Big Data & Briefs: An Introduction to Law & Corpus Linguistics

Sponsored by the Fourth District Bar, Idaho State Bar Young Lawyers Section and the Appellate Practice Section

Length: Approx. 3 hours

Registration: FREE

3.25 CLE Credits 

Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in corpora (samples) of "real world" text.  It is comprised of large searchable databases of texts that generate real-world examples of how a word or phrase actually is used in a given context. 

Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan will provide introductory remarks on the use of corpus linguistics in brief writing in Idaho.  Chief Justice Bevan began his service as Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court in 2021.  He is the chair of the Idaho Supreme Court’s Appellate Rules Advisory Committee and the Administrative Conference.  Before his appointment to the Idaho Supreme Court in 2017, Chief Justice Bevan served as a district judge for fourteen years.

Mr. James Helipern is a leading figure in the law and corpus linguistics movement, having authored some of the first legal briefs in the country to employ corpus linguistics.  As Senior Fellow at BYU Law School, he has helped shape the legal theory undergirding this new discipline, authoring numerous influential law review articles in top journals.  He is the founder and managing partner of Corpus Legal Services, a litigation consulting boutique offering corpus linguistics consulting, expert witness, and training services to law firms nationwide. He is a Senior Fellow at the BYU Law School, President of the Judicial Education Institute, and Counsel at the law firm Schaerr | Jaffe.

AGENDA

Introductory Remarks by Chief Justice G. Richard Bevan

Introduction to Corpus Linguistics 

Corpus Linguistics as an Advocate 

Introduction to Corpus Tools 

Doing Corpus Linguistics 

Practice Problems 

How to Include It In a Brief