Clear and Effective Legal Writing, 5th Edition

From synthesizing a case and writing a memo, to preparing a Supreme Court brief, CLEAR AND EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITING offers complete coverage of legal reasoning and writing. Focusing on the memo and brief, the author team walks students through the process of writing, using realistic examples and actual court documents to illustrate the rules and concepts. 

Features:

• Distinguishing between legal language and ordinary discourse
• A step-by-step overview of legal analysis
• A logical organization that traces the process of legal writing
  • Understand the context of the document
  • Determine the document’s purpose or purposes
  • Identify and analyze the audience or audiences for the document
  • Identify the constraints on the writer and the document
  • Organize the document effectively
  • Use a clear and persuasive writing style
  • Review and edit the document
• Straightforward rules to use when writing legal documents, with examples that illustrate both the right and the wrong way to write
• A balance of legal reasoning and legal writing, seamlessly combined to help the reader understand the relationship between the two
• Numerous skill-development exercises throughout the text
• Actual trial court memoranda and Supreme Court briefs, dissected and annotated, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses in each example
• An interview with the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, revealing what the Court expects from a brief
• Guidance for transforming a memorandum into an advocacy document
• Additional writing and grammar guidelines, and formatting rules in the appendices
• Companion website: http://www.aspenlawschool.com/ books/charrow5

New in the Fifth Edition:

• Updates to references, resources, and cites
• New and refreshed exercises and examples of legal documents
• New annotated Supreme Court brief