1L Legal Writing Prep

[oiuiuko]

There are some great posts in this forum about how to prepare for law school during 0L, but it seems they mostly discuss prep for the substantive courses.

Any advice on how to prepare for Legal Writing class during 0L?

Thank you! 

[ipscientific]

Yes, don't legalese.

[oiuiuko]

Yes, don't legalese.

Thank you for this comment, it is very helpful 

[Duncanjp]

Get a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. It can be found on Amazon from $3 to $10. It's not long and it's easy to read. Study it. Make certain you understand it. It will help you all through law school.

[oiuiuko]

Get a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. It can be found on Amazon from $3 to $10. It's not long and it's easy to read. Study it. Make certain you understand it. It will help you all through law school.

thank you for the heads up - Will do! 

[FalconJimmy]

There are some great posts in this forum about how to prepare for law school during 0L, but it seems they mostly discuss prep for the substantive courses.

Any advice on how to prepare for Legal Writing class during 0L?

Thank you! 

I honestly wouldn't say there's much/anything you can do to prepare for Legal Writing.  At least there's not anything that's time-effective.  You'll understand when you take the course, but anybody who claims they can make you a better writer either:

1.  Is full of crap.
2.  Presumes you write at the level of a mental deficient and all they're going to do is make you a slightly less obvious mental deficient.

Legal writing is mostly about just getting in there, doing the research, writing, then tightening, tightening, tightening.  You can't do much to prepare for it.

Contrast to your other subjects where, frankly, you can learn 80% of the entire subject prior to your first day in class.

[CWFirm]

DuncanJP's recommedation, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, is a solid one.  In reply to FalconJimmy, I would say that I mostly disagree.  Some people begin law school with stronger writing skills than others,  and that will certainly help them, even though legal writing is an entirely new skill.  Skunk and White can definitely help you if you feel that you are not the strongest writer, but honestly the only thing that can make you a better writer is writing frequently.

[SoCalLawGuy]

I'd say CWFirm nailed the answer there, the best thing you can do is practice a lot and also, consulting "The Elements of Style" wouldn't hurt. You just have to get used to the special terms. You could do that during law school but it wouldn't hurt to know some things in advance.

[EarlCat]

1L writing is very paint-by-number. Your prof will probably have some formula (IRAC, TREAC, etc.) that he/she wants you to use. Do it their way, even if it sounds stuffy.