writing style in the legal profession. any tips?

[LSU_Subversive]

i'm applying to law school this summer. the lsat exam includes a writing sample and a personal essay is required in the application process.

i'm wondering if legal writing, in the case of essays, is based on a unique manual or your standard mla guidelines.

i'm a big fan of the elements of style by strunk and white. do you think those rules would fly?

[The Doctor.]

1. If it's a personal essay...

It should probably be personal.

Does the test require legalese?

(Doctors and Lawyers speak a different language - so I'm not the expert on this.)

[LSU_Subversive]

3. legalese isn't required, i'm just wondering if there's a favored writing

style.

[Sandpiper]

2. Just show that you can write a coherent, well-thought essay

They're not expecting you to write like a lawyer or a law student.

Once you get into law school, then they'll teach you how to think and write like a lawyer. They just want to make sure that there's enough raw material in you for them to work with.

Even the LSAT itself has nothing to do with law or legal knowledge. It's a test of your ability to think logically and analytically.

[LSU_Subversive]

4. it sounds like you know what you're talking about.

i'm a fan of strunk and white. it seems to me that not everyone finds this style (e.g., charles' versus charles's) acceptable. what do you think? i'm worried about shooting myself in the foot by using a style of writing that may not be understood.

[Sandpiper]

5. I'd say go with what you're most comfortable with

The legal profession has its own style guidelines, and they're not expecting you to know those.

So I don't think it really matters to them what you use.


(3rd year law student btw)

[beyurslf]

6. They just want to know you can write... so use what is comfprtable to you

And you should get a prep book to study. It helped me tremendously.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. Have fun

How can you possibly screw up a personal essay?

It's simply an exercise in expressing yourself. No one can do that better than you. Tell the story, tell it well, and have fun. Be conversational, don't be phony, don't try to be cute, and be honest.

I can't stress that last item strongly enough. Fakery shows through like an ugly wound, so just stay straight on the topic and make it all yours.

Above all, have fun.

(I once wrote an appellate brief in blank verse. It made my points, and it got us the hearing we wanted. So, you see, there's an essential humanity in the law, provided you know what you're talking about.)

Best of luck to you.

[applegrove]

8. The generations of lawyers who asses essays these days... were

taught how to read and write at a time when brilliant men & women were still public school teachers (barriers to further education if you were not wealthy) and they taught kids how to read and write brilliantly. In the past 30 years, the brilliant ones may have gotten scholarships or even more upsetting, got MBAs, plus all other fields are open to women like they never were before. You just needed one or two of those geniuses in grade school (at the right age) to teach one how to write properly.

If you have the time and the money.. I would take some private lesson or have an assessment done on your writing skill. So you are aware of your style and inherent mistakes. Get someone who is a professional writer to give you a good critique. Perhaps you could find someone over the internet to give you a good going over & is reputable. If now before lawschool than in some summer during. To give you a leg up on all the other students who will frustrate the senior members of the law firms they try to article with.

Writing has changed. That is all.

I had a friend who was lucky enough to go to a great university. I remember looking over his essays and the professor had taken the time to not just critique his thesis, the structure of the argument, the way he made his points, but his grammar & clarity too. And the professor remembered from essay to essay how my friend had improved and areas that he had been previously critiqued on but had not acted upon. And every critique was like gold.

I heard the other day.. that a brilliant lawyer in my town, over 70 years old, .. didn't understand why 'kids' today starting at his law firm couldn't put words together. The TV has probably messed up language too.

So it is harder for this generation to write as well. IMHO

Me - I write like **** and nothing can be done about it.

[LSU_Subversive]

9. thank you for the avice.