PLW 3202 (LUOA), PLST 202 (LUO): Legal Writing

01/03/2020 to 06/11/2020 • Modified 03/11/2025

Course Description

This course will introduce students to proper legal writing methods. The goal of legal writing is communication with the reader. During this course, students will learn legal writing techniques that will enable them to communicate effectively.

Rationale

In this course, the student will continue developing his/her legal research and writing skills. This course builds upon the legal research skills developed in PLST 201 by introducing the student to proper legal writing methods. The goal of legal writing is effective communication with the reader. During this course, the student will learn legal writing techniques that will enable him/her to communicate effectively.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (2)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a thread in response to the provided prompt for each Discussion. Each thread must be 300–500 words and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be 150–250 words. Each thread and each reply must include at least 1 scholarly, academic source.

Objective Memo Assignments (7)

A principal document that is often used internally and, at times, transformed into a letter, brief, or otherwise altered for use with third parties, is the Objective Memo. The student will draft 1 of these documents for a large portion of his/her grade in this course. There are 7 parts to this assignment.

Objective Memo: Fact Summary Assignment

For this part the student will write a short summary of the facts after reading the client interview. The focus should be on stating all the relevant facts, and only the relevant facts.

Objective Memo: Rule Explanation Assignments (2)

The second step in the writing process is to draft the building blocks of the legal argument. 

Objective Memo: Issue Statement Assignment

The student will state the issue that will be addressed in his/her Objective Memo. The issue is stated in the form of a question. This is the question that the student’s Objective Memo will aim to answer.

Objective Memo: Brief Answer Assignment

The student will provide a concise answer to the Issue.

Objective Memo: Discussion Section Outline Assignment

The student will create an outline of what will be covered in the Discussion section of the memo.

Objective Memo Assignment

The student will create the Final Draft of his/her Objective Legal Memorandum Assignment by incorporating the instructor’s feedback on the prior written assignments. This assignment will be 5-7 pages in length.

Client Letter Assignment

The student will draft a 1-page professional letter to a client explaining the decision of the law firm. There should be 2-4 citations used in this assignment.

Quizzes (6)

Each quiz will cover the Learn items for the assigned module: week. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 25 multiple-choice and true/false questions, and have a 1-hour time limit. 

Quiz: The Bluebook

The student will complete a quiz covering the Bluebook. The exercise will be open-book/open-notes, contain 25 multiple-choice, true/false, matching, or fill-in the blank questions, and have a 1-hour time limit.