The 1L Guide to Legal Writing

The 1L Guide to Legal Writing is a concise text that covers both objective and persuasive writing. The author's most frequent requests from first-year law students in her writing classes were for a legal writing textbook with a more manageable reading load and more examples. This text responds to both. Developmental reviews have praised the way this text uses a conversational tone and multiple examples as it coaches students through the structure and substance of the respective legal documents. Written with an emphasis on readability, the text includes "professor's tips" in its margins, and sections of "write this, not this" to highlight common pitfalls in first-year legal writing.

Notably, the book uses the same fact pattern as the basis for its memorandum, appellate brief, and motion for summary judgment, so that the students can exclusively focus on the skills and structure each document requires. It includes information on common student errors, as well as sample e-memo versions of the more formal memorandum it teaches students to write. The text also contemplates 1L writing that may be beyond the scope of the class by including tips for (and samples of) cover letters for public and private sectors.

While this book is suitable for class adoption as a concise main text, its length and price point also make it an ideal secondary text.