By: Kathy Vinson Writer’s block—a formidable foe faced by all writers, from seasoned novelists to novice law students—inevitably strikes when the words seem to elude you, when the cursor blinks mockingly on an empty page, and when the weight of deadlines bears down heavily upon your shoulders. At its core, writer’s block stems from a… Continue Reading The Blank Page: Write On to Break Through Writer’s Block for Legal Writing Success

by: Colin Black & Dyane O’Leary 1/8/2023. “ChatGPT is taking the world by storm. Let’s play around and figure out what all the fuss is about.” 7/8/2023. “We need policies for ChatGPT. Let’s share new syllabus language and brainstorm curricular changes.” 1/8/2024. “Good morning students. Welcome to our first ever course about Generative AI. Let’s… Continue Reading Charting the (New) Course: Generative AI For Lawyers 

By: Colin M. Black Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), or what we also know as large language models or generative AI, is no longer a futuristic concept. It’s here. This sophisticated technology, capable of producing human-like text with seemingly human-like analysis, is fast becoming a ubiquitous tool in academia and the legal profession. However, GenAI’s capabilities… Continue Reading AI: It’s Just a Shiny New Hammer in Your Legal Toolkit

By: Megan R. Fistori & Gianna C. Marchetti The best lawyers must be willing to work collaboratively, irrespective of who they represent. In actuality, we all are constantly exchanging ideas; whether a student or a professional in the workplace, no one writes or works completely independently. When most recently did you confer with a fellow… Continue Reading Dashboard Legal – How Law Students Can Learn to Effectively Collaborate with Others

By Andrew Stark One of the most common questions that I receive from students after they receive their graded work product containing my comments and edits is “what can I do to improve my writing?” My answer is always the same: pay attention to and embrace the feedback you receive from others (like your professor)… Continue Reading Embrace feedback to improve your legal writing

By: Dyane O’Leary Every lawyer wants their work product to be excellent, complete, and accurate. But what about it also being secure? Lawyers of past generations thought of security as lock-and-key file cabinets and careful out-of-sight placement of legal pads with confidential work product around a conference table. Tomorrow’s lawyers may still think about those… Continue Reading Securing Your Skills

by Kathleen Elliott Vinson As law schools grapple with ways to comply with revised American Bar Association (“ABA”) Standard on Legal Education 303, they should consider how leadership courses can satisfy the new requirements. Indeed, there is common ground and connections between Standard 303 and leadership courses as the competencies that are the focus of… Continue Reading Lead the Way: How Leadership Courses in Law Schools Can Satisfy ABA Standard 303

By Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson “Just look up” was the grass-roots campaign of two astronomers in the Netflix movie, Don’t Look Up, warning everyone about a comet hurtling toward Earth that would destroy human civilization. They were stunned by society’s disbelief, complacency, self-absorption, and indifference to their warning of an impending apocalyptic danger. The movie… Continue Reading Just Look Up!

By: Professor Adam Eckart Legal Writing Matters Blog   When you think of persuasive writing, what type of legal document comes to mind? For many students (and lawyers), litigation-specific documents such as briefs and motions come to mind. While these documents are persuasive, many other legal documents can be persuasive as well. In fact, transactional… Continue Reading Convincing Contracts: Employing Persuasive Drafting Techniques in Transactional Documents

By: Sabrina Defabritiis Each year, from mid-summer until fall, thousands of law school graduates’ lives are put on hold  as they await their bar results.  Then one day, with the click of a mouse, opening of an email, the wait is over.  For those that pass, the feeling of joy is instantaneous.  For those that… Continue Reading You Failed the Bar Exam, Now What?

By: Conley Wouters Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Practice Skills Successful lawyers are successful storytellers. Nearly all legal practice skills share important commonalities with storytelling. Persuasive written advocacy may come to mind first. In an appellate brief or a dispositive motion, lawyers submit to the court competing tales of a single dispute. Even a brief’s… Continue Reading Legal Storytelling and Legal Writing

By: Aubrie Souza For me, legal writing is a technical build. Instead of researching local laws to write a memo or brief I’ve spent my law school internships teaching a computer how to write for a lawyer. I have never written a contract, but I did program the automation for one. Automated drafting tools are… Continue Reading How to code a contract

By Prof. Kathleen Elliott Vinson With restrictions lifting and vaccines widely available, we emerge from the pandemic full of hope and possibilities for the upcoming academic year. Will we return to the ways things used to be? Was the old “normal” effective for all in the first place? What worked and what didn’t? Can the… Continue Reading The Pandemic and Post-traumatic Growth

By Edward Twohig (Suffolk Law Student) Most law students, whether transitioning straight from undergraduate studies or a professional role, arrive on their first day of Legal Practice Skills (LPS) with assumptions about their writing skills, and what constitutes “good” legal writing. Because of this, often times law students are disappointed when they receive a lower… Continue Reading 5 Strategies for Overcoming Early Challenges in LPS