The Complete Series for Legal Writers
by Alexa Z. Chew and Katie Rose Guest PryalProfessor Resources
Resources for Teaching with The Complete Series for Legal Writers Titles
The Complete Legal Writer uses two major innovative pedagogical approaches: The Genre Discovery Approach and The Citation Literacy Approach. Chew and Pryal have published about each and presented extensively at conferences. Use the links below to download scholarly articles on the subjects.
- Interested in sample syllabi for teaching with The Complete Legal Writer? Email Prof. Chew.
- Download the Table of Contents and the Preface to The Complete Legal Writer.
- Core Knowledge for Lawyers: Like Core Grammar for Lawyers, CKL is a self-directed, subscription-based, online learning tool. It will help reinforce important concepts that students read about in titles in The Complete Series for Legal Writers, which in turn will prepare them to engage in class activities. CKL is included in the purchase price of Complete Series titles.
- You can download a customizable MS Word tutorial on CKL to share with your students.
- CKL, like Core Grammar for Lawyers, has a robust interface for teachers. Below is a brief web presentation that introduces these features.
Research relevant to The Complete Legal Writer
- Ann Sinsheimer & David J. Herring, Lawyers at Work: A Study of the Reading, Writing, and Communication Practices of Legal Professionals. Short summary: A three-year study of what lawyers do in the workplace reveals that lawyers read, a lot.
- See also the list of works cited in The Complete Legal Writer, below.
CLW Legal Scholarship Cited
During the process of writing the The Complete Legal Writer, we had the opportunity to review excellent scholarly work from judges, practitioners, and our legal writing colleagues, as well as work from experts in other fields. Some of these works we cited in the book, and we’re providing a list of these cited works here so you can check them out for yourself. (Note: Many times, we cited a particular work more than once. Below, however, we only list the first instance that a work is cited.)
Chapter 6: Assessing Authorities
Kevin Bennardo, Testing the Geographical Proximity Hypothesis: An Empirical Study of Citations to Nonbinding Precedent by Indiana Appellate Courts, 90 Notre Dame L. Rev. Online 125 (2015).
John B. Oakley, Precedent in the Federal Courts of Appeals: An Endangered or Invasive Species?, 8 J. App. Prac. & Process 123 (2006).
Chapter 7: Legal Reading
Ruth Ann McKinney, Reading Like a Lawyer: Time-Saving Strategies for Reading Law Like an Expert (2d ed. 2012)
Christine Coughlin et al., A Lawyer Writes (2d ed. 2013).
Brian A. Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises (2001).
Chapter 9: Office Memo
Alexa Z. Chew & Katie Rose Guest Pryal, Bridging the Gap Between Law School and Law Practice.
Chapter 10: Email Memo
Kristen Tiscione, The Rhetoric of E-mail in Law Practice, 92 Or. L. Rev. 525 (2013).
Chapter 13: Complaint
Elizabeth Fajans & Mary R. Falk, Untold Stores: Restoring Narrative to Pleading Practice, 15 J. Legal Writing Inst. 3 (2009).
Chapter 16: Appellate Brief
Mary Beth Beazley, A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy (2002).
Chapter 17: Appellate Oral Argument
James D. Dimitri, Stepping Up to the Podium with Confidence: A Primer for Law Students on Preparing and Delivering an Appellate Oral Agreement, 38 Stetson L. Rev. 75 (2008).
Chapter 19: Employer Website Blog Post
Jennifer Romig, Legal Blogging and the Rhetorical Genre of Public Legal Writing, 12 Legal Comm. & Rhetoric: JALWD (2015).
Chapter 22: Research Authorities
Laura P. Graham & Miriam E. Felsenburg, The Pre-Writing Handbook for Law Students: A Step-by-Step Guide (2013).
Mark K. Osbeck, Impeccable Research: A Concise Guide to Mastering Legal Research Skills (2010).
Susan Nevelow Mart, The Relevance of Results Generated by Human Indexing and Computer Algorithms: A Study of West’s Headnotes and Key Numbers and Lexis’s Headnotes and Topics, 102 Law Libr. J. 221 (2010).
Chapter 24: Create a Theory of the Case
Steven Lubet, Murder in the Streets of Tombstone: A Legendary Theory of the Case, 27 Litigation 35 (2000).
Anthony Natale, Theory and Themes: The Process of Persuasive Litigation.
Raymond S. Nickerson, Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises, 2 Rev. Gen. Psychol. 175 (1998).
Chapter 25: Organize an Analysis
Ross Guberman, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates (2d ed. 2014).
Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers: Essential Tools for Polished & Persuasive Documents (2010).
Chapter 26: Write an Analysis
Michael D. Murray and Christy H. DeSanctis, Legal Research and Writing (2005).
Chapter 28: Cite Authorities
Jill Barton & Rachel H. Smith, The Handbook for the New Legal Writer (2014).
Chapter 29: Arrange Paragraphs and Sentences
Susan E. Haviland & Herbert H. Clark, What’s New? Acquiring New Information as a Process in Comprehension, 13 J. Verbal Learning & Verbal Behav. 512 (1974).
George Gopen & Judith Swan, The Science of Scientific Writing, Am. Scientist, Nov.-Dec. 1990.
Laurie Currie Oates, Anne Enquist & Kelly Kunsch, The Legal Writing Handbook: Analysis, Research, and Writing (2d ed. 1998).
Chapter 30: Use Effective Style
Ruth A. McKinney & Katie Rose Guest Pryal, Core Grammar for Lawyers (2d ed. 2014)
Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (3d ed. 2013).
Richard Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers (5th ed. 2005).
Chapter 32: Peer Feedback
Kristi Lundstrom & Wendy Baker, To Give is Better Than to Receive: The Benefits of Peer Review to the Reviewer’s Own Writing, 18 J. Second Language Writing 30 (2009).
Cassandra Hill, Peer Editing: A Comprehensive Pedagogical Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 11 Nev. L.J. 667 (2011).
Patty Wharton-Michael, Print vs. Computer Screen: Effects of Medium on Proofreading Accuracy, 63 Journalism & Mass Comm. Educator 28 (2008).
Deborah Cho, Mental Health in Law School, Harvard Law School Bill of Health Blog, (April 25, 2014), available at: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/billofhealth/2014/04/25/mental-health-in-law-school/.
Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen, Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (2014).