CELL Blog | Center for Engaged Learning in the Law

As we know, “thinking like a lawyer” really means “analyzing complex law and facts in a concise, precise and organized way…. IN WRITING.”

When a guest speaker came to speak to all our first year students yesterday, he said that too many new lawyers don’t know to write.

What can we do to provide more opportunities to learn how to write well?

To help students learn to write, I often give them exercises to write in class or in preparation for class. Sometimes I’d have the students exchange papers with each other to read someone else’s perspective, and then I’d collect, comment and return.

This semester in Remedies I am trying something new – teaching students in teams. As part of that approach, students see many examples of each other’s work. Seeing each others’ writing has had remarkable and unanticipated beneficial consequences.

1. Immediacy. Feedback for students is crucial, and the sooner it is received the better. When students bring an assignment to class, and then immediately review their classmates’ writing, they get immediate feedback.The problem is fresh, they can appreciate others’ perspectives.

2. Modeling. The first time we did this, a few students did a terrific job. The second time students had to bring a written assignment to class they had the advantage of having seen high quality work, and most students performed at a higher level.

3. Efficiency. Because students had copies of each others’ writings, I could give feedback by suggesting they look at their classmates’ work. I could direct them to “look at Nathan’s work” and they could compare it to their own rather than reading my notes about what they could do differently.

4. Self-awareness. Mining their classmates’ responses to solving the same problem also showed students specific areas where they could improve. Every student had something of value in his or her writing that no one else had. During the class and small group discussions where they read writings from the class, students commented on what they learned from reading their classmates’ work.

5. Connection to practice. Even though I teach a legal writing course regularly, I was struck by how powerful it was for students to see each others’ work. Third year students commented how rarely this happened in law school, and how valuable it was for them to see the way someone else organized legal points and wove in policy arguments. This is, after all, what we do in practice.

Ingredients:

1. Written problem handed out in advance (have all students work on the same problem)
2. Clear directions for responding to problem

Steps:

1. Assign all students to prepare a written analysis of a problem.
2. Ask them to bring copies to class (or give you electronic or hard copy beforehand).
3. Compile, copy and distribute.
4. Give students time to read and discuss (in small groups). What would they include in the best written analysis?
5. Listen to discussion.