Legal Writing

The legal writing classes cover basic principles of writing, organization and legal analysis.

We use real-life examples from actual briefs, motions, contracts, letters, etc. to make the class realistic and meaningful. Participants can also bring their own examples for discussion.

Attendess typically include both transactional lawyers and litigators. We also offer persuasive legal writing workshops. The legal writing interactive lectures and workshops are listed below:

• Five Tips for Effective Writing Interactive Lecture (half day)
  • This is a half-day class for new attorneys, especially first- and second-year associates, but also appropriate for summer interns. These are the five tips covered in this class:
  • 1. Know your audience
  • 2. Write an introduction
  • 3. Make it easy to read
  • 4. Make it easy to look at
  • 5. Make it easy to follow
• Clear and Effective Legal Writing Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Intended for experienced attorneys who want to make their writing clearer and more dynamic, this half-day class stresses the writing process both before and after the actual “writing”—planning and editing—as well as the principles of writing in plain English.
• Writing in Plain English Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • A one-hour program covering the common practices that make readers say, “That sounds like a lawyer wrote it,” including sentence structure, verb forms, and word choice.
• Writing Legal Memoranda Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Especially for summer associates, this program discusses the goals of legal memos and introduces students to the realities of writing in a law firm.
• Reviewing and Editing What Others Write Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Intended for partners and senior associates who review others’ writing, this class gives participants a way to analyze writing and provides terminology they can use to describe writing problems. Relying on editing exercises and group discussion that allows the participants to benefit from each others’ experience as well as the instructor’s, the workshop also covers supervisory and feedback skills.
• Writing To Non-lawyers About The Law Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Although law has a language all its own, part of a lawyer’s job is to explain the law to people who don’t speak that language. We write letters to clients explaining what we are doing for them; we write newsletters or bulletins explaining recent legal developments; and we write articles in general publications explaining, or expressing an opinion about, the law.
  • When writing to nonlawyers, we need to speak their language, not expect them to speak ours. We also need to address their concerns, not expect them to share ours.
  • In this two-hour class, we will discuss how to write so that someone who never went to law school will understand us better.
• Legal Writing Workshop (8 - 15 people, half day)
  • With up to 12 participants, a legal-writing workshop is a half-day seminar, in which the participants together analyze writing samples they have submitted. Thus, the participants use their own work product to apply principles of clear writing, organization, and analysis.
• Individual Coaching Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Reviewing an individual attorney’s own work allows us to identify recurring problems and discuss techniques for avoiding them. We recommend that at least one session be face-to-face, but follow-up can take place by phone, fax, and e-mail.
• Persuasive Legal Writing Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • When writing to persuade, we focus on the reasons why our readers would do what we ask. These classes cover how to identify a thematic message and clearly convey it by telling the readers what they need to know, holding their interest, and ensuring that they understand why they should do what we ask.
• Developing and Using A Theme Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • A persuasive document needs a message that summarizes why you should get what you want by showing the good things that will happen (or the bad things that won’t happen) if you do. But this message not only should summarize your argument, it also should hold it together, much as a musical theme holds together a symphony.
  • In this 90-minute program, we discuss the components of a theme, how to establish your message, and how to use it to hold your argument together.
• Introductions and Conclusions Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Busy readers need to know what you want from them and why they should give it to you. And they need to know those things right away: in the introduction to your document. Like the executive summary of a complex research report, the introduction to a persuasive document captures the reader’s interest and summarizes the analysis. Then, a reader who goes quickly through the body of the document (that is, a busy reader) can understand what he or she is reading.
  • This two-hour program uses letters, motions, and appellate briefs to illustrate how to get readers’ attention right away—in the introduction—and how to structure a conclusion that will inspire the reader to do what you are asking.
• Writing That Flows Class Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • This two-hour program covers writing techniques that hold a reader’s interest by showing the connections between your thoughts. These techniques include providing transitions and other clear signals about where the discussion is going, but also include choosing words and controlling syntax to make the content dynamic.
• Presenting Facts Persuasively Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • Every case has both good facts and bad facts—that is, facts that need explaining. Through placement, sentence structure, and word choice, we can emphasize the good facts while assuring the readers that they are hearing the whole story. In this two-hour program, we examine different sets of facts from various perspectives and discuss how to emphasize different parts of the story.
• Organization and Analysis Interactive Lecture (1 - 3 hours)
  • In this one-hour program, we discuss how to structure an argument so it will lead readers to the conclusion you want them to reach, and how to organize all of your arguments to lead to the result you want in your case.

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