Legal Writing
Resource Center
The Legal Writing Resource Center provides assistance with research, grammar, citations, editing, and factual and analytical development of student writing.
Through individual student conferences, the Legal Writing Resource Center strives to provide feedback on written work including writing organization, outlining, analysis and the correct and effective use of legal authority and precedent. The Legal Writing Resource Center has a library of legal writing texts, handouts, materials, and online resources developed to help students succeed in law school and in their professional careers.
FAQs
For additional questions, please contact the Legal Writing Resource Center staff in the LW&R/Moot Court office or email lwrc@uclawsf.edu.
Sign up through MyWC Online at uchastings.mywconline.com for a one-on-one appointment with a LWR/Moot Court Teacher or LW&R/Moot Court Staff Member. Appointments are for a 15 or 30-minute time block, and you will be prompted to provide your written work or specific issues during sign up. Students should arrive at the LWRC, Room 468, at the beginning of their appointment time. If you are submitting more than 2 pages for review, you must schedule a 30-minute appointment. For longer appointments, the instructor will take up to 15-minutes to review the written work. During that 15 minute time block, you can spend time reviewing your written work and prepare questions for the advisor. Students will spend 15 minutes discussing their writing concerns with the writing advisor.
You will have to submit a document if you make an appointment with the LWRC 24 hours in advance to your appointment. This policy allows the advisor to review your paper in advance if they wish. If you do not submit your writing in advance, the effectiveness of your appointment may be limited to discussing general or apparent issues.
There are two methods to upload your documents. More detailed instructions are available on the LWRC Intranet site:
- Click on an empty white box to start setting an appointment and generate a “set an appointment” window. Fill out all necessary information in appointment window. Then click the “save appointment” button. When done correctly, will take you to the appointment success menu. At the appointment success window, you will be prompted to upload a document. Follow the instructions on the success window to start uploading process.
- Alternatively, you may upload your document through Home Screen (use this method if you did not upload a document when setting an appointment). At your home screen, click on the folder button in the top left hand corner. This will generate a document upload window. At the upload screen, click on upload, select the file from your computer, and upload the file. If you have multiple appointments, make sure you have the right appointment selected in the first drop down menu. Finally, name the document for easy comprehension by your LWRC reviewer.
Students in upper division writing seminars may receive assistance with a project that is pending and not yet graded with permission of the professor, and must obtain permission before the appointment with the LWRC. We invite students in the first year required writing program (LWR and Moot Court) to make appointments to go over feedback on previously graded assignments and for assistance with general writing, analysis, and research questions. However, if first-year students in the required writing program (LWR/Moot Court) have specific questions about their pending/ungraded writing projects, please consult with the TAs and professor for assistance. We will not review pending/ungraded work for the first-year writing program assignments, memo 2 and memo 3.
Advisors will discuss your main concerns and tailor their feedback to the most necessary and relevant tips. For upper-division students and work no longer pending a grade, you can expect to receive feedback on writing style, structure, grammatical issues, brainstorming, and researching. The LWRC aims to provide feedback that can be applied to all of your writing, not simply the writing being reviewed. Thus, do not expect substantial written corrections or edits to your paper. Instead, you will participate in a dialogue about your writing and how it can be improved.
Any type of legal writing will be reviewed. Advisors will help you with research and formulating ideas for structuring your argument. For upper division students, please note that you must have permission from professors and supervisors to have class material and externship material reviewed, especially if the writing project will be graded in the future. For first-year students, any work that has not been graded will not be reviewed.
Drop in hours are available during the semester.
We have created templates and guidelines for common questions, such as tips on concise writing, how to write a scholarly paper, and how to edit a paper. The Center also has a library of legal writing books and resources. We are working to provide writing workshops and online videos in the future.
Our scheduling system allows for rescheduling.