Posted by Eugene Volokh:
*Academic Legal Writing*:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_09-2009_08_15.shtml#1249926810
I thought I'd take the liberty of giving my periodic reminder that
[1]Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar
Papers, and Getting on Law Review (by yours truly) makes a nice
present for a friend or relative who's going to law school, or going
to start the second year of law school. And it's not a bad present for
yourself, too, if you fit those categories.
True to its title, the book is about writing law review Notes, writing
law review articles more broadly (there isn't much of a difference
between the two), writing seminar papers, and doing law review
write-on competitions. Even if you already wrote on to law review, or
have no interest in being on law review but are planning on writing an
independent research paper or a seminar paper, it can help you with
choosing a topic, structuring the article, figuring out a research
plan, improving your writing, and then circulating the article for
publication.
Here's a very nice review from Tiger Jackson and Jeff Newman, in 11
Scribes J. Legal Writing 141 (2007):
Every law student is encouraged to try to make law review, but no
one has ever explained how to do it as well as Volokh. His tone and
style are so natural that you can hear his voice in your mind.
Starting from scratch, he explains what a law review is, why the
experience is valuable, what the write-on competition entails, how
to boost your chance of success on it, and what the staff of a law
review does. He demystifies the details of the write-on, making
this section alone well worth the price for first-year law
students.
But even a student who has no desire to be on law review will find
this book enormously helpful for writing a seminar paper. In
addition to reviewing important points of writing style (e.g.,
passive voice, legalese, redundancy), Volokh briefly explains the
often-overlooked elements of logic and rhetoric and how their
misuse can diminish an argument. Unlike most other writing guides,
Volokh's book spends plenty of time showing the reader how to use
evidence and why it must be critically examined rather than blindly
accepted. Even though only five pages are especially devoted to
seminar papers, much of the advice Volokh dispenses about writing
for law review applies just as well to writing for a professor, and
Volokh explains why. He encourages students to consider submitting
papers to competitions and even to other law reviews, whether or
not they are on their own schools' law review.
Despite the subtitle, this book isn't just for law students. Novice
and experienced law-review writers will also find sound advice for
improving their writing and expanding their markets. Volokh
systematically guides the reader through the stages of producing
publishable legal writing, from choosing your subject to
methodically researching it, writing about it, and submitting the
piece for publication. This book is a must-have for every law
student. We also recommend it for practitioners interested in
writing and publishing scholarly papers.
As I mentioned before, the publisher no longer gives me copies than I
can sign and sell. But I've finally made up some bookplates --
basically labels with a simple design on them -- that I'll happily
inscribe, sign, and send to anyone who asks. Send no money, but e-mail
the address and the preferred inscription (if you have a preference)
to volokh at law.ucla.edu.
You can also check out the [2]reader reviews.
References
1.
http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Legal-Writing-Articles-Student/dp/1599411954/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241549205&sr=8-1
2.
http://www.amazon.com/Academic-Legal-Writing-Articles-Student/product-reviews/1599411954/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
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