How to Kill It in Legal Writing Forum

[theycallmefoes]

There are plenty of threads dedicated to excelling in 1L classes, but none seem to address specific strategies for the legal writing course. All I know is that it can be a big time sink and that you shouldn't worry about it if it's P/F (which mine is not). So some more specific advice on how to do well in your legal writing course would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[phillywc]

the best way to excel is to go to a school with p/f

[Mal Reynolds]

Research a lot.

[KidStuddi]

Pander to your prof. Shamelessly. If you think from class discussions that he/she is sympathetic to a viewpoint or a particular style of argumentation, make it happen in your paper.

[First Offense]

the best way to excel is to go to a school with p/f

Amen.

[banjo]

Yeah just go to a p/f school. I literally never opened a bluebook outside of class.

[ymmv]

the best way to excel is to go to a school with p/f

Amen.

[2014]

Yeah just go to a p/f school. I literally never opened a bluebook outside of class.

I go to a graded LRW school and don't own a blue book

[JusticeHarlan]

Here's an article by three legal writing professors that walks through what they look for in a memos/briefs when grading and providing feedback. It's written for other legal writing professors, telling them what to look for when reading student work, but I think it works well for students in the class trying to identify what to include in their memos. Look at all the "Clues" and make sure you're doing all of them in your writing.

[Bildungsroman]

Take your legal writing instructor's word as gospel even when she is verifiably, indisputably wrong. Then forget everything you learned in legal writing class as soon as you get a job.

[arklaw13]

Just figure out what your LRW prof wants in memos/briefs. Go to office hours when possible and listen to what they say.

[randomstudent]

Get as much feedback as you can from your LW professor. There's a certain amount of LW that's just trial and error, writing, editing, and seeing your writing get torn apart and rewritten by better writers than you.

[randomstudent]

Also, even if LW is a P/F course, what you learn in LW is going to be more applicable to your first job than most of your other doctrinal courses.

[First Offense]

Also, even if LW is a P/F course, what you learn in LW is going to be more applicable to your first job than most of your other doctrinal courses.

Lol - I had a partner at a pretty big lit firm talk about how LRW was useless as a class during OGI. Loved that guy.

[sublime]

..

[theycallmefoes]

Btw, Imma need you to chill just a bit, theycallmefoes

...Orientation starts Monday. I'm freaking out. Spending countless hours on TLS is my coping mechanism. But, seriously, you're right.

[sublime]

..

[theycallmefoes]

Btw, Imma need you to chill just a bit, theycallmefoes

...Orientation starts Monday. I'm freaking out. Spending countless hours on TLS is my coping mechanism. But, seriously, you're right.

Shit, I go there too. I know.

Just out of curiosity, what year are you again?

I am mostly just kidding, but forreal, it will be ok

Thanks. I hope you're right.

and by knowing about TLS (and I would encourage you to check this: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 3&t=123092 out) you will be ahead of 90% of students.

Ah, I've devoted the past several days to the content on that thread. On the one hand, it's helped me come up with a plan to hit the ground running, which is great. On the other hand, now that I'm running out of things to read, I'm starting to panic again, which leads to me posting many, many questions.

[sublime]

..

[theycallmefoes]

And wooooosah.

You will have plenty of time to be stressed in like 2 months, I promise.

Oh, I know. I can already feel my sanity slipping away, and it's downhill from here. I don't know how I'll survive.

[drive4showLSAT4dough]

And wooooosah.

You will have plenty of time to be stressed in like 2 months, I promise.

Oh, I know. I can already feel my sanity slipping away, and it's downhill from here. I don't know how I'll survive.

You are going to law school to get a job as a lawyer. Your anxiety will not help you do that. Do you take Xanax (or an equivalent)?

[Mal Reynolds]

What if I told you a lot of law school just comes down to your innate abilities.

[theycallmefoes]

Oh, I know. I can already feel my sanity slipping away, and it's downhill from here. I don't know how I'll survive.

You are going to law school to get a job as a lawyer. Your anxiety will not help you do that. Do you take Xanax (or an equivalent)?

Ha! Not yet, but we'll see how the semester goes.

What if I told you a lot of law school just comes down to your innate abilities.

...This is probably an awful thing to say, but I would actually feel a bit better.

[moneybagsphd]

the best way to excel is to go to a school with p/f

Amen.

[randomstudent]

Also, even if LW is a P/F course, what you learn in LW is going to be more applicable to your first job than most of your other doctrinal courses.

Lol - I had a partner at a pretty big lit firm talk about how LRW was useless as a class during OGI. Loved that guy.

Fair enough. It really depends on the LW course. If you have a LW course that doesn't actually teach you how to research and write, then yes, it may be useless as a class, especially if the firm already has its own writing program. But if you have a LW course that actually teaches you how to research and write well, I don't see how anyone can call those skills "useless."