Mark Cooney

Western Michigan University Cooley Law School

Professor

300 S. Capitol Ave.

Lansing, MI 48933

United States

http://www.cooley.edu/faculty/cooney.html

SCHOLARLY PAPERS

17

DOWNLOADS
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CROSSREF CITATIONS

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Scholarly Papers (17)

1.

Style is Substance: Collected Cases Showing Why it Matters

14 Scribes Journal of Legal Writing 1 (2011-2012)
Number of pages: 52 Posted: 11 Oct 2012
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 349 (133,955)

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2.

Once Upon a Car: A Tale of Three Ambiguities

20 Green Bag 2d 143 (2017)
Number of pages: 11 Posted: 20 Mar 2017
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 336 (139,509)

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drafting, legal drafting, ambiguity, ambiguous, clarity, insurance, insurance forms, auto insurance, automobile insurance, definitions, plain language, legal writing, writing, editing, contract interpretation, statutory interpretation, canons of construction, rules of construction, textualism

3.

Make Your Case in a Minute (With Some Help from Aristotle)

Vol. 100, No. 2 Mich. B.J. 48 (Feb. 2022)
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 25 Feb 2022
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 178 (258,904)

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argument, rhetoric, persuasion, persuade, litigation, litigator, overview, roadmap, introduction, thesis paragraph, brief, brief-writing, legal writing, writing, organization, Aristotle, deduction, deductive syllogism, syllogism, clarity

4.

The Pros Know: Plain Language Is Just Good Writing

Number of pages: 2 Posted: 14 Nov 2015
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 175 (262,710)

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legal writing, writing, plain language, plain English, usage, prose, clarity, rhetoric, literary, style, legal style, publishing, publishers, editing, editors, edit

5.

The Architecture of Clarity

No. 73(1) The Clarity Journal (2015)
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 02 Jul 2016 Last Revised: 18 Sep 2016
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 143 (310,822)

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writing, legal writing, clarity, drafting, legislative drafting, contract drafting, legislation, contract, plain language, plain English, headings, subheadings, organization, redrafting, reorganizing, clarifying, clarify

6.

Emergency!

Michigan Bar Journal, Vol. 91, No. 11, November 2012
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 30 Nov 2012 Last Revised: 24 May 2014
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 114 (368,125)

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legal writing, legal drafting, plain language, plain English, writing, style, ambiguity, vagueness, editing

7.

What Judges Cite: A Study of Three Appellate Courts

Vol. 50, No. 1 Stetson Law Review 1 (2020)
Number of pages: 52 Posted: 03 Feb 2021
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 108 (382,397)

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citation, legal authority, primary authority, secondary sources, secondary authority, jurisprudence, courts, appellate courts, appellate practice, litigation

8.

Decluttering Sentences

Vol. 100, No. 9 Mich. B.J. 38 (Oct. 2021).
Number of pages: 2 Posted: 18 Nov 2021
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 85 (446,744)

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legal writing, writing, clarity, plain language, rhetoric, persuasion, sentences, citation, citing, acronyms, edit, editing, editorial, readability, flow, surplus

9.

A Legal-Writing Carol

Michigan Bar Journal, Vol. 93, No. 12, December 2014
Number of pages: 4 Posted: 30 Nov 2012 Last Revised: 13 Nov 2015
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 79 (466,322)

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legal writing, legalese, plain language, plain English, clarity, writing, style

10.

Benching the Monday-Morning Quarterback: The 'Attorney Judgment' Defense to Legal-Malpractice Claims

Wayne Law Review, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2006
Number of pages: 50 Posted: 16 Jul 2014
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 66 (514,540)

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legal malpractice, malpractice, negligence, professional negligence, duty, attorney, client, judgmental immunity, attorney judgment, error of judgment, professional judgment, strategy, good faith, informed decision making, Simko, affirmative defense, breach of duty, medical malpractice

11.

Give a Clue (A Linguistic Whodunit)

vol. 96, no. 6 Mich. B.J. 60 (June 2017)
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 04 Aug 2017
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 65 (518,571)

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passive voice, active voice, usage, ambiguity, syntax, writing, legal writing, grammar, plain language, plain English, clarity, vagueness, drafting, statutory construction, statutory interpretation

12.

Taming the Jabberwock: A Plain Redraft of Lewis Carroll's 1883 Publishing Contract

Taming the Jabberwock: A Plain Redraft of Lewis Carroll’s 1883 Publishing Contract, 19 Scribes J. Legal Writing 55 (2020)
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 04 Dec 2020
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 59 (543,961)

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legal writing, drafting, legal drafting, contracts, contract drafting, plain language, legalese, clarity, ambiguity, ambiguous, legislative drafting, Lewis Carroll, Charles Dodgson

13.

To Mrs. Finklebean: The Truth About Conjunctions as Sentence-Starters

Vol. 93, No. 8 Mich. B.J. 60 (2014)
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 11 Aug 2016
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 44 (617,622)

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Writing, Legal Writing, Rhetoric, Grammar, Style, Plain Language, Plain English, Clarity, Conjunction, Coordinating Conjunction, Transitions

14.

Acronymonious

Michigan Bar Journal, Vol. 91, No. 7, July 2012
Number of pages: 2 Posted: 30 Nov 2012 Last Revised: 13 Nov 2015
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 40 (640,076)

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legal writing, acronyms, legal style, clarity, plain language, plain English, briefs

15.

Analogy Through Vagueness

16 Legal Communication & Rhetoric: JALWD 85 (2019)
Number of pages: 25 Posted: 03 Jan 2020
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 35 (670,351)

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rhetoric, analogy, analogize, vague, vagueness, persuasion, persuade, advocacy, argument, legal writing, legal argument, category, categories, categorization, lawyering skills, art of persuasion, comparison

16.

Larry Potter and the Deathly Canon

Vol. 99, No. 9 Mich. B.J. 48 (Sept. 2020)
Number of pages: 3 Posted: 29 Oct 2020
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 33 (683,169)

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ejusdem generis, legal writing, legal drafting, legislative drafting, canons, canons of construction, judicial construction, judicial interpretation, statutory interpretation, plain language, syntax, transactional, contracts, statutory

17.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Vol. 92, No. 12 Michigan Bar Journal 40 (December 2013)
Number of pages: 2 Posted: 14 Nov 2015
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 30 (703,268)

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writing, written, legal writing, legal style, persuasive, advocacy, editing, syntax, punctuation, sentence, colon

Other Papers (1)

Total Downloads: 65
1.

It's Okay to Get Nervous

ABA Student Lawyer (Nov./Dec. 2016)
Number of pages: 6 Posted: 06 Apr 2017
Mark Cooney
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School
Downloads 65

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Law Student, Legal Skills, Moot Court, Mock Trial, Litigation, Advocacy, Court, Courtroom, Oral Argument, Competition, National Competition, Clinical Instruction, Psychology, Nerves, Nervousness, Personality, Extrovert, Introvert