Legal Writing: From Advice to Advocacy, A Contemporary Approach (Interactive Casebook Series)

Designed for first-year law students in a legal research and writing course, this comprehensive text is grounded in rhetorical theory but written in accessible prose and a casual tone. The book welcomes students to law school, explains the difference between legal writing and other first-year courses, and suggests how to read cases and prepare for class. It addresses sources of law, hierarchy of authority, the research and writing process, forms of reasoning, and predictive and persuasive writing, with a focus on legal memoranda and appellate briefs. To provide faculty more flexibility in writing assignments, it includes chapters on email, opinion letters, bench memos, demand letters, complaints, motions, and supporting memoranda. Chapters include explanatory text, samples, and explanations of samples, as well as additional suggested reading. Samples throughout the book draw on the same client problem, making it easier for students to understand the differences among writing genres. Chapters on legal writing conventions, grammar and punctuation, figures of speech, and citation format (with references to the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation (6th ed.) and The Bluebook (21st ed.)), provide a “one-stop shop” for students and handy reference material for faculty.(more...)