Noah Graetz

Discourse Community Lawyer Handbook

The MSBA connects and empowers legal professionals through ongoing support and advocacy. They help members at every stage of their careers and beyond. Even during a our covid-19 pandemic they created many webinars, virtual town hall meetings, all of which connected Federal Judiciary's and Governor's offices to advocate for the professions. During such a crisis, they provided 150+ products for free. MSBA, connects you with leaders in the profession through virtual and in person events. This can include speakers, panels, or coffee talks. App's online like Treble, to help you connect with peers to further your practice. MSBA can offer a variety of tools to support long-term growth of legal skills. Plenty of research, high quality CLE's via webcast. Access to MSBA Case Notes, a learning library that is filled with articles, templates, and other information that can assist you. There is also a Wellness Resources available. Membership dues provide confidential Health and wellness from other professionals through a Lawyer Assistance Program to help with mental health and substance abuse disorders. Membership: It's Voluntary to join the MSBA. Pay dues, depends on package selected. Pass the bar exam Terminology: Being familiar with CLE's, The app Treble, FastCase, the Bar. There are various types of lawyers involved with MSBA, those who have chosen specific area's or multiple areas of practice. There are tax lawyers, criminal lawyers, family lawyers, and more.

For the Public: There is many brochures available for the public, some of which include: Juvenile court, Employees rights in the workplace, buying a home, school law, and even if you should file bankruptcy. There is also, lawyer referrals based on multiple different counties across Maryland should you need an attorney. There is information regarding MSBA speakers, who could come speak specifically on a subject for example: Traffic court, Real Estate, Consumer and Credit debt, or Immigration. These speeches could be given at a school, church, or a senior center.

Review Questions

Number in the margins using the comment function in Word where your peer includes the following information.

1. How does one become a member of this DC?
2. What values, attitudes, and beliefs are needed to succeed in this field?
3. What are the common public goals of the discipline?
4. Where do professionals go to exchange information with each other? (John Swales calls these "participatory mechanisms.") For example, trade journals and conferences are common participatory mechanisms.
5. How are those participatory mechanisms used? (In other words, what kinds of information and feedback are commonly conveyed?)
6. What role does writing play within this DC? What kinds of documents are commonly produced, and what are they used for?
7. You may also want to include representative examples of discourse-specificlexis(i.e., specialized terminology, jargon, acronyms, etc.).

If you can't find at least six of the above points, use this space to help your peer brainstorm how to include more information.

In what areas does your peer doa great job of giving specific information?

In what areas can your peer be more specific?

How does your peer target an audience of newcomers to the field? How could they do this better?