Writing Your Way Through a Successful Summer
This program has been accredited by the Law Society for 3.0 New Member CPD Hours and 2.0 Professionalism Hours.
Experienced members will also receive 1.0 Substantive Hours for this program.
This two-hour interactive writing workshop is designed to help summer students write precisely and concisely. Participants complete a number of practical editing exercises focusing on the fundamental principles of effective legal writing. Writing Your Way Through a Successful Summer teaches summer students how to identify, correct, and avoid the four most common legal writing errors – ineffective organization, wordiness, ambiguity, and inattention to detail.
Sample Program Agenda
Fundamental Principles of Effective Legal Writing
♦ Understand the context and purpose of your writing
♦ Capture your reader
♦ Compose early and revise late
Writing Warm-Up
Common Legal Writing Errors
♦ Ineffective Organization
♦ Wordiness
♦ Ambiguity
♦ Inattention to detail
Organizing Your Writing Effectively
♦ Exercises
Making Every Word Count
♦ Exercises
Clarifying Your Message
♦ Exercises
Sweating the Small Stuff
♦ Exercises
Optional Private Writing Consulting Sessions
Writing Effective Legal Research Memoranda: Getting the Reader to Jump to Your Conclusion
This program has been accredited by the Law Society for 3.0 New Member CPD Hours and 2.0 Professionalism Hours.
Experienced members will also receive 1.0 Substantive Hours for this program.
This two-hour practical and interactive writing workshop is designed to help articling students move from academic to professional writing by teaching them how to write for their readers, express legal analyses coherently, and compose well-supported conclusions confidently.
The first part of the workshop highlights the fundamental principles of effective memorandum writing. During the second part of the workshop, students use those principles to analyze and edit a sample memorandum. The students’ analysis focuses on structural and continuity issues as well as impediments to clear communication. This exercise teaches articling students how to identify and correct their own writing errors.
Sample Program Agenda
Welcome and Workshop Overview
♦ Opening remarks by articling principal
♦ The transition from academic to professional writing
General Principles of Effective Legal Writing
♦ Understand the context and purpose of your writing
♦ Capture your reader
♦ Compose early and revise late
Writing Effective Legal Research Memoranda
♦ Start strong and conclude early
♦ Sharpen and reinforce your analysis with substantive, fact-based headings
♦ Take a stand and communicate your position with confidence
Step-by-Step Analysis of a Sample Memorandum
♦ Inspect the Foundation: Structure
♦ Evaluate the Connections Between Parts: Continuity
♦ Examine the Individual Elements: Impediments to Clear Communication
Optional Private Writing Consulting Sessions
Please contact us for detailed fee information.