Legal Writing

‘Vampire law’ and ‘vibe coding’ among top 2025 legal words

Have you ever heard of “vampire law” or “vibe coding?” If not, you’ll be able to learn all about them in Burton’s Legal Thesaurus, a specialized reference tool for lawyers and other legal professionals that was first published in 1980. They join other top new terms and phrases compiled this year by law professors and academics who are part of a committee tasked with updating the lexicon of law.

Dec 3, 2025 12:27 PM CST

Cannibalism on Trial: How a shipwreck in the 1800s changed legal history

For centuries, sailors who survived shipwrecks but faced starvation after running out of food and water had a tradition known as “the custom of the sea.” It was permissible, the custom went, to kill and eat one of their own after drawing lots. In 1884, four British sailors had to make this difficult decision as they drifted in a lifeboat for more than two weeks after their ship sank in a storm. Suffering from parching thirst and dizzying hunger, they had no other options. Journalist and lawyer Adam Cohen revisits this compelling and thought-provoking tale in his new book, Captain’s Dinner: A Shipwreck, an Act of Cannibalism and a Murder Trial That Changed Legal History.

Dec 1, 2025 9:07 AM CST

1 prosecution brief had AI hallucinations, but other issues were human error, district attorney says

Four briefs filed in criminal cases by the district attorney’s office in Nevada County, California, had hallucinations that were likely caused by the use of artificial intelligence, according to lawyers for one of the defendants affected.

Nov 26, 2025 9:16 AM CST

Buchalter escapes sanctions after associate who used AI for ‘wordsmithing’ takes blame for hallucinations

Buchalter has escaped sanctions for a case filing with “hallucinated" cases after one of its attorneys took responsibility for the errors and the law firm pledged to educate its attorneys on the misuse of generative artificial intelligence.

Nov 20, 2025 9:34 AM CST

How to define ‘rebellion’? ‘Black’s Law Dictionary’ enters fray in challenges to federal National Guard deployments

The definition of “rebellion” crafted by Black’s Law Dictionary editor Bryan A. Garner could play a role in challenges to the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops in several U.S. cities.

Nov 19, 2025 9:07 AM CST

Bryan Garner on the problem of time-toggling

Lawyers often make their prose harder to follow than it needs to be. One of the worst culprits is time-toggling—those unannounced leaps from present to past, from recent to remote, from actual to hypothetical.

Nov 17, 2025 9:12 AM CST

An eccentric path to a satisfying retirement

I was a lawyer for almost 40 years. Now I lead creative writing workshops in charming, picturesque towns in France and England. And the Pacific Northwest, where I live. Let’s Go Write is the business my partner, Charlotte Rains Dixon, and I started in 2011, while I was still a lawyer.

Nov 14, 2025 12:04 PM CST

What lawyers can learn about storytelling from Josh Johnson’s comedy

Lawyers may not think of themselves as comedians, but the job has a lot in common. Both lawyers and comedians are storytellers, and both are in the business of persuasion. The comic persuades the crowd to laugh. The lawyer persuades the judge, the jury, or even opposing counsel to lean their way.

Nov 14, 2025 9:45 AM CST

New book details tensions, history-making decisions during Trump cases

After a federal judge dismissed an indictment against Donald Trump last year, special counsel Jack Smith mounted an appeal, hoping to salvage the criminal case against the once and future president.

Nov 4, 2025 1:51 PM CST

Apparent AI errors snag BigLaw firm; 1 case ‘is totally fake,’ another ‘is almost real,’ federal judge says

A federal judge in Oregon is threatening sanctions against a corporate litigant and its BigLaw attorneys for “fake citations” that appear to be the product of generative artificial intelligence.

Oct 29, 2025 3:06 PM CDT

Lincoln’s Last Theorem: Confronting the stereotype that ‘lawyers are bad at math’

Lawyers are frequently stereotyped as being "bad at math." The stereotype is inaccurate. Lawyers must employ mathematics regularly in both litigation and transactional work; they cannot be innumerate and practice competently. The “lawyers are bad at math” stereotype excuses otherwise unacceptable practices and must not be perpetuated.

Oct 28, 2025 3:01 PM CDT

2 federal judges reveal AI use by staff members led to error-riddled opinions

Two federal judges who released opinions that included fake information explained in letters released Thursday that the problems stemmed from staff members’ use of artificial intelligence.

Oct 24, 2025 9:29 AM CDT

Association of American Law Schools will house TaxProf Blog after previous web host ceased operations

The TaxProf Blog, which provided news on legal education, scholarship and commentary for more than 800,000 deans, professors, lawyers and other visitors annually for more than 20 years, will have a second life.

Oct 23, 2025 2:58 PM CDT

Bryan Garner on Gouverneur Morris, the Constitution’s stylist‑in‑chief

The 18th century gave the Western world revolutions of every sort—scientific, political, linguistic—and in America, it gave rise to the most consequential style debate in the nation’s history. The argument was not about punctuation but about the very texture of statehood: what it meant to commit a nation’s founding to paper.

Oct 22, 2025 11:55 AM CDT

Hitting the Books: Law school can be taught with just baseball cases, retired judge says

Lou Schiff, 70, is the co-author of Baseball and the Law: Cases and Materials, a 1,000-page book that tags many of the law school bases. Earlier this year, he published Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame, featuring biographical essays of the 11 individuals who have turned this double play.

Oct 21, 2025 10:13 AM CDT