Legal writing program undergoes major changes

Along with the rigors of the first year of law school, this year’s entering class will experience something else completely new: a revised legal writing program that will be led by adjunct instructors and research librarians.

Previously, first-year students taking the mandatory course were taught primarily by 2Ls and 3Ls. These upperclassmen will now serve as “legal writing fellows,” assisting the adjunct professors much like teaching assistants. Also as part of the restructuring, the class now carries two fully graded units each semester.

The changes reflect the increasing importance of teaching crucial legal writing, research and advocacy skills to first-year law students, says Jean Rosenbluth, director of Legal Writing and Advocacy. She says students will benefit from the instruction of veteran lawyers who produce briefs and other legal writings on a daily basis. Some of the adjunct professors once worked as student writing instructors at the Law School. Others are former assistant U.S. attorneys, law firm partners, attorneys for major entertainment studios, a deputy attorney general and a U.S. magistrate judge.

“Student instructors have a huge amount to offer but the program can only get better with the additional participation of seasoned attorneys,” Rosenbluth says.

Another major change will extend the research training component over the fall and spring semesters so that the instruction on researching case law and statutes, for instance, will coincide with the writing assignments using these sources, says Associate Dean Albert Brecht, who is in charge of the law library and directs the legal research instruction taught by the law librarians.

“These changes will mean students will be more competent in those important legal skills that prepare them for their first summer associate position or other legal setting where they work,” Brecht says.