What is Legal Writing? The Tale of a Discipline
Kimberly Y.W. Holst, What is Legal Writing? The Tale of a Discipline, 22 Leg. Writing 33 (2018)
4 Pages Posted: 9 May 2018
Date Written: April 23, 2018
Abstract
When the inaugural editor of this Journal posed the question, “What is legal writing?” thirty years ago, the answer was both the same and different as the answer is today. Legal writing is a profession. And, while legal writing is still the specialized way in which we communicate the law to society, legal writing is also a unique and thriving scholarly discipline. And as a discipline, it requires applying thought to resolve and shape ideas and policy when other logical forms of reasoning such as mathematics or the scientific method do not apply. The discipline’s story now looks to the future—to its next arc, new plots, and new characters.
Keywords: legal writing, writing, pedagogy, education, discipline, history, development, method, communication, legal communication
JEL Classification: K00, K10, K19, I20, I23, I29
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