Legal Writing Beyond Memos and Briefs: An Annotated Bibliography

Abstract

Critics of legal education are calling upon the law schools to do a better job training law students for the practice of law and, in particular, for the many variations of law practice that they may encounter. Accordingly, law school professors are increasingly looking beyond focusing only on the office memorandum and appellate brief in the first-year and upper-class law school curriculum.

One way to bridge the gap between law school and practice is to teach writing in the context of documents other than memos and briefs. Another way to bridge the gap is for practicing lawyers to attend continuing legal education seminars and to teach themselves legal writing skills that they did not acquire or need to refresh. Included in this annotated bibliography are resources designed to enhance the teaching and the "doing" of legal writing beyond memoranda and briefs. There are references that are relevant to the first-year legal writing classes, advanced legal writing classes, and doctrinal classes that include drafting components as well as for practitioners looking to improve their writing and drafting skills in documents other than memoranda and briefs.

Keywords: legal writing, law practice, legal education, drafting, legal writing skills