The Law School is taking a new approach to teaching legal writing and research, stressing the importance of writing clearly and effectively.
The redesigned Legal Writing and Research program at the University links specific research goals with writing tasks, said Kate Bartlett, senior associate dean of academic affairs at the Law School. In addition, classes are now being taught by practicing attorneys.
The changes in the program's semester-long courses stress the practical aspects of legal discourse, concentrating on how "to try to better integrate research with writing skills," said Janet Sinder, a senior lecturing fellow at the Law School.
"I am trying to combine the teaching of legal analysis with the teaching of technical writing skills," said Jane Wettach, a lawyer and program instructor.
In the classes, students will concentrate on analyzing sets of facts and trying to determine how courts would rule on the issues they raise, Bartlett said. Students will research cases, conduct mock interviews of clients and will also write case briefs, memorandums, a summary of their position, an annotated source list and a final paper.
"This way, they are being taught writing and research at the same time," Wettach said. "Students need to learn how to understand legal problems and express them in a variety of formats."
She also added that students "are getting a lot of experience by doing so much writing and are showing definite improvement."
In previous years, the Law School offered a semester-long writing course not by practicing attorneys but by regular faculty. Practicing attorneys teach such courses at most other law schools.
"The aims of the program are similar to those of past years," said Theresa Glover, a senior lecturer at the Law School.
"The restructuring resulted from a concern that faculty weren't teaching as effectively as they could so we decided to hire people whose principal task was to instruct in legal writing," Glover said.
The innovative workshop-style course has a strong peer review component which was created partially in response to law firms' complaints about the inadequacy of new lawyers' legal skills, especially writing and negotiation, Bartlett said.
Some of the philosophies behind the Law School's program may seem familiar to undergraduates, as they embrace some of the lessons taught in to freshman in the undergraduate University Writing Course.
"The new reader-based approach takes knowledge of which one is intuitively aware and brings it to the conscious level," said University Writing Program director George Gopen, who has often lectured in the law school on legal writing.
Gopen stressed the importance of clear and concise writing skills to students looking for jobs.
"In the professional world, nobody cares about how hard you've worked," he said.
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