The Lawyer's Craft

Book excerpt: For as long as legal writing courses have existed, students have been given large quantities of information all at once. They are then expected to digest it in one large gulp and to "do it." The Lawyer's Craft takes a different approach. The authors of this innovative book take the specific skills required to write a memo or brief and divided them into discrete "building blocks" that can be more easily absorbed by students. The approach to drafting legal documents is highly structured to enable students to see how different parts fit together. Memos and briefs are divided into parts and organized into a required format. The format also provides students with a checklist to consult when constructing legal documents. The Lawyer's Craft recognizes that skills must be practiced to be learned. No matter how carefully students read the text and discuss it in class, they will not be able to learn the material until they actually put it to work. For this reason, The Lawyer's Craft includes numerous examples and exercises. The level of difficulty of the examples and exercises is gradually increased, allowing students to master the basics before moving on to nuances and exceptions. A Teacher's Manual is available to professors.