Before Starting Law School: Legal Writing Tips
Before Starting Law School: Legal Writing Tips
Being able to effectively articulate whatever it is you are trying to convey is arguably one of the most important skills a lawyer must possess. Whether you are trying to argue a specific position or merely informing the reader about a topic, being able to do so in an eloquent way is an expectation in the legal world. It is also an expectation in law school. If you struggle with legal writing, you may struggle to get high grades in not only your legal writing classes but also your other substantive law classes. Writing is a very important part of law school.
Many law students struggle with their first-year legal research and writing course. Frequently, this is because the student completed an undergraduate major that did not require much writing or written analysis. However, it is also the case that many first-year students who have had a lot of experience writing still find legal writing difficult. This is because legal writing is very different than any other writing.
If you are worried that you will struggle with legal writing, rest assured that you are not alone. Some other tips that may help you to improve your legal writing skills (and ease your anxiety) before starting law school are as follows.
Before Starting Law School: Legal Writing Tips
- Go back to the basics. Taking the time to remind yourself of the rules about proper comma usage and sentence structure will help make your legal writing assignments come together. If you brush up on the basics, then the main focus in your legal writing class can be effectively communicating the law and the proper formatting of your assignments.
- Don’t procrastinate. Follow your course’s syllabus and do your best to stay on task. Spending an adequate amount of time reading and understanding the law that you are attempting to use in your writing will make the writing much easier. Persuasive writing is difficult on its own, but persuasively writing an argument about something you barely understand is almost impossible. Not only will you undoubtedly be frustrated and discouraged, but also your lack of understanding will be easily noticed in your final product by your professor.
- Get familiar with skills ahead of time. There are two ways to do this: First, you can buy your legal writing books ahead of time and start reading them. Secondly, (and what we highly recommend!) is you can sign up for our Legal Writing Prep Course. Our Legal Writing Prep Course will give you hands-on experience for legal writing and researching well ahead of time so that you can begin law school with confidence.
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