The Threshold Concepts of Legal Writing

For the first time, this book seeks to articulate the nature of legal writing expertise—the knowledge and experience that often unconsciously guide the decisions of all expert legal writers. Drawing on threshold concepts theory and the work of writing studies scholars, the authors express "what expert legal writers know" in the form of threshold concepts. As the authors explain, threshold concepts are disciplinary-specific concepts are akin to a portal; they open up new and previously inaccessible ways of thinking. As novice legal writers struggle to cross these thresholds of understanding, they may enter a liminal state, stuck between prior knowledge and more sophisticated understanding. By identifying these troublesome portals of understanding, legal writing educators can improve learning and reduce student frustration.

The book begins by introducing readers to the basics of threshold concepts theory. Much of the book is then devoted to identifying and explaining the twenty-five proposed concepts written by legal writing experts nationwide. The concepts are divided roughly into three categories: concepts that define the nature of legal writing itself, the myriad conventions that legal writers understand about the expectations of the legal discourse community, and the multiple ways in which legal writing constrains and shapes a legal writer's identity. In the remaining chapters, the authors explain the pedagogical implications of these concepts, the extent to which legal writing expertise relates to professional identity formation, and how an understanding of legal writing expertise in terms of threshold concepts might influence the future of the discipline.