Professor Fajans is the Law School's writing specialist. Her book, Writing and Analysis in the Law (4th ed., 1999) (with H. Shapo and M. Walter), is the most widely used first-year legal writing text for law students. Her most recent book Writing for Law Practice was published by Foundation Press (2004) (with M. Falk and H. Shapo). She also is co-author of Scholarly Writing in Law School: Seminar Papers, Law Review Articles, Law Review Competition Papers (2d ed. 2000) (with M. Falk). Her scholarly interests and lectures have focused on certain applications of linguistics to legal writing. Her article "Against the Tyranny of Paraphrase: Talking Back to Texts" co-authored with Mary Falk in the Cornell Law Review (1993) was the first call for critical reading pedagogy in law school. Pior to joining the faculty in 1984, she taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Rutgers University.
Articles
Learning from Experience: Adding a Practicum to a Doctrinal Course, 12 J.L. Writing 215 (2006)
Shooting From the Lip: United States v. Dickerson, Role [Im]morality and the Ethics of Legal Rhetoric (with Marilyn R. Falk), 23 U. Haw. L. Rev. 1 (2000)
Linguistics and the Composition of Legal Documents: Border Crossings (with Marilyn R. Falk), 22 Legal Stud. F. 697 (1998)
Comments Worth Making: Supervising Scholarly Writing in Law School (with Marilyn R. Falk), 46 J. Legal Educ. 342 (1996)
Against the Tyranny of Paraphrase: Talking Back to Texts (with Marilyn R. Falk), 78 Cornell L. Rev. 163 (1993)
Books
Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes and Law Review Competition Papers, 3rd ed. (with Mary R. Falk) (2005)
Writing for Law Practice (with Mary R. Falk and Helene S. Shapo) (2004)
Writing and Analysis in the Law, Rev. 4th ed. (with Marilyn R. Walter and Helene S. Shapo) (2003)
Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes, Law Review Competition Papers, 2nd ed. (with Mary R. Falk) (2000)
Other
Double Talk and Twisted Thought: Reflections on Incoherence , Second Draft (1997)
The Law Student's Responsibility for Language and the Law , Law Sch. J. (1983)
Teaching Legal Writing: The Writer's Responsibility , Legal Writing J. (1982)
Unpublished Papers
Untold Stories: Restoring Narrative to Pleading Practice (with Mary R. Falk), ExpressO (2008)
Although complaints in civil actions function within a web of conventional, statutory, and tactical constraints,...
Untold Stories: Restoring Narrative to Pleading Practice (with Mary R. Falk), ExpressO (2008)
Although complaints in civil actions function within a web of conventional, statutory, and tactical constraints,...