A Lawyer Writes: A Practical Guide to Legal Analysis

by Christine Nero Coughlin, Joan Rocklin, Sandy Patrick

For class planning purposes, instructors may find a brief list of changes from the second edition of A Lawyer Writes here.

This new edition of the popular text teaches the foundational principles of critical reading, analysis, and writing in a clear and accessible way. By putting the reader in the place of a first-year attorney, the text shows law students how to succeed in law school and in the practice of law. Using graphics and contrasting effective and weak examples to illustrate concepts, the book demonstrates best practices in both traditional and electronic environments. Speaking to its readers in a straightforward manner, A Lawyer Writes communicates essential skills and theories so that they will be retained for a lifetime of legal practice.

This third edition of A Lawyer Writes preserves the original concepts from the previous edition while refining content to reflect current practices. Chapter 18, "Professional Emails," not only discusses the form and substance of electronic communication, but now features new material on how to convey analysis effectively in email. Chapter 19, "The Transition from Objective to Persuasive Writing," has been reorganized and revised to highlight effective strategies for drafting persuasive analysis. Revisions in other chapters reorganize and update the original content by expanding on or clarifying ideas.

Genres: Law, School, Nonfiction, Writing, Legal

442 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

Reviews

[Anayis Doolittle]

free from the shackles of LP 😌😌😌

[Kathryn LaMontagne]

BORING!!!! But extremely practical and helpful with legal writing

[emilia borg]

This book got me through writing my memos fr, will be using in the future

[Berk]

This book is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

[Queenie M]

Yes I’m that person that reviews textbooks….def not my first choice to read, but a decent guide for a starter I think

[Montana]

I think I've seen every 1L ever has this book, so there's gotta be something there.

[Olivia Aboulhosn]

Does this count as a book I’ve read

[cass]

Ron Wesley you will always be famous (AND FREE) !

[Jen]

If I haven't finished this book, I've gotten close and made up for it by the fact that I read law books all day

[Titus Daughtry]

Boo!

[Maddie Grace Rogers]

Making it count for something fun 🤷‍♀️

[An Hosek]

The lowlight of my 1L year. Absolutely despise this book. I’m sure it can be good for some people but I just can’t learn this way….. every Monday night would end with me like fuckkkkkkkk I forgot to read a lawyer writes at like 1am after doing all my other work…… I’m happy I’ll never have to open this again

[Indira Wolf]

this was actually a good overview and some detail of how to write. good book to use for reference

[Heather]

Absolutely would not have survived legal writing without this book. Examples are great.

[KC Read-Fisher]

I mostly hate reading about how to write, but given how absurdly technical legal writing can be, I found this book incredibly useful!

[Isabella Chiraini]

i read every page of this book so by god i am counting it

[zoe]

boo law school (1L)

[Noah]

Cannot recommend enough for those who want help writing a legal memo. I was number 5 in the class on objective memos.

[Nando]

Had to read this for class, gave a great introduction to legal writing. No complaints. Did exactly what it set out to do.

[Alyssa Lee Lakey]

For what I paid for my law school books and for the time I spent hunched over these... you can bet I'm adding them to my Goodreads. Helped me get an A in LRW

[hayley]

I mean it’s about legal writing so it’s not super riveting but was informative

[v]

Incredibly boring but nonetheless useful

[Hana Wali]

1L LRW

[Alex]

Pretty good for what it is. Though did get confusing at parts, the examples were very helpful. I do wish they had more examples for the more complicated memos.