A subject of vital importance. I was thinking today that truth-in-advertising laws should require that Law Schools rename themselves Writing Schools.
What would make the experience of learning legal writing more effective, better?
Discuss.
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21 comments:
Honestly, I sometimes think the law school needs a remedial writing section, kind of like in undergrad, where some people had to take Composition 100 before they could take 101. I don't know how that would be implemented without stigmatizing those students. But it seems like too much time was spent on things I thought were too basic. Students who are generally good writers and who pick up on legal writing pretty quickly are not challenged as much as they could be.
I'm not a legal person, just one of those you serve, but I can tell you how wonderful it would be if legal documents were more user friendly--i.e. written in simple language that we could all understand without needing a lawyer to interpret.
I think the class should be the summer before law school starts ...
Are you insane?
One of the purposes of the application process, including writing samples, personal statements, undergraduate grades (i.e., English 101) is to weed out those who can't hack it in law school. Writing requirements are tough, but not so much so as to need remedial classes. If you go into law school with a general understanding of the English language - you are on your own - grades will take care of the rest. It isn't the responsibility of the law school to ensure you can read and write. Further, legalease is myth - besides a few new Latin and French words to memorize - plain English is the rule of thumb. Legallybrunette, get over the idea of equal playing fields, they don't exist. If you wanted help learning to read and write the summer before law school, you are certainly not prevented from hiring someone or reading a book on grammar. Anon 12:15 - you are correct that faculty shouldn't dumb-down instruction to cater to lesser performers - you can blame trends in American education in general for that.
Mushroom Stamp, plain English may be the modern rule of thumb in legal writing, but good syntax and readable style nevertheless remain elusive for most student writers.
LegallyBrunette, maybe, instead of a class, there could be a mandatory reading list. I would put on that list Joseph M. Williams' "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace."
I worked through the lessons in this book during the summer before 1L, because another law school listed it as their only pre-orientation mandatory reading assignment. I found the exercises to be very helpful.
Read a book. A real book. You'll pick up on how to write, soon enough.
That aside, who didn't love Mack's "spot the verb" busy work?
I have an idea: how about we have a requirement that entering students know how to read. Also, we should require that student be able to figure out when they are not performing and where to look for help.
I've got an idea. Why don't we actually have writing classes each year, since this is the perhaps the most useful aspect of law school. What do you do as a beginning attorney? You f'in write memos and briefs ad nauseum. What type of writing education do we get here... a lousy year of legal writing that concentrates more on correct citation format rather than developing and articulating novel legal arguments. It's a joke law schools should be embarrassed by many aspects of the current teaching methods.
I'm not sure why a second and third year of legal writing would solve "the problem" if the first year did not, Vive. It seems that we could address your concerns with just the one class.
My rather small rub with legal writing was that none of the assignments were really geared for producing a good writing sample for employers. The first assignments had an ideal length but were too elementary while the later assignments were too long.
I agree with M.S. If you are going to go to law school, it seems pretty obvious that you will be expected to write well. If this is a problem for you, sort it out BEFORE you get there. Reading Strunk & White or Garner's book, THE WINNING BRIEF would be a good start.
Getches on the first day of school: "Among you are former doctors, former mathematicians, former engineers, former WWE wrestlers, former ice dancers, former circus freaks, former ice-cream-truck drivers, etc."
The point being that not everyone has a strong writing background before they come to law school. And we actually want it that way. We want to attract students from diverse backgrounds, because law is a diverse field. We don't just want everyone in law school to have an undergraduate degree in some writing-intensive field in the humanities. We also want to have, for example, students with hard-science backgrounds who will be able to get kick-ass IP jobs when they graduate.
Soooo, even though it may be "pretty obvious" that law school students should know how to write, that doesn't mean every student should already be Hemmingway the moment they first step in the law school door. Law school classes should require more writing, and should sharpen students' writing skills more than they currently do. We should focus on writing because all of us will have to do a massive amount of writing when we get out, even those scientists among us who will get the mega-bucks IP jobs.
I agree with vive_la and chunky fish. If an optional skills-building LW course was offered 1L year, and advanced legal writing courses were offered 2L and 3L year, I would certainly take advantage of them. Some of us want to work at improving our writing by doing more than just reading a grammar book. The feedback I received from my LW instructor was invaluable, yet I still feel like my writing could be a lot better. I would take another class or a workshop in a heartbeat.
How about an intersession class offering -- advanced legal writing skills. It would be great to have another intersession option beyond trial ad. Even if it was only 1 credit, I would take it!
Take a poll: how many people would have taken on an additional *optional* class--given the overwhelming amount of free time-- during their 1L year?
Give me a break. I was pissed that I had to be there a week early to start Legal Writing. An optional course would've just been a joke.
I tend to think the legal writing program was generally a waste of classtime. Additionally, the two main assignments we have a semester in legal writing/app adv are not particularly helpful for being a summer associate or law clerk - I think there should be 1 or 2 page writing assignments due on a weekly basis, rather than one 8 page memo and a re-write.
PLH seems to do a better job with her Legal Writing class. 5 assignments of increasing length and difficulty, followed by a re-write of the last assignment.
It was a good opportunity to write more, research more, and improve throughout the year.
With regards to people coming in "knowing how to write":
I was a history major in undergrad. I could write A history papers in my sleep. My legal writing grade and I can vouch for the fact that knowing how to write like a history major and knowing how to write like a lawyer are NOT the same thing. It takes time and practice even for those who "know" how to write.
Also, I do think there is an Advanced Legal Writing class. I just don't know how often it is offered.
I do think it would do everyone a service if there was some legal writing requirement every year, but for 2Ls on Journals/Law Review, I'm not sure how much more one could really fit into a semester.
Is anyone else more than a bit concerned about the gaps in their legal writing education? After three years of law school, I will graduate without having the foggiest idea about how to draft a complaint. It's great that I can write a brief, but that won't matter if I can't even get my client into court in the first place. I'm sure it's not that difficult, but I'd like to be taught more practical skills and less theory.
Law school exams actually detract from my ability to write effectively. Transitional phrases are a waste of time and style earns no points in the vast majority of classes. Interestingly, students who did the best in my legal writing section were not the same ones earning As in other classes. In some sense, we're misrepresenting students' academic skills because grading is so heavily weighted towards 3-hour law school finals. I don't see why more professors don't have paper/memo assignments during the course of the semester (besides the grading load). If CU wanted to dramatically better its reputation, we'd start ensuring that our graduates wrote incredibly effectively.
I suppose, then, that this discussion wraps around into the value of Clinic experience. (But that can be another discussion for another week).
Would writing a complaint be a good mid-term exercise for the second year of Civil Procedure?
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