Teaching Writing Through Substance: The Integration of Legal Writing with All Deliberate Speed

Abstract:     
The stated pedagogical task of the first year of law school is to teach students to "think like lawyers."' Legal writing, which is a traditional first-year course, serves this purpose by helping students develop writing and analytical skills that are essential to their ultimate success as lawyers.' The greatest difficulty faced by those who teach legal writing, however, is communicating to students that legal writing is a means towards synthesizing the law and preparing them for the complex legal and human problems of modern law practice. To help overcome this difficulty, Pace Law School has developed a course that fully integrates criminal law, legislative process, and legal analysis and writing. This required first-year course provides an integrated educational experience in which the basic knowledge, skills, and values ecessary to the beginning lawyer are systematically acquired.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 11

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