3 Key Differences Between College Writing & Legal Writing
Dear 1L, Beware these 3 key differences btw college writing & legal writing.
1️⃣ LENGTH
In college, your papers had to be LONG enough to meet a minimum page or word length (e.g. “must be at least 25 pages”). Essentially, you had to keep writing more words to complete the task, and for that, you were rewarded.
But in law school, your memos and briefs must be SHORT enough to fit a page or word maximum (e.g. “must be no more than 12 pages”). If yours goes long, you’ll be penalized.
—Note that when you’re a lawyer, if you file a brief that surpasses the page/word limit, the court may reject it out of hand.
At first, you might think writing 12 pages in law school will be faster an easier than writing 25 pages in college. It won’t be.
Learning to say the same thing in fewer words is a skill you’ll have to acquire.
And it’s time consuming.
2️⃣ WORD & SENTENCE STYLE
In college, your professors used big, pedagogical words and abstract phraseology to teach you. The scholars who authored your textbooks did, too.
As a college student, you likely picked up on the trend and started using such language and phrases in your own papers. For that, you were also rewarded.
But in law school, you’ll need to cut all lofty language and phrasing.
Law school rewards basic language:
—Little words.
—Uncomplicated phrasing.
—Simple sentence structures.
Think 9th grade.
3️⃣ COMPLEXITY
Here’s a final tip straight from a long-time writing mentor of mine:
“A wise person once explained to me the difference between a college thesis
and a legal brief like this:”
—“[W]ith a thesis, you are trying to show that you figured out something really hard. So you effectively say to the reader: there’s this really difficult problem, and if you stick with me and follow my reasoning really closely, you’ll see how I solved it.”
—“A legal brief is just the opposite. You want to portray the problem as the easiest thing in the world. The right answer is obvious and inevitable: just A, B, C, and then your conclusion is automatic.”
—Mark Harris, Proskauer Rose LLP
Over the next several months, my aim will be to help you shift your writing mindset to law-school writing. The earlier you start, the better.
We can try to make this fun, too!
2Ls, 3Ls & JDs: What was your biggest challenge when it came to adjustin to law-school writing?
Fondly,
Amanda
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