Legal Writing: Process, Analysis, and Organization, Ninth Edition

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Authors

Linda H. Edwards
Samantha A. Moppett

Series / Aspen Coursebook Series

BOOKMARK

Book length

470 pages

Publication Date

2026-02-01

Edition

Ninth Edition

Description

Table of contents

Preface

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Linda H. Edwards and Samantha A. Moppett’s Legal Writing: Process, Analysis, and Organization, Ninth Edition, is an essential guide for legal writing students. Legal Writing: Process, Analysis, and Organization, the only legal writing text that uses a process approach, presents writing as a logical sequence of steps. Streamlined to meet the needs of today’s students, the Ninth Edition uses adult learning theory concepts and a “flipped classroom” approach to add even greater focus and efficiency to classroom and study time.

New to the Ninth Edition:

The Introduction now includes information about generative artificial intelligence, discussing why it is important to master legal writing when artificial intelligence can now generate legal documents in seconds.
The sections on ethics have been updated to include discussion of ethical responsibilities in the context of the use of artificial intelligence in practice.
Information about ethos, pathos, and logos as the tools lawyers use to persuade judges has been added.
In light of the pandemic era shift to remote proceedings, the chapter on oral advocacy now provides a more in-depth discussion of using virtual conferencing technology for court proceedings.
The citation chapter has been edited to reflect the rules in the new editions of the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation and The Bluebook.

Professors and students will benefit from:

Straightforward and succinct presentation of first-year legal writing topics
Approach to teaching reasoning and writing as two interrelated processes
Clear explanations and concrete examples that support a range of learning styles
Writing exercises that offer hands-on practice for skill development
Chapter on professional correspondence that provides guidance as to the appropriate use of e-mail and texts
Sample office memorandum, e-memo, letters, trial brief, and appellate brief, as well as the cases that are used in the examples, which are conveniently located in the Appendices

Table of contents

SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

Contents
Preface to the Ninth Edition
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Chapter 1 First Things First
PA RT I
THE PROCESS OF WRITING PREDICTIVELY:
THE OFFICE MEMO
STAGE ONE
Organizing for Analysis:
Outlining Your Working Draft
Chapter 2 Outlining Rules
Chapter 3 Using Rules to Organize Your Analysis
Chapter 4 Finding a Rule in a Statute
Chapter 5 Finding a Rule in a Case
Chapter 6 Finding a Rule from Multiple Authorities
STAGE TWO
Drafting for Analysis:
Writing the Working Draft
Chapter 7 Analyzing a Single Issue: Rule Explanation
Chapter 8 Analyzing a Single Issue: Rule Application
Chapter 9 Analyzing a Single Issue: Using Multiple Authorities
Chapter 10 Analyzing Multiple Issues
STAGE THREE
Converting Your Working Draft
to an Office Memo
Chapter 11 The Office Memo and the Law-Trained Reader
Chapter 12 Organizing for Your Reader: The Discussion Section
Chapter 13 Completing the Draft of the Office Memo

STAGE FOUR
R evising to Achieve a Final Draft
Chapter 14 Citations and Quotations
Chapter 15 Revising for Usage and Style
PART I I
PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE
Chapter 16 Writing Professional Correspondence
PART I I I
THE PROCESS OF WRITING
PERSUASIVELY: THE BRIEF
STAGE ONE
Structuring for Persuasion: Outlining
T he Working Draft
Chapter 17 Ethics, Judges, and Briefs
Chapter 18 Structuring the Argument: First Steps
Chapter 19 Structuring a More Favorable Rule
STAGE TWO
Drafting for Persuasion: Writing
the Working Draft
Chapter 20 Writing the Working Draft: First Steps
Chapter 21 Refining the Arguments
STAGE THREE
Converting the Working Draft to a Brief
Chapter 22 Organizing for Your Reader: The Argument Section
Chapter 23 Completing the Draft of the Brief
STAGE FOUR
R evising to Achieve a Final Draft
Chapter 24 Editing the Brief
PART I V
ORAL ADVOCACY
Chapter 25 Oral Argument
Appendices

Index

Preface

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About the authors

Linda H. Edwards

William S. Boyd School of Law

Professor Edwards joined the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in July 2009 after serving as Visiting Professor of Law in 2008-2009. Before joining the academy, Professor Edwards practiced law for eleven years. She then began her teaching career at the New York University School of Law, where she served as the Coordinator of the NYU Lawyering Program. In 1990, Professor Edwards joined the faculty at the Mercer University School of Law, where she was the Macon Professor of Law. During her 19 years at Mercer, Professor Edwards directed the legal writing program and taught in the areas of property, employment discrimination, advanced legal writing, professional responsibility, and legal reasoning.

Professor Edwards is a national leader in the field of legal writing, having been awarded the 2009 Thomas Blackwell Award for her lifetime achievements in and contributions to the field. She has published a number of articles and three books in the areas of legal writing and property, and she has served in a variety of capacities at the ABA and the American Association of Law Schools. Professor Edwards is a frequent speaker at national conferences, and she serves as a faculty member for the Persuasion Institutes Advanced Training Program in Narrative Construction, which is sponsored by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Samantha A. Moppett

Professor

Suffolk University Law School

Professor Moppett has been teaching legal research and writing since 1997. She began her teaching career at Suffolk University Law School. She joined the faculty at the Arizona State University College of Law in 1999, where she taught the first-year Legal Research and Writing course, Appellate Advocacy, Advanced Legal Writing, and Intensive Legal Research and Writing. In 2002, Professor Moppett returned to Suffolk, where she is the Associate Director of the nationally ranked Legal Practice Skills Program. Prior to teaching, Professor Moppett clerked for the Justices of the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Subsequently, she worked as a litigation associate in Boston, Massachusetts. Professor Moppett is actively involved in national legal writing organizations, having served in various roles, including being elected as Secretary of the Legal Writing Institute and as a member of the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research. Professor Moppett frequently presents at regional and national legal writing conferences, and her scholarship includes numerous articles on various topics, including legal writing, as well as a book on mindful lawyering.

Product Information

Edition

Ninth Edition

Publication date

2026-02-01

2026

Pages

470

Connected eBook with Study Center (Digital Only)

9798894103518

Connected eBook with Study Center + Paperback

9798894103501

Subject

Legal Writing , Legal Research