Bundle: Just Briefs: Preparing for Practice, Fifth Edition and Cicero

BOOKMARK

Authors

Laurel Currie Oates
Anne Enquist
Jeremy Francis
Amanda Maus Stephen

Series / Aspen Bundle Series

BOOKMARK

Publication Date

2026-09-27

Edition

Fifth Edition

Description

Bundle: Print + eBook + Online Course (Cicero) - This bundle includes both print and digital versions of ISBN 9798894107677 as well as an access code to Rhetoric's Cicero.

Bundle: eBook + Online Course (Cicero) - This bundle includes a digital-only version of ISBN 9798894107684 as well as access to Rhetoric's Cicero.

Just Briefs: Preparing for Practice, Fifth Edition, features the authors’ famously effective step-by-step approach to writing both motion briefs and appellate briefs and to presenting an effective oral argument. Using numerous examples, Just Briefs walks students through the process of identifying arguments and a theory of the case, selecting an organizational scheme, presenting the facts, issues, and law in a light favorable to their client, and countering the other side’s arguments. Included in the book are annotated examples of briefs in support and opposition to a motion for summary judgment and appellate briefs on a federal issue.

Aspen Publishing has partnered with Rhetoric to bring Cicero, a practice platform for law schools that helps students build real communication and advocacy skills through realistic, repeatable practice—without replacing human judgment. Built by legal professionals and educators, Cicero supports active learning through simulations that mirror authentic legal tasks, from cold calls to oral arguments and interviews.

This Trial and Oral Advocacy bundle includes access to the following three Cicero modules:

Hot Bench Simulation - Practice responding to rapid‑fire questions from judges in challenging appellate argument simulations. This module supports video, audio, and text input, allowing you to develop clarity, composure, and strong legal reasoning in a realistic setting.
Legal Case Presentation - Master the art of presenting legal cases with clarity and persuasiveness. Practice organizing case facts, legal issues, and arguments for judges, clients, or colleagues.
Oral Augments - Practice and refine oral arguments with structured sessions focused on clarity and persuasion. Receive feedback on legal logic and delivery.

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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.

Amanda Maus Stephen

Professor Stephen is an Assistant Teaching Professor at her alma mater, the University of Washington School of Law, where she teaches Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing to first-year law students. After graduating with honors in 2010, she clerked for several judges on the Washington State Court of Appeals. She also managed a solo legal practice, focusing on appellate law and providing freelance legal research and writing services for attorneys.

In 2019, Professor Stephen joined Seattle University School of Law as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills, a position she held until joining the University of Washington faculty in 2022. She is an active member of the Legal Writing Institute and the Association of American Law Schools’ Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research Section. A frequent presenter at regional and national legal writing conferences, her scholarship includes articles and presentations on bias in legal writing, generative artificial intelligence, and promoting mindfulness in the classroom.

Product Information

Edition

Fifth Edition

Publication date

2026-09-27

2026

Bundle: Print + eBook + Online Course (Cicero)

9798904418304

Bundle: eBook + Online Course (Cicero)

9798904418311

Subject

Legal Writing

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$166.00

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$151.00

Bundle: eBook + Online Course (Cicero)

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