Information Connection

• Publication year: 2012
• Pages: 60
• Citation: Vol. 35 No. 5 Pg. 60

Information Connection Vol. 35 No. 5 Pg. 60 Wyoming Bar Journal October, 2012

Tawnya Plumb Associate Law Librarian University of Wyoming Law Library

Legal Writing Resources (Part II)

The Information Connection article in the August issue of Wyoming Lawyer contains Part 1 of a two-part discussion of legal writing resources. The column first introduced legal writing style guides. Next, the column identified the four genres of legal writing: 1.) application analysis writing, 2.) scholarly writing, 3.) drafting, and 4.) correspondence writing. University of Wyoming College of Law Legal Writing Director, Professor Michael Smith, identifies and outlines these genres in his article Alternative Substantive Approaches to Advanced Legal Writing Courses, 54 J. Legal Educ. 119, 122-26 (2004). The August column covered application analysis writing and scholarly writing. The focus of this column is to discuss legal drafting and legal correspondence writing and identify helpful resources within these genres.

Legal Drafting

Legal drafting is the preparation of binding legal documents. Drafted documents differ from other types of writing as they do not usually contain legal analysis, and citations, if any, are few.

The three categories of legal drafting are transactional drafting, litigation drafting, and legislative drafting. Each category produces its own types of legal output. Transactional drafting work is characterized by contracts, estate planning documents, real estate and personal property transactions, and business instruments. Litigation drafting takes the form of pleading and practice documents created by attorneys during the process of a lawsuit or administrative proceeding. Administrators, legislators, and staff take part in legislative drafting. The legislative drafting process results in statutes, regulations, ordinances, and similar provisions.

The following books are helpful in that they outline how to draft documents and refine your legal writing skills.

• Susan L. Brody et al., Legal Drafting (Little, Brown 1994).

• Barbara Child, Drafting Legal Documents: Principles and Practices (2d ed., Thomson/West 1992).

• Reed Dickerson, The Fundamentals of Legal Drafing (2d ed., Little, Brown 1986).

Each of the texts has its own strengths. The Brody book lists the "Seven Steps of Legal Drafting" and provides exercises for developing the drafting process before moving into the three categories of legal drafting. Child's text...