Law Students' Corner – University of Kansas School of Law

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Pages: 14
• Publication year: 2022
• Citation: Vol. 91 No. 1 Pg. 14
• Date: 01 February 2022

Law Students' Corner – University of Kansas School of LawNo. 91 J. Kan. Bar Assn 1, 14 (2022)Kansas Bar JournalFebruary, 2022

January 2022

Creative, Vulnerable and Bold: Learning the Art of Good Legal Writing

By Olivia Ruschill

Legal writing isn't creative" a fellow student flatly stated while talking about his most recent legal memorandum. "I mean, it's just so dry and formulaic. Like, I don't get why we spend so much time working on it. It's just too easy."

I stared in shock. He continued venting about writing in his first-year coursework and argued all legal writing was boring and formulaic.

Two years ago, I may have agreed. I spent my entire undergraduate career at KU writing. I majored in creative writing and history and tackled many in-depth research projects. I aced my writing classes and thought I was one of the best writers I knew - or so I thought until my first legal memorandum assignment. (I’m sure most of you know where this is going.)

Red ink splattered the page. My sentences were too long? Passive? Laden with misplaced modifiers? C’mon! I’d never done so poorly. Law school stomped out any initial pride I had in my writing.

Though I wanted to shrivel up and hide, instead I dug in my heels and grabbed my red pen. I wasn't leaving Green Hall until I could prove myself a good legal writer. But what is good legal writing?

Good legal writing puts the reader...