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Legal writing articles written by Suffolk Law legal writing faculty.

Student Voices: Learning to Write Like a Lawyer

By Merry Sheehan During the first year of law school, every student is required to take legal writing. For most first-year law students, legal writing is completely new and very challenging. For me, learning how to write like a lawyer has been one of my biggest challenges in law school thus far. At the beginning [...]

October 22nd, 2020|General, Legal Writing Matters, Student Voices|

Legal Writing Matters: Infusing International Law into Advanced Legal Writing

By Rosa Kim Imagine that a lawyer with a solo practice in downtown Boston has two clients: Client A is injured on a flight from St. Louis to Boston, when the flight attendant accidentally slammed the beverage cart against her arm, breaking it. Client B is injured in the same way on a flight from [...]

July 6th, 2019|faculty voices, Legal Writing Matters|

Student Voices: Learning to Love First-Year Legal Writing

When I received my first legal writing assignment, I was confidently ambitious. It was the end of summer before my 1L year, and I thought to myself, “If there’s one challenge I won’t face in law school, it’s legal writing.” After writing undergraduate and master’s theses, challenges with writing were the last thing on my [...]

June 24th, 2019|General, Legal Writing Matters, Student Voices|

Legal Writing Matters: Being Prepared for Law Practice Means Being Able to Use the Everyday Tools of Lawyers

By Gabe Teninbaum Can you format a pleading in Word, or create a formula in Excel? Think it doesn’t matter for lawyers? Think again. I’ve noticed in my years of teaching that many law students aren’t always very good at using the tools they’ll use every day in the practice of law. I admit, it’s [...]

May 25th, 2019|faculty voices, Legal Writing Matters|

Legal Writing Matters: How Legal Writing Prepares Students For the Bar Exam

By Sabrina DeFabritiis In anticipation of Massachusetts’s adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), Suffolk Law is incorporating into the first-year legal writing program a Capstone, modeled after the Multistate Performance Test (MPT).  Historically the Massachusetts Bar Exam has been comprised of the Multistate Bar Exam and 10 state specific essays.  July 2018 will be [...]

April 26th, 2017|Legal Writing Matters|

Legal Writing Matters: Tips for Law Students During the Summer Daze

By Kathleen Elliott Vinson Professor of Legal Writing and Director of Legal Writing, Research, and Written Advocacy Ahhh . . . the lazy days of summer. Not exactly if you are a law student. Most law students are busy during the summer at jobs, internships, clerkships, and associateships. However, relaxation and renewal are important too. [...]

August 12th, 2016|Legal Writing Matters|

Legal Writing Matters: Legal Texting

Portrait of Suffolk University Law School professor Dyane O'Leary. By Dyane O'Leary w8ing 4 u 2 get docs asap . . . nervous re depo Messaging is changing the way we communicate. Millennial and Generation Z students use mobile messaging to make a dinner reservation, confirm an appointment, and set up a first [...]

August 12th, 2016|Legal Writing Matters|

Legal Writing Matters: The Best Oral Arguments Aren’t Perfect, They’re Real

By Heidi K. Brown As oral arguments approach, many 1Ls experience anxiety toward this “rite-of-passage.” For introverted students or others who prefer thinking and writing before speaking, the pressure for spontaneous verbal exchange is daunting. Some students assume that reticence toward this assignment indicates they are not cut out for the law. Not true! Quiet [...]

February 29th, 2016|Legal Writing Matters|