Substance & Syle

• Year: 2025
• Citation: Vol. 94 No. 2 Pg. 19
• Pages: 19

Substance & Syle No. 94 J. Kan. Bar Assn 2, 19 (2025) Kansas Bar Journal April, 2025

By Eunice Peters, Associate Professor, Washburn University School of Law

Legal writing is a skill that demands precision, clarity, critical thinking, and dedicated time. Yet even the most experienced legal writers can find themselves staring at a stalled assignment. To navigate roadblocks, this article offers mindful and practical strategies to reignite writing productivity.

Recognize that legal writing assignments are inherently challenging.

Legal writing is challenging for several reasons. First, legal writing requires a deep understanding and accurate interpretation of complex legal principles, statutes, and case law. Second, legal writing demands a high level of precision, clarity, and requires focused engagement when writing. Third, legal writing is not merely about presenting information. Rather, legal writing is about communicating your critical thinking, which can feel vulnerable to some as you are exposing your thought process on paper for others to critique. Fourth, the recursive nature of legal writing, involving multiple rounds of revision, requires time. When time constraints limit the revision process, the pressure to deliver a polished document can be daunting, especially if the document is open for public consumption.

Develop a writing process that works for you.

Creating a structured and personalized writing process that aligns with your natural workflow can help manage these challenges. Some commonly known approaches include: madman, architect, carpenter, judge; pre-writing, writing, revising, editing; or the down draft, the up draft, the dental draft. These approaches have proven successful for many legal writers.

To specifically address stalled...