The focus here is on organized, clear, effective formal writing, which is the focal point of both. In addition, the students will practice forms of legal writing that they, as clerks, will be drafting for their judges-a bench memorandum, a majority opinion, and a concurrence or dissent. The course offers each student the opportunity to focus on and assess the writing style practiced by the judge for whom each will be clerking (or another whose opinions she or he admires). This two-credit course is intended to appeal to any student who is interested in or who’s already been hired for a judicial clerkship. Participants are free to choose any topic that may be addressed seriously in an article-length piece and that may be written during one semester. Papers must involve significant and thorough independent research, be well-written, and provide appropriate sourcing. In this course, students will produce an original analytic paper of substantial length.

While this writing-intensive course fulfills the upper-level professional skills requirement, because performing significant independent legal research is not a part of it, it does not fulfill the substantial research and writing project requirement. While the skills taught will be basic, they will also apply to more sophisticated contracts, including those that Duke Law students can expect to see and draft in practice. In addition, extensive peer and instructor editing will be used. Contract Drafting features writing exercises that will be done both in and outside of class.

This two-credit course introduces the components of contracts, a formal vocabulary for discussing them, and the skill of translating business deals to the page. It culminates in oral arguments on motions before members of the bench and bar. This course helps prepare students for the rigors of legal analysis and writing in general civil practice by providing a variety of writing experiences including opinion and demand letters, pleadings, motions, and trial briefs. Some of these courses also involve continued instruction in legal research. These courses are geared to specific subject-matter or legal writing settings, taught by the writing faculty in small seminars, and include substantial feedback to students on their written products.

Upper-Level, Advanced Legal Writing Coursesĭuke Law School's upper-level advanced legal writing courses provide students with opportunities to hone further the legal writing skills taught in the first year. The blend of academic strength and first-rate practical experience in the Duke Law Program results in a rigorous and richly rewarding experience. Duke was one of the first top-tier law schools to employ writing faculty whose first professional commitment is teaching at a number of other top-tier schools, these courses are still taught by upperclass law students, recent law graduates, or practitioners who serve as adjunct professors. The Legal Analysis, Research and Writing Program is also distinguished by its use of writing faculty with substantial past law practice who have moved into the teaching of writing as their primary professional commitment and research faculty who are part of the Law School's professional reference librarians, all of whom are also lawyers. The intertwined research and writing tasks additionally enhance the retention of research skills and promote more effective research strategies. (The writing faculty for the first-year course are listed below.) In writing assignments, which range from short office memos to trial and appellate briefs, students master sophisticated research skills, complex analysis, careful construction of legal arguments, and the special requirements of legal prose. The research and writing faculty are paired for each section of students, providing opportunities for team-teaching and specialized instruction throughout the year-long course. The Program, supplemented by the Legal Writing Resources website, emphasizes the integration of legal analysis, writing, and research, and helps students to understand and consider the legal audience for whom they are writing. First-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Programĭuke Law School's first-year Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program evidences the Law School's strong commitment to writing and research excellence.

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