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Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for the Legal Writer, Seventh Edition

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Authors
  • Anne Enquist
  • Laurel Currie Oates
  • Jeremy Francis
  • Amanda Maus Stephen
Series / Aspen Coursebook Series
BOOKMARK
Book length
384 pages
Publication Date
2026-02-02
Edition
Seventh Edition
Description
Table of contents

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.



Just Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for the Legal Writer, Seventh Edition, features the authors’ famously effective step-by-step approach to writing and editing legal documents effectively. With numerous examples, including briefs and memos, Just Writing walks students through the process of drafting and revising legal writing to make the argument and language as correct and clear as possible. This text also discusses the expectations of legal writing and argument in American and other cultures, as well as a chapter devoted to helping ESL students develop their writing skills.

New to the Seventh Edition:
  • Updated and expanded sections on bias-free language, including a chapter devoted to the topic.
  • 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.
Professors and students will benefit from:
  • Step-by-step instruction on how to write and edit effectively, eloquently, and persuasively.
  • Numerous examples, including extended examples of writing in legal memos and briefs.
  • Unique focus on legal writing and style in the English language.
  • Resources for, and a chapter devoted to, ESL law students.
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Table of contents

Summary of Contents


Contents 
Acknowledgments 


Part I: A Guide to Effective Writing 
Chapter 1: Effective Writing—The Whole Document 
Chapter 2: Connections Between Paragraphs 
Chapter 3: Effective Paragraphs 
Chapter 4: Connections Between Sentences 
Chapter 5: Effective Sentences 
Chapter 6: Effective Words 
Chapter 7: Bias- Free Language 
Chapter 8: Eloquence 
Part II: A Guide to Correct Writing 
Chapter 9: Grammar 
Chapter 10: Punctuation 
Chapter 11: Mechanics 
Part III: A Guide to Legal Writing for English- as- a- Second-
Language Writers 
Chapter 12: Legal Writing for English- as- a- Second- Language Writers 


Quick Tips About Writing 
Glossary of Usage 
Index 

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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.

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
Seventh Edition
Publication date
2026-02-02
Copyright Year
2026
Pages
384
LLPOD
9798894103419
Connected eBook with Study Center (Digital Only)
9798894103396
Connected eBook with Study Center + Paperback
9798894103389
Subject
Legal Writing , Legal Research
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