A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy, Third Edition

Book excerpt: Mary Beth Beazley's highly regarded A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy, Third Edition, is a comprehensive student-focused guide to writing appellate briefs. Written in an understandable, direct writing style, this concise paperback's effective structure centers on a four-point approach to writing and breaks each point down into key elements that are then treated in-depth. This accessible paperback: provides a complete introduction to the techniques and process of writing appellate briefs emphasizes the process approach to writing, beginning with large-scale issues such as content and organization, moving to smaller-scale issues such as signals to the reader, and ending on the smallest-scale concerns of format and polishing methods includes an appendix with four sample briefs with annotations that identify strengths of the brief and/or why the writer chose a particular technique shows students how to effectively use abstract formulas such as IRAC or CREXAC when they are writing teaches students how to revise and improve their work by using the self-graded draft Improvements to the updated Third Edition include: Chapters have been reorganized to separate motion briefs from appellate briefs to allow professors to assign focused readings more easily The section on standards of review for a motion to dismiss has been updated to reflect Supreme Court decisions in "Twombly" and "Iqbal" Enhanced and refined discussions of: How to write effective topic sentences arguing that a rule does or does not apply to the case Using introductory material effectively to set the stage for the argument How to "harvest" arguments from non-mandatory courts How and where to deal with opponent's arguments A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy, Third Edition, offers practical advice with specific techniques that encourages students to develop new skills and greater confidence.