Mastering the Skill of Judgment-Writing 2018

Overview

This seminar focused on judgment writing. Developed in collaboration with senior judges and pedagogical and writing experts, this program helped experienced judges to strengthen and refine their writing skills, focusing on how to better structure their judgments and express themselves in a manner that is effective and clear to the litigants.

Objectives

The objectives of this program were to assist experienced judges to: better structure their judgments in view of the main issues in a case; improve their ability to communicate with multiple and complex audiences; communicate their decisions and reasoning more efficiently and comprehensibly; and to improve writing skills, from the point of drafting and organizing to revising and editing.

Summary

This seminar applied an experiential skills-based approach to teaching judgment writing skills to participants. Throughout the seminar, short lectures from experienced judges and experts on writing taught the core advanced skills involved in structuring and writing judgments. These lectures were supplemented by intensive small group work, where judges prepare a judgment during the course itself and receive personalized feedback from their peers and from the faculty, with each small group being taught by a writing expert and an experienced judge.