang in there.

Please reach out whenever you need to. We are all here for you! 

Warmly,

Maura Kutnyak
716-563-9882

> On Oct 21, 2023, at 10:45 PM, Nikki Singh via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Julie's response reminds me to add that you should become good friends
> with your law school's library staff. They can scan printed materials
> for you. Mine did, which was helpful at the start of the semester when
> I was waiting for the disability office to complete scanning all my
> course textbooks. More relevantly, they should be able to direct you
> to your school's Westlaw and Lexis reps. The reps' job is to get you
> introduced and reasonably comfortable with using these two mainstream
> services to conduct basic research into case law, statutes,
> regulations, and law review articles. You will invariably expand
> beyond that over time. For now, you can request that you work with a
> rep one-on-one till you are confident to start using Westlaw/Lexis on
> your own. From there, you can delve into more advanced research
> techniques, either on your own or with another one-on-one session with
> a rep.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Nikki
> 
> 
>> On 10/21/23, Julie A. Orozco via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Paige,
>> 
>> OMg wow, legal rhetoric is hard enough. I'm going to add what has
>> already been advised here, but I agree with all of it.
>> 
>> As an accommodation, you should get extra time on assignments. Every
>> professor should know this, and when they set up quizzes online, they
>> must either change the time constraints for everyone or find a way to
>> offer you a separate option. I had this happen to me as a 1L, and it
>> only happened once. After I suffered through the first timed quiz and
>> then complained to the disability services office, the professor
>> changed his quizzes so that no one would be timed.
>> 
>> As for the group assignments, you should be given accessible versions
>> of everything the group is looking at. It sounds like the nature of
>> some of the work is visual though. Getting an accessible crossword
>> won't help if your classmates can just visually glance at it and get
>> some of the answers before you're done reading. I would ask for all
>> such materials in advance so that you can look over them before you
>> meet with your group. That way you have a similar advantage to their
>> quickly-skimming eyeballs.
>> 
>> In my experience, I got very little useful feedback in legal rhetoric.
>> Most of it was too vague to be useful or provided me with very little
>> understanding of how to improve. I agree about getting a reader to
>> help you look over your work. This will be especially helpful for
>> finding weird formatting errors and looking over Bluebook citations.
>> For your writing, I would ask your classmates if they are getting any
>> useful feedback. Odds are strong that they are not and that you are
>> all in the same sinking boat. But the Bluebooking should be a little
>> clearer because that's a concrete skill that can easily be measured.
>> You should be able to see what you've done right and wrong on Bluebook
>> assignments, and if you're not getting that feedback, then you should
>> figure out how the rest of the class is getting it and find an
>> accommodation for getting the same information.
>> 
>> As for research, I ended up contacting someone in my law school's
>> library. She understood how screen readers worked, and she was great
>> at looking at Lexis and Westlaw with me. The problem with learning
>> research as a 1L is that they use videos to teach it, which are not at
>> all useful to us, even with descriptions. I found that for me, the
>> only thing that worked was repeatedly using those web platforms.
>> 
>> Feel free to reach out to me off list if you wish. I'm currently a 3L,
>> and I struggled hard in legal rhetoric. So sadly, I know how it is to
>> struggle in that class.
>> 
>> Julie
>> 
>> 
>>> On 10/21/23, Nandini Singh via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Based on your description, your legal writing and research courses
>>> appear to be one of the more peculiar ways to impart those skills.
>>> Legal drafting by crossword puzzle does not reflect actual practice,
>>> and it presents unnecessary challenges to blind folks. You must insist
>>> on the following high level points that you should supplement in light
>>> of your specific situation:
>>> 
>>> •    Linear structure/format to the exercises: Unless you can receive
>>> Excel spreadsheets that are at least minimally formatted and/or tagged
>>> to facilitate accessibility with JAWS, you should not be using
>>> crosswords or puzzles but instead responding to a prompt, working
>>> through a mock law suit, or workshopping actual work product. This is
>>> how I have always taken legal writing and research classes and
>>> seminars.
>>> •    Timely and meaningful feedback: You need to understand in sufficient
>>> detail where you are making mistakes in formatting, style, diction, or
>>> bluebooking, or else you will not improve. A TA or reader (to be paid
>>> for by the school) should work with you to convey feedback if the
>>> crossword-quiz cannot otherwise be presented in a more conventional,
>>> linear format, e.g., locate the issue in the following citation.
>>> •    Adaptations are extra work but nevertheless important: Sometimes the
>>> instructor or TA will have to grade two sets of assignments: yors and
>>> the rest of the class. Good instructors can and will do this because
>>> they recognize that you have to learn differently, e.g., during
>>> college, my professor in formal logic reviewed my materials separately
>>> because I invented an alternate logic code to allow me to use my
>>> Braille Note to complete assignments. The same professor made himself
>>> available during office hours (or otherwise) if I had questions, and
>>> the school provided me a reader for in-class lectures so I could
>>> access the content of the blackboard, which was full of long lines of
>>> logical syntax at the end of the session.
>>> •    Nuanced adaptations: Restructuring the format or assignments must
>>> still instruct you on the skills for you to progress to the next level
>>> but should not present obstacles because the exercises or drills are
>>> premised on having sight. Having sight is fundamentally immaterial to
>>> conducting legal research or producing quality written work product.
>>> The course must be appropriately adapted for you to learn what you
>>> need to know non-visually so you can advance in the spring.
>>> •    Absent the above ideas, the school is wasting your time. You are
>>> paying decent money to be there. The school cannot fail to provide
>>> reasonable accommodations in the course delivery and evaluation and
>>> then fail you for poor performance. Unfortunately, you have to make
>>> sure that the circumstances in the prior sentence do not come to pass.
>>> You should insist that the current course adaptations are inadequate
>>> for your basic goals and that they need to be further refined.
>>> 
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Nikki
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 10/21/23, Paige via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> To answer everyone’s questions:
>>>> 
>>>> 1. I have gone to the disability office, and outside of providing me the
>>>> alternate format assignments, they have been little help.
>>>> 
>>>> 2. I’ve considered dropping the class, but the entire research and
>>>> writing
>>>> department is structured like this! Ugh!
>>>> 
>>>> 3. I am using word doc formats of the assignments, but i’m still somehow
>>>> expected to complete the regular assignment as a team, which ends up
>>>> causing
>>>> my team extra work. I’ve asked to work alone, and do the alternate
>>>> assignments, but my professor won’t allow that.
>>>> 
>>>> 5. Asking for the help of the research reps at my school is a great idea,
>>>> thanks!!!
>>>> 
>>>> Paige
>>>> 
>>>>> On Oct 21, 2023, at 12:38 PM, Sanho Steele-Louchart via BlindLaw
>>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Paige:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Feel free to text or call to discuss. Happy to troubleshoot. I know
>>>>> there can be any number   of variables.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sanho
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 10/21/23, Christine Busanelli via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> I had something similar, happened to me during my 1L year, where we
>>>>>> were
>>>>>> forced to do an online timed quiz, which was difficult for me to see
>>>>>> due
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> my vision disability. I ended up, dropping the class and taking it
>>>>>> again
>>>>>> with a different professor who didn’t have such expectations. I did go
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> the disability services office at my school and let them know of the
>>>>>> issue.
>>>>>> If you haven’t done that already, speak with the disability
>>>>>> accommodations
>>>>>> department, I recommend that.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Sat, Oct 21, 2023 at 12:49 PM Paige via BlindLaw
>>>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hi!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I’m a 1L who needs tips in research and writing! I also use JAWS.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> My class is structured that we do a writing exercise in small teams -
>>>>>>> usually in the form of a timed exercise or game like a puzzle or
>>>>>>> crossword.
>>>>>>> I have been given alternate assignments, but it doesn’t translate well
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> group work.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> For citations, we do another crossword to unlock a quiz. (I do an
>>>>>>> alternate assignment), and take a quiz in D2L. We have three tries,
>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> quiz does not tell you what you specifically did wrong in the
>>>>>>> citation,
>>>>>>> only that the entire question is wrong. The research portion of the
>>>>>>> class
>>>>>>> has been no better…
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I feel like I’m not being given enough feedback in class to learn over
>>>>>>> time, and the group work has only added stress. I’ve voiced my
>>>>>>> concerns
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> my school multiple times to no avail, and I’m nervous, since I have
>>>>>>> part
>>>>>>> 2
>>>>>>> of the class in the spring - if I pass part 1!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Thanks everyone!!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Paige
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>>>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> --
>>>>> He/Him
>>>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Julie A. Orozco
>> MM Vocal Performance, 2015; American University Washington College of
>> Law, JD Candidate 2023
>> 
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