Reddit mentions: The best legal education writing books
We found 103 Reddit comments discussing the best legal education writing books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 19 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. Plain English for Lawyers
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 8.5 Inches |
Length | 5.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | July 2005 |
Weight | 0.45 Pounds |
Width | 0.5 Inches |
2. Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (University Casebook)
Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2010 |
Weight | 1.15081300764 Pounds |
Width | 0.5 Inches |
3. Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates
Oxford University Press USA
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Height | 5.61 Inches |
Length | 8.31 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2014 |
Weight | 1.10672055524 Pounds |
Width | 0.9 Inches |
4. Law School Exams: secrets of straight A students: Legal Writing for Exams Edition (Straight A Law Student)
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Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.19 Pounds |
Width | 0.09 Inches |
5. Winning Law Review: A Concise Guide to Write-On Competitions
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- EASY TO GRASP DOG CHEW TOY: The curved shape of this dog toy puzzle is easy to grasp and hold in place with his paws while the side openings entice your playful pup or senior dog with the scent of dog treats.
- RECYCLABLE PET TOYS: Not only do these dog toy puzzles from West Paw feature bright colors to easily spot inside or out, each dog chew toy is non-toxic, recyclable, dishwasher safe and Made in USA.
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Release date | April 2018 |
6. Perform Your Best on the Bar Exam Performance Test (MPT): Train to Finish the MPT in 90 Minutes, Like a Sport(TM)
Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 11 Inches |
Length | 8.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.64464847452 Pounds |
Width | 0.67 Inches |
7. Writing Essay Exams To Succeed in Law School: Not Just Survive, Fourth Edition (Academic Success)
Specs:
Height | 8.9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2014 |
Weight | 0.4 Pounds |
Width | 0.4 Inches |
8. Writing for Litigation (Aspen Coursebooks)
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 10.25 Inches |
Length | 7.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2011 |
Weight | 1.04 Pounds |
Width | 0.56 Inches |
9. Parchment, Paper, Pixels: Law and the Technologies of Communication
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Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Width | 0.8 Inches |
10. Scholarly Writing for Law Students, Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes and Law Review Competition Papers (Coursebook)
- KEYCLICK. Paragraphs strong sense, strong mechanical sense, mechanical keyboard Representative axis, Click keyboard sound crisp and powerful, full of rhythm.
- INDEPENDENT LAMP BODY DESIGN. Every single key has its own lamp body, without the light guide plate, colorful and charming, independent lighting with translucent character keyboard, backlit effect is more cool, you deserve to have.
- KEYCAP CHARACTER COLOR WILL NOT FADE. Keycap with two-color molding injection technology,translucent portions and keyboard itself material combined, translucent effect is excellent, very cool at the same time to ensure that never fade.
- ERGONOMIC DESIGN. Designed for gamers and build research and development, Xpress control game, Completely fit support hand and wrist, so you jinqing play long-term use without fatigue,
- BUILT-IN STEEL PLATE COUNTERWEIGHT. Internal keyboard add steel design, let it stable on the table,allowing the player heartily to enjoy the game to bring the thrill of gaming.
Features:
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Height | 10.75 Inches |
Length | 7.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | January 2011 |
Weight | 1.1 Pounds |
Width | 0.5 Inches |
11. Plain English for Lawyers
Specs:
Height | 8.25 Inches |
Length | 5.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | February 2019 |
Weight | 0.5 Pounds |
Width | 0.5 Inches |
12. The Legal Writing Workshop: Better Writing, One Case at a Time
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.99998 Inches |
Length | 7.00786 Inches |
Weight | 0.61949895622 Pounds |
Width | 0.3342513 Inches |
13. A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis
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Height | 10 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | July 2018 |
Weight | 2.05 Pounds |
Width | 1.25 Inches |
14. Errors, Medicine and the Law
- Pro brush cleaner: 4.25oz spray
- This item is not for sale in Catalina Island
- This item is not for sale in Catalina Island
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Height | 9.01573 Inches |
Length | 5.98424 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.95460159446 pounds |
Width | 0.5968492 Inches |
15. Mastering Legal Analysis and Drafting (Carolina Academic Press Mastering)
Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 6 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.95 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
16. The Legal Writing Handbook: Analysis Research and Writing [Connected Casebook] (Aspen Coursebook)
Specs:
Height | 9.75 Inches |
Length | 6.75 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 3.52 Pounds |
Width | 1.75 Inches |
17. Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing: Structure, Strategy and Style
Specs:
Height | 10 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.15 Pounds |
Width | 1 Inches |
18. A Practical Guide To Appellate Advocacy 3e
Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 10 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.65 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
19. Plain English for Lawyers
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.4 Pounds |
🎓 Reddit experts on legal education writing books
The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where legal education writing books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
I did this years ago (covered free by one of their scholarships). Not worth it if you had to pay for it, and not worth it even if it's free, because it's a week of freedom you are giving up. Basically (if curriculum is the same), for each 1L course, professors come in to teach intro lectures on what they think are the most important concepts. The course has you do mini-exercises and assigns homework to brief cases and how to do legal research & writing, but I don't feel that I had a huge leg-up on anyone when I got to 1L, because every law professor is different, covers different concepts, etc. I know where my Law Preview classmates ended up, and it doesn't seem like LP turned any of us into superstars.
I think if you do any 0L prep you should just read Getting to Maybe, and look on the Top Law School forums for the many lengthy guides about how to do well in 1L. I also read Thinking Like A Lawyer by Schauer (OK), a random book about 1L success written by a Georgia alum (junk), A Bedtime Story by Jeremy Paul (free and a great introduction to thinking like a lawyer, highly recommend), and LEEWS (OK if you don't understand IRAC).
For 1L, I'd say the best things for me was finding/using old outlines for the same professors, updating those throughout the semester, and practicing how to write exams a LOT with one trusted friend so you can grade each other.
BTW for law review write ons (worry about this in your second semester of 1L), I wrote a very short ebook guide on my tips for the writing competition. It's FREE right now until this Saturday, 4/28, download it now and keep it forever till you need it: Hacking Law Review: The Concise Guide to the Write-On https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Law-Review-Concise-Write-ebook/dp/B07CM7S8NC/
(No kindle needed, since Amazon has an in-browser e-reader; free forever if you have Kindle Unlimited)
Experience doesn't necessarily make him a great writer. Still, don't let him bring you down or demoralize you. Especially since you're trying to improve your writing. It sounds like a normal control thing; in my experience, lawyers rewrite things for no reason except that it's what they learned in law school or it's just what's worked for them in the past. And lawyers hate changing their writing style—since Bryan Garner's tips from TWB are the "new" style that most practicing lawyers don't really care for, he may disagree with some of it. Ask him for recommended reading and see what he says. (I had a similar experience and I can understand how it's incredibly frustrating.)
But in the short term:
Long term, I recommend these for improving brief-writing skills:
Good luck!
I agree with bl1y.
I'm 3 years practicing with my second law review article getting published in around a month.
My first article topic came by looking at what I experienced as a practitioner every day. Pretty soon I got a feeling that maybe the courts were not applying a rule the way I perceived it should be applied. So, I looked into different cases where I thought the rule was inconsistent or at least not reconcilable. Turns out, there were a bunch.
My second article topic came from regularly reading decisions from the top court in my state. While doing that, I was not looking for a topic, but I did notice a pattern of things that generated dissents or concurrences. The judges almost had a funny way of discussing this topic and it caught my eye. It never occurred to me when reading that this was an article waiting to be written. Instead, it was only after about a year or so of reading cases that the topic gelled as article-worthy when someone asked if I would be interested in writing an article and they were looking for topics. It turned into a ~30-page law review article exploring the topic, history, and those recent decisions.
Not sure if your girlfriend was part of an academic journal in law school, but the idea is the same: anyone can write a case study. Rather, it is the synthesis of various cases and legal rules that adds meaning and broadens literature.
I want to say that I did all my research before I wrote a page. The truth is that writing itself is an organic process. You often need to start a little bit of writing to find more relevant literature.
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For me, the idea of finding a topic is like nucleation sites for crystals. For example, see this video of supercooled water. The idea of supercooled water and "instant" ice is that the water is cold enough to be ice, but it needs a place to start. Once it starts, however, the entire bottle of water changes phase. So, you could be ready to write an article, but you still need that spark, the place to start and to build from. That can come from (like the video shows) outside agitation (or impurities but lets not get to heavy into the science).
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Eugene Volokh has a book called Academic Legal Writing. I found it particularly helpful during law school and still to this day. But I remember it being cheaper back then. In any event, it covers issues from the genesis of ideas to the methodology of good research to better writing.
I am sorry I cannot help you more. But, just as a heads up the idea of "legal speak" is being pushed out of the legal industry. The book Plain English for Lawyers could help your writing potentially if that is something you are wanting to improve. Legal writing is less about using terms such as "henceforth, therefore, notwithstanding, etc." and more focused on being concise and clear in your writing. Best of luck to you.
Like most of us, I struggled with transitioning from non-legal, academic writing to legal writing. This book definitely helped me become a much better legal writer and I feel will assist you here. I refer to it regularly and it will be the first book to go in my office this fall (Appellate Practice).
>The ideas she gave including manipulating our facts so our case could apply to strong caselaw.
While other responses here are correct in that some feedback from professors is definitely stylistic and shouldn't be treated like objective truth, it sounds like your analysis lacks advocacy which does require some creativity. Being able to concede a "bad fact" but place it in a context supporting your legal point is a skill which will strengthen your overall brief.
THIS helped me tremendously. It's super short and super useful. I recommend it.
If you want REAL law school advice, check out "Straight A student's guide to law school" on amazon.com. Link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Students-Guide-School-Unconventional/dp/1071083058/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=straight+a+student%27s+guide+to+law+school&qid=1570569963&sr=8-2
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When you're done, I used the second book entitled "Law school exams: secrets of straight A students" and got As. Best year of my life. Worth it.
Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Law-School-Exams-straight-students/dp/1087415713/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32KABFBP6CICL&keywords=law+school+exams+secrets+of+straight+a+students&qid=1570570039&sprefix=law+school+exams%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1
Great answer. Read some Hemingway. Short direct sentences.
"For sale, baby shoes, never worn."
Get Volokh's book on legal writing. It won't make you quicker, but might increase your confidence.
https://www.amazon.com/Academic-Legal-Writing-andGetting-University/dp/1599417502
Haha the way you write is how they specifically train us not to write in law school because it's not plain enough. This might be a useful book even for non-lawyers to make their writing simpler and more sophisticated: http://www.amazon.com/Plain-English-Lawyers-5th-Edition/dp/1594601518
I highly recommend Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates for law students and new attorneys. My briefs are objectively better because of this book. Cheers!
Going to go against the grain here. Everyone is right that burnout and memorizing this early won't help you that much. But there is one thing you can do that is completely unrelated to burnout/memorization:
Performance tests
Performance test are supposed to test what you learned about lawyering in school without any specific class in mind (legal writing I guess). But even performance tests require a strategy and practice applying that strategy, especially if your time in law school or internships didn't involve a lot of writing.
Depending on jx, the PTs can really screw you if you don't take them seriously. I think people have a tendency to neglect PT prep during bar prep since there is so much nervousness about memorizing substantive law. This is a mistake. However, because you aren't trying to cram - you can effectively do this part of your preparation before actual bar prep, and then you are free to focus prep time on MBE and essays.
My school offered a class during the semester that was solely for MPT preparation. We learned strats and did practice PTs for a few months before official bar prep started. Effectively this allowed me to ignore the PT portion of bar prep (other than submitting the two barbri graded PTs).
http://www.amazon.com/Perform-Your-Best-Exam-Performance/dp/0970608837
This was the book we used. I'd highly recommend picking it up and going through it on your weekends. Even if your state doesn't do MPT, the strategies are still highly applicable (I did the 3-hour california PTs) and its a good starting point to developing a strategy that works for you. Just doing a few sample PTs and trying to blindly wing the PTs without an attack strategy is a huge mistake.
I'd agree with others to steer clear of any intense memorization, but it probably wouldn't hurt to watch review lectures of MPT subjects just to refresh. If you can get your hands on outlines, maybe even just gloss over the basics for subjects you didn't take a class on during school so that you won't be spending a ton of time trying to learn completely new doctrines.
Law School Confidential: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience: By Students, for Students https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312605110/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lpqnDbRQRCCFB
Writing Essay Exams To Succeed in Law School: Not Just Survive, Fourth Edition (Academic Success) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1454841621/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XpqnDb593S6GG
1l of a Ride: A Well-traveled Professor's Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School (Career Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1634607899/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qqqnDbW2K5BJC
Two general/background books I've found valuable that will at least get you asking the right (directed) questions are:
Hope this helps.
That was a funny solution a Cracked writer proposed to the whole debate, to free multiplayer games from singleplayer games so they can quit hassling each other. It solves some problems, creates others.
Technically my reading list moved away from game academia a while ago. I'm just a hobby writer, I don't worry about the same issues they do. I was a game critic for 3 years at Popmatters while I was in law school and I steadily got more interested in rule theory. That's most of what I do now in my writing.
I don't really know where someone could start with that...probably by studying systems. This is an outstanding intro book for it. Something bit more sophisticated on rule systems would be this one on how they are presented
I can start rattling off the legal philosophers but they are such boring old farts...Greg Lastowka wrote what is probably the best book on game design and law.
Plain English for Lawyers is a great book and pushes us in the right direction. Not for simplicity's sake, but because being understood and persuasive require clear meaning.
If you're working on a note/comment, you should have a Notes & Comments editor and/or advisor to help. I also found [this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Scholarly-Students-Competition-American-Casebook/dp/0314207201) helpful. Generally, having a thorough paper outline is essential.
Although the book is aimed at lawyers, it should help accountants as well. It helps the writer to stop using wordy phrases that professionals tend to use.
http://www.amazon.com/Plain-English-Lawyers-Richard-Wydick/dp/1594601518
Here's a great textbook on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Legal-Writing-Workshop-Better-Case/dp/1450511430
Still a great book
This is all I read, easy read and gives you a good idea of the process.
Everyone else recommends Volkoh, but I barely cracked the cover though.
https://www.amazon.com/Lawyer-Writes-Practical-Guide-Analysis/dp/1531008763/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=a+lawyer+writes&qid=1572288404&sr=8-3
good examples in this book.
You're going to kick yourself.
I also recommend Plain English for Lawyers.
I have a copy of Errors, Medicine and the Law which strangely enough has only chapter and subchapter titles printed—the pages are otherwise blank. One page will say Guilt at the top. A few pages later, Shame. I've always intended to write that book as I saw fit.
The Legal Writing Handbook
Two books I can suggest:
http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Legal-Writing-andGetting-University/dp/1599417502
Same in my Appellate Advocacy class (though there is a newer edition out).
> I'm not trolling, I'm genuinely curious, but aren't we supposed to be a little pretentious as lawyers? Isn't that just assumed with the territory?
No, use plain english as much as possible, unless a term of art is unavoidable. Didn't they cover this in your legal writing class?
Check out Plain English for Lawyers by Richard C. Wydick.
> And if I can follow your line of reasoning, you are implying that as soon as some person, however loosely linked they may be to the Tea Party, kills someone, then it is ok to hold a person like Nicholson accountable for his freedom of speech by merely killing him without affording him due process of law. Is that really what you are asserting?
I asserted in few, plain words exactly what I meant. No need to get dramatic or technical to ignore Greenwald's assertion.
> Is that really what you are asserting?
I'm not offering any arguments about the constitutionality of anything. I'm just saying it's silly for Greenwald to equate someone who has no connection to any violence with another who has a much, much stronger connection to violence.
Wanna make a deal? I'll re-read the Eisentrager line of cases if you do the exercises in this book: Plain English for Lawyers