Better Beginnings in Legal Writing

We explore law’s meaning, practice and value through stories. What is justice? How should we judge? What is law’s foundation? Why obey law? How do gender, race and poverty, as well as cultural norms and societal customs, influence the administration of justice? What kind of lawyer should I aspire to become? Which values are essential to a meaningful life in law? Stories help us answer such vital questions. Stories also help us study personal values and professional ethics as we confront the many moral-legal dilemmas in a thoughtful lawyer’s life. Stories likewise teach us skills to enhance our legal writing and persuasiveness. To those ends, we study narrative structures, character development and theme building, among other story tools. Along the way, we read short classics such as A Jury of Her Peers, Antigone, Billy Budd and Noon Wine, along with the more contemporary works such as A Trial By Jury and Conspiracy: A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire’s Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire. We also enjoy several movies: Michael Clayton, The Life of David Gale, and Runaway Jury for their many law-lit leitmotifs. For further insights, we look to excerpts from poetry, essays, and actual legal cases