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Deans Roundtable: Law Schools Still Don't Teach Writing

By Eric Lipman

If only every law student could simply read "Making Your Case," by Justice Scalia and legal writing guru Bryan Garner, and magically be imbued with the ability to write concise, persuasive briefs that don't drive judges and their clerks to drink. Alas, it doesn't seem to be. As the Legal Writing Prof Blog reported yesterday, Chicago Lawyer magazine's recent Deans' Roundtable discussion revealed that some of the participants -- the current deans of the law schools at John Marshall, Chicago-Kent, the University of Chicago, DePaul, and Loyola -- still believe, based on feedback from practicing lawyers and their own personal experience, that students are graduating without having acquired the writing skills they'll need. From Legal Prof: Dean John Corkery of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago said that law firms would like to see more (rather than less) emphasis on legal writing, training to improve analytical skills, and training that would require lawyers to work together well. That kind of an answer, I believe, shows a good sense of what law firms want law schools to do and the important role that a good legal writing program can play in a law school. Dean Howard Krent of Chicago-Kent College...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 17, 2010 (boomark / email).