Legal Writing and Research

All Hastings first year students take Legal Writing and Research (LW&R) in the Fall semester. LW&R provides each student with a basic foundation in the most important skills one needs to be a lawyer.

Apply to be a teaching assistant for Legal Writing and Research.

The LW&R curriculum is designed to teach students how to:

• conduct manual and online legal research
• present a coherent legal analysis
• use proper citations
• organize the components of predictive documents
• use proper citations

Students will:

• write a case brief
• research, write, and revise three office memoranda
• participate in a group edit
• write an opinion letter to a client
• complete research logs and other written exercises

The LW&R course provides students with a comfortable, small-class atmosphere in which they can develop the ability to analyze a problem, research the law, and logically and effectively communicate the results of the research in clear, simple English.

In the Spring semester of the first year, students take Moot Court. They write an appellate brief, deliver an oral argument, learn argumentative and persuasive legal writing, and continue to use computer-assisted legal research.