Law School Insider | Legal Writing

Welcome to Law School Insider! This newest installment of our series will feature insights from the PLAS Graduate Assistant about different aspects of the law school experience, highlighting the differences between law school and college over a variety of topics including classes, extracurriculars activities, finals, and more.

What is legal writing?

Legal writing may refer to any professional writing conducted by an attorney. It may include memos, pleadings, motions, articles, briefs, or creation of legal documents such as wills. In law school, legal writing most often refers to types of legal writing that require students to assess a legal issue by researching statutes and case law, applying and analyzing that research to unique facts, and synthesizing that information into a legal position or argument. All law students are require to take legal writing courses during law school, including first year. During the first year of law school, students will draft memorandums and appellate briefs. These documents will typically make conclusions about the strength of an argument of a case and the likelihood of success based on the merits. In upper-level years, law students might continue with writing courses including briefs an memos, but also expand to writing legal instruments, trail motions, and legal scholarship through research papers and law journal articles.

Students at the undergraduate level typically do not write about the law in the same ways law students may. Undergraduate students may have opportunities to write about the status of law or about legal topics through research on the implications of law or policy; however, it is rare to find legal writing opportunities in undergrad that possesses the unique quality of legal analysis (addressing novel legal questions and/or analyzing law to specific facts). Legal analysis is essential to drafting legal documents and is foundational to the day to day work of an attorney.

Did you know?  Legal writing utilizes its own unique form of citation called The Blue Book.  Blue Book citation is complex and law students spend all three years of law school mastering this method!

During the first year, law students will learn legal writing skills by drafting documents based on mock client scenarios, similar to the type of client issues and needs real attorneys work on in the day to day practice of law. This structure helps law students begin utilizing legal analysis skills while also developing practical legal writing skills that they will use in day to day practice as future attorneys and will begin utilizing in summers as legal interns.

When first given a writing assignment, students are typically given a basic fact pattern which represent a fictional or mock client case. Fact patterns describe what happened to the client and usually confirm the client’s “legal issue” for instance; what is being sued for and/or what laws the client wants to sue under. With this knowledge, law students are tasked to research the relevant case law to determine how their client’s issue might be decided under the law and articulate their advice to their client or the court through the written document.

Students begin writing a document by conducting legal research. As explained in the last installment of Law School Insider: Legal Research, students are taught how to conduct legal research methodology through utilization of a variety of sources, including Westlaw and LexisNexis. After conducting legal research, students apply the facts of the case to the rules of the law. They will analogize previous cases held by authoritative courts to the facts of their current case to make arguments about why a certain result is likely or correct.

Once a the research and analysis phase is complete this entire project will be written into a written document, for first-year courses typically a memo or brief. Both legal documents are typically written in CRAC or IRAC format. These are recommended structures for legal writing. CRAC stands for Conclusion, Rule, Application, Conclusion. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion. Regardless of the specific format, these structures encourage students to introduce the main issue and its conclusion at the beginning of the writing. Then, they explain the rule of the applicable law, typically by describing previous case opinions. Then they will apply that rule to the facts in the current case. Finally, they will conclude, arguing that the court should rule a certain way or that a client is un/likely to succeed based on the application.

What don't you learn in law school about writing?  Law professors will expect that you have developed foundational writing skills prior to law schools including grammar, spelling, outlining, etc.  You will continue to develop these skills as a law students as well, but prioritizing writing experience during undergrad can help boost your success later!

A legal memorandum or memo is a document that analyzes relevant laws and case law to support a conclusion on the likely outcome of a client’s issue. Memos are typically internal documents used within a firm. When a client first comes to a lawyer, they will explain the facts, but the lawyer is responsible for taking those facts and applying them to the applicable law. A memo will usually be written in a more neutral fashion, with the goal of accurately reflecting the likely outcome of different legal arguments. Lawyers often draft memos to accurately assess whether they should take on a client and determine the best approach for moving forward with a dispute. Many 1Ls will begin their legal writing class by writing a legal memo.

An appellate brief or brief, on the other hand, is a written argument submitted to an appellate court. Thus, these documents are external. Briefs will review the facts of the case and provide arguments as to why a judge should rule in their client’s favor. Briefs are written persuasively, so they are typically introduced in 1L year after students have successfully written a legal memo. These assignments are usually to write an appellate-level brief, which requests a higher court to overturn or affirm the lower court’s decision. While appellate briefs are often submitted independently without oral argument in real life, Legal Writing classes also tend to include oral argumentation for students to practice persuasive oral argumentation.

Legal writing, while similar in many ways, can look very different for practicing attorneys. In law school, memos typically are quite extensive projects, spanning several pages and weeks of work. Memos in practice tend to be much shorter. In fact, some attorneys prefer to receive emails that quickly summarize facts without even putting together a formal memo. However, briefs written in law school are essential the same as briefs created in actual practice.

Also while law school focuses on preparing law students with the necessary foundations of legal writing, lawyers write many different types of documents in practice that law students may not have opportunities to work on while in law school. For example, lawyers draft many different types of trial court pleadings and motions, legal instruments such as contracts, settlement agreements, wills, deeds for property, and so much more! Students may gain experience writing these type of documents through summer internships or specialized upper-level coursework, or may learn these unique writing skills as practicing attorneys as they continue to develop their legal writing knowledge and skills throughout their career.