12+ ways to get better at legal writing—

12+ ways to get better at legal writing—

Dear legal writer, Legal writing is important. As lawyers, we don’t have the luxury of not writing well.

Words are the tools of our trade. We get PAID to wield words to persuade. If WE can’t communicate well, what’s our value anyway?

But more and more, law firms are expecting associates to improve their writing skills through the redlined changes on their drafts—without any explanation or further support.

 —> And that is a terrible way to learn.

Even worse, some partners reportedly don’t bother with redlines, making their changes without communicating to the associate at all. Just check out this recent comment from one BigLaw partner on the topic:

“This is what I tell my firm’s associates: I don’t have the time to teach you how to write by going over your draft with you and explaining why certain parts are good or bad, and why I revised or rewrote certain sections.
Rather, if your product was a pretty good starting point, I revised it to make it better, silently decided whether to send you future work, and then kept moving forward—all without having a teachable moment with you.”

{—Yikes! Is this really what it’s come to?}

Well, it’s led me to create the attached carousel of 13 ways to become a better writer. ⤵️

I hope you’ll find it helpful!

💌 Amanda

#DearLegalWriter

👉 If there’s a learning method working well for you already, please share it in the comments!

📬 What is your way to continue learning to be the best legal writer you can be?