LRW Grades and Substantive Course Grades are very different Forum

[90LawSchool]

I just finished my 1L year. As you can probably guess from the title of this thread, my school grades LRW. After my first semester, I had very good grades in my substantive courses and a mediocre grade in LRW. I figured that this was because I did not put much effort into LRW, I did not understand the professor, etc, etc.

My second semester, I put a lot more effort into LRW, spent quite a bit of time with my LRW professor during office hours to make sure I was understanding the course and so forth. However, while my LRW grade improved, it was still significantly below my substantive grades.

My main concern is not necessarily my GPA (I mean of course it would have been significantly higher but for my LRW grades). My main concern is that I did not master legal writing - which is obviously so important in the legal world.

So I guess my question is two-fold: what should I do now to be able to first, master legal writing and second, demonstrate to employers that I have mastered legal writing.

Also, just out of curiosity, is it normal to have a split between doing well in your substantive courses and doing not so well in LRW?

Thank you in advance!

[schweitziro]

LRW is a crapshoot.

[kalvano]

LRW doesn't have much to do with real-world legal writing.

[Gamecubesupreme]

I've personally always considered LRW to be directly related to how much effort you put into it. Most people who gots A's in that class aren't really good writers per se; they simply worked harder than other LRW students by going to TAs/professor frequently for edits and revisions.

So unless you spent a lot of time on your brief and still ended up with a mediocre grade, there isn't much to worry about.

[ClubberLang]

One of the problems is that your writing is too wordy. Almost every sentence you use has a qualifier. It is quite annoying to read. You take up a lot of space to not say very much. Good legal writing is simple and concise.

Did you do your write on competition? Obviously LR is the best way to improve your writing. As far as LRW grade being lower than your normal grades, I think that's pretty normal if the rest of your grades are high (from what I've seen LRW tends to have a much tighter curve than substantive classes).

[schweitziro]

One of the problems is that your writing is too wordy. Almost every sentence you use has a qualifier. It is quite annoying to read. You take up a lot of space to not say very much. Good legal writing is simple and concise.

Did you do your write on competition? Obviously LR is the best way to improve your writing. As far as LRW grade being lower than your normal grades, I think that's pretty normal if the rest of your grades are high (from what I've seen LRW tends to have a much tighter curve than substantive classes).

Besides citations, LR and LRW imo are worlds apart in terms of writing style. LRW is usually verbose and esoteric irrespective of the golden rule presently of using plain language. The people who care to get published are academics who don't give a fuck about plain language, as they prefer to continue on with their intellectual self-masturbation.

[frosty6731]

My situation exactly. I'm not sure what to make of it.

[ColtsFan88]

This was my situation too. This thread made me feel better.

[Danger Zone]

LRW is usually verbose and esoteric irrespective of the golden rule presently of using plain language.

intellectual self-masturbation.

o rly

Also, is there another kind of masturbation that I'm missing out on?

[hyakku]

LRW is usually verbose and esoteric irrespective of the golden rule presently of using plain language.

intellectual self-masturbation.

o rly

Also, is there another kind of masturbation that I'm missing out on?

Breh, Dutch Rudder. You need to live a little:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGUuugNEUcU

[schweitziro]

LRW is usually verbose and esoteric irrespective of the golden rule presently of using plain language.

intellectual self-masturbation.

o rly

Also, is there another kind of masturbation that I'm missing out on?

touche