Why Am I Here? Six Word Stories About the First Month of Law School

Abstract

According to an apocryphal anecdote, Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write an entire story in six words. Hemingway purportedly considered this his best work. During the last decade, as the Hemingway tale has spread, interest in six-word stories has increased, resulting in several books and web sites. True or not, the Hemingway anecdote promotes brevity in writing, a value shared by teachers and readers of legal writing. In the fall of 2008, after reading a review of a recently published six-word story collection, Professor Tracy McGaugh posted a message on the Legal Writing Listserv suggesting that a six-word story could be useful in a legal writing class. This article discusses how the listserv post prompted the legal writing faculty at Hamline University School of Law to have a six-word story contest on the theme “the first six weeks of law school.” This article discusses the contest and the results.

Keywords: legal writing, six-word stories, Hamline University School of law, Legal Writing Listserv