When I was first accepted to law school, I told people that I was about to become a professional writer. It's been said many times that words are the lawyers tools, and I have really seen that. In the legal world, poor writing, misspelling, and lack of clarity all negatively affect one's reputation. Starting with this second year, the writing I have had to do is considerably more demanding. This is true both in terms of academic writing, such as my case note, and my writing for work, such as at the City or the Attorney General's office.
I also feel like I didn't learn as much as I wanted about writing briefs in Appellate Advocacy in my first year. Because my summer job will consist almost entirely of writing briefs, I thought I had better brush up. I remembered that I had seen a book on brief-writing somewhere, and a little foray into Amazon.com turned it up. While I was at it, I decided to order a couple other books on legal writing.
All told, I ended up with three books. The first is The Winning Brief: 100 Tips for Persuasive Briefing in Trial and Appellate Courts, the second is The Elements of Legal Style, and the third is The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style. All three were written by Bryan Garner, the editor-in-chief of Black's Law Dictionary, and a leading authority on legal writing. I've read the first two books from cover to cover (and read/skimmed the third), and they are really great. There are many tips and guidelines for any legal writer. I highly recommend all of them. I'm really getting excited about my summer job and editing for law review. I'm looking forward to teaching a few writers what I've learned, both from experience and these great resources.
