Legal Writing and Other Lawyering Skills

Book excerpt: With a consistent emphasis on precision and good organization, Legal Writing and Other Lawyering Skills, Fifth Edition, shows students how to draft memoranda, opinion letters, pleadings, briefs, and other legal documents. But because communication in the practice of law occurs in specific contexts, authors Nancy L. Schultz and Louis J. Sirico, Jr . teach other valuable lawyering skills, such as client counseling, negotiating, and how to present an oral argument before the court, in this timely and student-friendly text. Now with a more contemporary look that reflects a new publisher and revisions requested by users of the text, the Fifth Edition of Legal Writing and Other Lawyering Skills features: a straightforward and student-friendly approach, framed and supported by a logical organization streamlined coverage that focuses on basic communication skills in practice complete coverage of legal writing--with outstanding chapters on writing style and how to write a memo in-depth instruction on legal analysis, oral argument, and how to write an appellate brief a helpful preliminary overview of the American legal system refreshed, updated, and carefully honed practice exercises expanded coverage of electronic research new coverage of electronic communicationformat, etiquette, ethics, and liability thoroughly up-to-date court citations, cases, and sample documents generous use of sample documents within the text and in the Appendices The focused exercises and examples in Legal Writing and Other Lawyering Skills, Fifth Edition, simulate the tasks performed by lawyers in practice and reflect the authors' forward-looking, practice-based approach to teaching writing and lawyering skills to law students