The University of Georgia School of Law Faculty Books Collection
Legal Writing Manual
2nd Edition, 2021
Authors:
COPYRIGHT: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
SUMMARY: This manual provides you with an overview of first-year legal writing topics and provides checkpoints during your writing process. On the other hand, this manual does not answer every question you have ever had on any legal writing concept and it is certainly not a spellbook that will make you instantly awesome at legal writing. Writing as a skill is a lifelong development process. Everyone can be an effective legal writer. Put in the time to study the concepts and then to practice using those concepts in your writing. Seek feedback on your writing and implement the feedback you receive. Writing takes practice, and this manual can help guide you through.
PREVIOUS EDITION: The first edition of the Legal Writing Manual was made possible with funding from the University of Georgia’s Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost’s Affordable Materials Course Grant. The second edition of this manual was made possible with funding from an Affordable Learning Georgia Round 18 Continuous Improvement Grant.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- How to Use This Book
- Chapter 1 - Sources of Law and Court Systems
- Chapter 2 - Reading Cases
- Chapter 3 - Briefing Cases
- Chapter 4 - Local Rules and Standing Orders
- Chapter 5 - Time Management
- Chapter 6 - Metacognition and Study Skills
- Chapter 7 - Introduction to Citation
- Chapter 8 - The Legal Reader
- Chapter 9 - Prewriting
- Chapter 10 - CREAC Legal Writing Paradigm
- Chapter 11 - Predictive Writing
- Chapter 12 - Rule Synthesis
- Chapter 13 - Summary of Law
- Chapter 14 - Case Synthesis
- Chapter 15 - Parts of a Memo
- Chapter 16 - Transitions and Signposting
- Chapter 17 - Persuasive Writing
- Chapter 18 - Parts of an Appellate Brief
- Chapter 19 - Assessing Your Own Work
- Chapter 20 - Conducting Peer Review
- Chapter 21 - Writing for Exams