By Abigail Perdue So often I hear first-year law students admit to allocating less time to Legal Writing because it “matters less” than other “substantive” courses. Nothing could be further from the truth. After all, Legal Writing is a substantive course. “Substantive” is defined as “possessing substance, having practical importance, value, or effect.” Doesn’t Legal… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Bridging the Gap between Substance and Skill

By Gabe Teninbaum Can you format a pleading in Word, or create a formula in Excel? Think it doesn’t matter for lawyers? Think again. I’ve noticed in my years of teaching that many law students aren’t always very good at using the tools they’ll use every day in the practice of law. I admit, it’s… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Being Prepared for Law Practice Means Being Able to Use the Everyday Tools of Lawyers

By Saige E. Jutras When I received my first legal writing assignment, I was confidently ambitious. It was the end of summer before my 1L year, and I thought to myself, “If there’s one challenge I won’t face in law school, it’s legal writing.” After writing undergraduate and master’s theses, challenges with writing were the… Continue Reading Learning to Love First-Year Legal Writing

By Dyane O’Leary w8ing 4 u 2 get docs asap . . . nervous re depo Messaging is changing the way we communicate. Millennial and Generation Z students use mobile messaging to make a dinner reservation, confirm an appointment, and set up a first date. But surely the lawyers of tomorrow won’t use such an… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Legal Texting

By Sabrina DeFabritiis and Kathleen Elliott Vinson While July means fireworks, barbecues, and beaches for some, for recent law school graduates practice readiness and bar passage are the focus this time of year. At the end of July looms the biggest hurdle for these graduates – the bar exam. While their stress level is understandably… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Preparing Students for the Bar Exam

By Kathleen Elliott Vinson Excitement mixed with a little panic. These are typical feelings of an incoming 1L at law schools across the country in September. As students start their first year of law school, I am often asked for tips, especially when it comes to writing. “I am not good at writing.” “I don’t like… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Concerns of Incoming First-Year Law Students

By Rosa Kim Imagine that a lawyer with a solo practice in downtown Boston has two clients: Client A is injured on a flight from St. Louis to Boston, when the flight attendant accidently slammed the beverage cart against her arm, breaking it. Client B is injured in the same way on a flight from… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Infusing International Law into Advanced Legal Writing

By Shailini J. George A study published in the journal Science found that a majority of participants would prefer to give themselves mild electrical shocks rather than be alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. Last summer, a tourist in Melbourne, Australia, was so engrossed in reading Facebook on her smartphone that she walked off… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Encouraging Law Students to Use Mindfulness Techniques

By Samantha A. Moppett An IBM poll of more than 1,500 CEOs revealed that creativity—not intelligence—was the most crucial factor for future success. This shift from intelligence to creativity as the most valuable trait has been attributed to the unprecedented challenges and frantic pace of change today. This is especially true for lawyers and law… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: 4 Tips for Encouraging Creativity in Law Students

By Kathleen Elliott Vinson Professor of Legal Writing and Director of Legal Writing, Research, and Written Advocacy Getting back that first legal writing memo assignment with your professor’s critique and grade – what could be more stressful for a 1L. But, students should view it as an opportunity. In practice, senior lawyers and supervisors are… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Why Law Students Should Welcome Feedback

By Heidi K. Brown As oral arguments approach, many 1Ls experience anxiety toward this “rite-of-passage.” For introverted students or others who prefer thinking and writing before speaking, the pressure for spontaneous verbal exchange is daunting. Some students assume that reticence toward this assignment indicates they are not cut out for the law. Not true! Quiet… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: The Best Oral Arguments Aren’t Perfect, They’re Real

By Ellie Margolis Since most legal documents are created and read electronically, lawyers are starting to incorporate hyperlinks directly into their memos and briefs. The most common use of hyperlinks is for citations to legal authority, though a document could also contain hyperlinks to many other sources, including the factual record and non-legal sources of… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Get Ready For Hyperlinks in Legal Briefs and Memos

By Stephanie Roberts Hartung For centuries, legal writing has been a vehicle for social change. Over the years, appellate and amicus curiae briefs have been instrumental in bringing about reform in the arenas of marriage equality, reproductive rights, and criminal justice—to name a few. Law students can use their newly-acquired lawyering skills to pursue the… Continue Reading Legal Writing Matters: Using Legal Writing to Overturn Wrongful Convictions