Legal Method and Writing: Foundations for the Study of Law, Tenth Edition

BOOKMARK

Authors

Charles R. Calleros
Rebekah Hanley
Yan Slavinskiy

Series / Aspen Coursebook Series

BOOKMARK

Book length

496 pages

Publication Date

2026-02-01

Edition

Tenth Edition

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 academic 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.

Analysis, synthesis, and writing — the foundational skills upon which students build their legal careers — are more important than ever against today’s dynamic landscape of law, technology, and legal practice. The Tenth Edition of Legal Method and Writing: Foundations for the Study of Law, reflects a skills-based approach that prepares students to handle any legal writing challenges they will encounter in practice.

With new co-authors Rebekah Hanley and Yan Slavinskiy bringing the wealth of their experience and expertise to this revision, the reorganized Tenth Edition closely tracks new developments in law school and practice. Balancing caution with enthusiasm, the authors address new technologies through candid discussion and exercises that shed light on both the promise and pitfalls of using GenAI in legal analysis, research, and writing.

Professors and students will benefit from:

Engaging and stimulating content for a new generation of students
Focusing on the building blocks of legal method and writing, such as extracting and synthesizing rules, drafting in-text and parenthetical illustrations, and applying rules to facts
Numerous exercises for developing skills and engaging students in their own formative assessment

New to the 10th Edition:

A balanced treatment of generative AI that is informative and positive while warning against over reliance
A new organization that more closely mirrors the first-year curriculum
Additional illustrations that support visual comprehension
Honed and streamlined coverage that facilitates both teaching and learning

Table of contents

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Contents
Table of Charts and Sample Documents
Preface
Acknowledgments

PART I INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL
METHOD: ANALYSIS AND WRITING
Chapter 1. Introduction to Legal Communication: Process, Style,
and Purpose
Chapter 2. Sources of Law
Chapter 3. The Court System and Stare Decisis
Chapter 4. Introduction to Legal Reasoning
PART II COMPONENTS AND ORGANIZATION OF
LEGAL ANALYSIS
Chapter 5. Introduction to IRAC
Chapter 6. “I ” — Identifying Issues for Analysis
Chapter 7. “R” — Formulating the Legal Rules
Chapter 8. “R” — Illustrating the Legal Rules
Chapter 9. “A” and “C ” — Applying Law to Facts and Reaching
a Conclusion
PART III ADVISING CLIENTS: OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS
AND WRITING
Chapter 10. Overview of Objective Analysis and Its Presentation
Chapter 11. Office Memoranda
Chapter 12. Sharing Objective Analysis Via Email
Chapter 13. Advice Letters
Chapter 14. Oral Reports of Objective Analysis
PART IV INTRODUCTION TO ADVOCACY
Chapter 15. Advocacy: Overview and Ethics
Chapter 16. Persuasive Writing
Chapter 17. Pretrial Advocacy: Pleadings and Motions
Chapter 18. Appellate Briefs
Chapter 19. Oral Argument
PART VI INTRODUCTION TO OTHER LEGAL
WRITING GENRES
Chapter 20. Contract Drafting
Chapter 21. Additional Legal Writing Genres
PART V DRAFTING AND REVISING
Chapter 22. The Drafting Process
Chapter 23. Legal Writing Style
Chapter 24. Presenting, Quoting, and Signaling Authority

Index

Preface

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About the authors

Charles R. Calleros

Professor of Law

Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University

Charles Calleros is Emeritus Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, where he taught Legal Method and Writing, Advanced Writing Seminar, Legal Analysis, Contracts, International Contracts, and Civil Rights Legislation, before retiring January 1, 2024. He directed the College’s Academic Success Program from 2018 to 2022.

Following graduation with honors from the U.C. Davis School of Law in 1978, Professor Calleros clerked for the Office of Central Staff Attorneys for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He credits his mentors there with stimulating his fascination for legal writing, prompting his request to be assigned to teach in the legal writing curriculum when he entered teaching in 1981 after completing his term as a Central Staff Attorney and then clerking for Ninth Circuit Judge Procter Hug, Jr. During his 43 years of teaching, Professor Calleros composed hundreds of law school exams, and he has closely reviewed, scored, and graded many thousands of them. His insights on legal analysis and exams became the first edition of this book in 2007. For this fourth edition, he now combines those insights with the expertise of new co-author, Professor Louis N. Schulze, Jr.

Product Information

Edition

Tenth Edition

Publication date

2026-02-01

2026

Pages

496

Connected eBook with Study Center (Digital Only)

9798894103433

Connected eBook with Study Center + Paperback

9798894103426

Subject

Legal Writing