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The Legal Writing Handbook: Analysis, Research, and Writing, Ninth Edition

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Authors
  • Laurel Currie Oates
  • Anne Enquist
  • Jeremy Francis
  • Amanda Maus Stephen
Series / Aspen Coursebook Series
BOOKMARK
Book length
1008 pages
Publication Date
2025-02-08
Edition
Ninth Edition
Teaching Materials
NO
Description
Table of contents
Preface

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook with Study Center on Casebook Connect, including lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities. Access also includes practice questions, an outline tool, and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes.

With the authors’ effective step-by-step approach, The Legal Writing Handbook: Analysis, Research, and Writing walks students through each of the stages of the writing process from pre-writing, drafting, and editing, to the final draft. A leading text for generations of law students, the Ninth Edition gives students a head start as they move into practice.

The Legal Writing Handbook offers a complete resource on legal writing. Part I provides students with an introduction to the U.S. Legal System; Part II gives an overview of legal research, with both an introduction to sources and to research strategies; Part III introduces students to predictive memos, e-memos, and client letters; Part IV covers motion briefs; Part V offers an overview of appellate briefs; Part VI introduces oral advocacy; Part VII is a guide to effective writing; Part VIII is a guide to correct writing; and Part IX focuses on the needs of ESL writers.

With a streamlined organization and completely updated content, this is the only book on legal writing students will ever need. The book’s comprehensive coverage gives students four books in one: a book on objective legal writing, a book on legal research, a book on persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy, and a legal style manual.

Professors and students will benefit from:

• Broad coverage that can be adapted easily for two-, three-, or four-semester programs.
• Multiple examples and sample documents—this text demystifies legal writing.
• Helpful overview of the American legal system.
• Tremendous value to students by providing coverage of objective legal writing, legal research, persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy, and a legal style manual all in one text.
• Step-by-step instruction on how to write formal memos, e-memos, and opinion letters.
• Step-by-step instruction on how to write motion and appellate briefs.
• In-depth instruction on how to write and edit effectively and correctly.
• Practice Pointers to help students understand the intricacies of legal practice.
• Appendix with easy reference to all the Quick Tips to improve legal writing.
• Resources for ESL law students.
• Online Connected Coursebook access, offering students additional exercises with sample answers and other helpful resources.

New to the Ninth Edition:

• Updated and expanded sections on bias-free language throughout the book.
• Updates and advice about the use of Generative AI in the legal writing classroom and the practice of law.
• Effective, hands-on examples of how to create arguments that take into account rhetorical bias.
• Revised sample memos and briefs.
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Table of Contents
Summary of Contents

Contents 
Preface
Acknowledgments 

Part I: Introduction 
Chapter 1: Making the Transition
Chapter 2: The United States Legal System 
Chapter 3: Mandatory vs. Persuasive Authority 
Chapter 4: Reading Statutes 
Chapter 5: Reading Cases 

Part II: Legal Research 
Chapter 6: Primary Authority
Chapter 7: Secondary Authority
Chapter 8: Finding Tools 
Chapter 9: Citators 
Chapter 10: Developing Effective Research Strategies 

Part III: Formal Memos, E- Memos, and Advice Letters 
Chapter 11: Drafting Memos 
Chapter 12: Getting the Assignment 
Chapter 13: Drafting the Heading and Statement of Facts 
Chapter 14: Drafting the Issue Statement and Brief Answer 
Chapter 15: Drafting the Discussion Section 
Chapter 16: Drafting the Formal Conclusion 
Chapter 17: Revising, Editing, and Proofreading the Memo
Chapter 18: Drafting Memos Requiring Other Types of Analysis 
Chapter 19: E- Memos 
Chapter 20: Drafting Advice Letters 

Part IV: Motion Briefs
Chapter 21: Introduction to Rhetoric and Bias 
Chapter 22: Motion Briefs 
Chapter 23: Deciding on a Theory of the Case 
Chapter 24: Drafting the Caption and the Introduction
Chapter 25: Drafting the Statement of Facts 
Chapter 26: Ordering the Issues and Arguments 
Chapter 27: Drafting the Issue Statements or Questions Presented 
Chapter 28: Drafting the Headings
Chapter 29: Drafting the Arguments 
Chapter 30: Drafting the Prayer for Relief and Signing the Brief
Chapter 31: Sample Briefs 

Part V: Appellate Briefs 
Chapter 32: Practicing Before an Appellate Court 
Chapter 33: Drafting an Appellate Brief: Audience, Purpose,
and Conventions 
Chapter 34: Getting the Case: United States v. Josephy
Chapter 35: Preparing to Write the Brief 
Chapter 36: Planning the Brief 
Chapter 37: Beginning the Appellate Brief: The Cover, Tables,
and Jurisdictional Statement 
Chapter 38: Drafting the Statement of Issues Presented for Review
Chapter 39: Drafting the Statement of the Case and Statement
of Facts 
Chapter 40: Drafting the Summary of the Argument 
Chapter 41: Drafting the Argumentative Headings 
Chapter 42: Drafting the Arguments 
Chapter 43: Completing the Brief
Chapter 44: Sample Briefs 

Part VI: Oral Advocacy 
Chapter 45: Preparing and Presenting an Effective Oral Argument 

Part VII: A Guide to Effective Writing 
Chapter 46: Effective Writing – The Whole Document
Chapter 47: Connections Between Paragraphs 
Chapter 48: Effective Paragraphs
Chapter 49: Connections Between Sentences
Chapter 50: Effective Sentences 
Chapter 51: Effective Words 
Chapter 52: Bias- Free Language 
Chapter 53: Eloquence 

Part VIII: A Guide to Correct Writing
Chapter 54: Grammar 
Chapter 55: Punctuation
Chapter 56: Mechanics 

Part IX: A Guide to Legal Writing for English- as- a- Second-
Language Writers 
Chapter 57: Legal Writing for English- as- a- Second- Language Writers

Appendix: Quick Tips About Writing
Glossary of Usage 
Glossary of Terms 
Index
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Preface
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About the authors
Laurel Currie Oates

Laurel Currie Oates is a professor of law at Seattle University School of Law and has been the director of Seattle University’s Legal Writing Program since 1984. With Professor Anne Enquist, Professor Oates has authored five books on legal writing: The Legal Writing Handbook, which is in its fifth edition, and Just Research, Just Memos, Just Briefs, and Just Writing, which are in the fourth edition. Professor Oates has also authored numerous law review articles, including articles on legal reading, writing to learn, the transfer of learning, and the outsourcing of legal work.

Professor Oates is also one of the co-founders of both the Legal Writing Institute and APPEAL, an organization that provides opportunities for academics in Africa and the United States to share ideas about helping students, lawyers, advocates, and judges improve their writing. During the last five years, Professor Oates has worked in Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Afghanistan, and India, providing workshops on effective writing.

In June 2007, Professor Oates received the Burton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and this year she received the Marjorie Rombauer award from the Association of Legal Writing Directors.

Anne M. Enquist

Professor Enquist has been a member of the legal writing faculty and the Writing Advisor at Seattle University School of Law since 1980. She serves as the Director of Seattle University's nationally ranked legal writing program. As the Writing Advisor, she works one-on-one with law students on their legal writing. She is the co-author of five books and the author of numerous articles about legal writing. She has served on the national Board of Directors for the Legal Writing Institute, and in 2007, she received the American Association of Law Schools Legal Writing Section Award. In 2014, she received the William Burton Award for Legal Writing Education. Her research and scholarly interests concern all areas of legal writing, particularly diagnosing student writing ability, critiquing law students' writing, and writing issues that affect ESL law students.

Jeremy Francis
Michigan State University

Professor Jeremy Francis is Clinical Professor of Law and Writing Specialist at Michigan State University College of Law. He works in tandem with MSU Law's Research, Writing & Analysis instructors to reinforce first-year students' grammar and punctuation skills and to teach students the conventions of legal style. His workshops, optional seminars, and one-on-one instruction sessions help prepare students to pass a required proficiency test by the end of their first year.

Professor Francis taught prospective English teachers through Michigan State University's Teacher Education and English departments before joining the MSU College of Law in 2006. He received his Ph.D. in Critical Studies in the Teaching of English from MSU in 2007 and an M.A. in Education from the University of Denver in 2003.

Professor Francis won the Legal Writing Institute's Deborah Hecht Memorial Writing Contest Award in 2010 for his article "Finding Your Voice While Learning to Dance" and again in 2014 for his article "The Silent Scream: How Soon Can Students Let Us Know They Are Struggling?" The award is given every other year to the legal writing specialist who publishes the best article or essay on the topics of effectiveness, clarity, and writing style.
Product Information
Edition
Ninth Edition
Publication date
2025-02-08
Copyright Year
2025
Pages
1008
Connected eBook with Study Center + Paperback
9798894101477
Connected eBook with Study Center (Digital Only)
9798894101484
Subject
Legal Writing , Legal Research
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