Legal Writing is an intensive writing lab that
builds on the skills you acquired in your
legal courses, using varied assignments
from transactional, litigation, and legislative
practice. In a supportive and collaborative
classroom environment, you will learn about
drafting statutes, contracts, complaints,
answers, motions and nice motions, orders,
interrogatories, general correspondence and
opinion letters. You will also re-examine, and
take to a higher level, aspects of the types
of writing you did in your legal courses.
For example, you will work on objective
issue statements and persuasive questions
presented, objective and persuasive fact
statements, and the large-scale organization
of the discussion sections of research
memos and the argument sections of briefs.
This course is a bridge between the other
legal courses, because it teaches the skills
necessary to analyze legal issues in any area
of law. Specifically, the course should help
students improve the following skills:
- Analyzing and conceptualizing legal
issues;
- Organizing strategies; structuring legal
arguments and documents;
- Using core writing techniques, including
clarity, cohesion, and concision;
- Writing strong introductions and
conclusions;
- Mastering objective vs. persuasive
techniques;
- Using new editing techniques; and
- Sharpening efficient writing and editing
skills, using timed assignments.
Language of Instruction: English and Arabic.