Catindig, Jan Jeffrey G.

2019-80203
st
Legal Writing 1 Year-Block 2

1. WHAT IS LEGAL WRITING?

Legal writing, in its general sense, refers to “the analysis of fact patterns and presentation
of arguments in legal memos and briefs (Koteen, 2019).” In the legal profession, it is
imperative that one must have the skills in writing, as such profession inevitably requires
it. It is also described by some scholars as a form of writing which “express legal analysis
and legal rights and duties (Hadush, 2009).”

2. WHAT ARE THE CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORIES OF LEGAL WRITING?

According to Gebrehiwot Hadush (2009), a legal scholar at Mekelle University in Ethiopia,

legal writing as a subject may be classified based on the type of document. The most
known legal documents include: Letters, Internal memoranda, Operative documents and
forms, Pleadings, Motions, and Briefs.

a. Letters. This refers to correspondences that is essentially on legal matters such

as letters to the client, to opposing parties, to the court, to witnesses, to
government agencies.
b. Internal Memorandum. A memorandum is used for internal communications
regarding procedures or policies within a specific community.
c. Operative Documents and Forms. These refers to documents that beyond from
informing, have a legal binding in relation to the nature of the language and its
content. Wherein “such documents serve to define property rights and
performance obligations (Hadush, 2009).”
d. Pleadings. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, These are documents that “A
formal document in which a party to a legal proceeding x x x sets forth or responds
to allegations, claims, denials, or defenses (2004).” It mostly contains the claims
and defenses of the two parties in a litigation where the plaintiff submits a complaint
stating the cause of action and the defendant submits an answer stating his or her
defenses and denials.
e. Motion. It is described as a written or oral application requesting a court to make
a specified ruling or order (Garner, 2004).
f. Briefs. A written statement setting out the legal contentions of a party in litigation
(Garner, 2004).

Hence, based on the enumerations above, legal writing as a field of study may be
categorized into two, namely: Legal Analysis and Legal Drafting.

a. Legal Analysis. It has two more classification, i.e. Predictive or Objective

Analysis and Persuasive Analysis. Predictive analysis is more concerned on
presenting hypothetical interpretations (Mittal, 2019) which mostly consist of
strategically crafted delineation of strengths and weaknesses in a particular case
and which basically adopts the CREAC approach (Moylan et.al. 2013). While on
 the other hand, Persuasive Analysis pertains to when the endeavor of legal
analysis “requires arguing of legal point” and that it adopts the CRAC approach
(Moylan et.al. 2013). The E stands for explanation which is essential for the former
for its expository nature.
b. Legal Drafting. It in simple terms refers to “the writing of binding legal text. It is
the skill of putting words on paper to create rights and duties (Schiess, 2019).” It
is differentiated from Legal Writing and transactions by defining that the former is
basically the preparation of any written legal document and the latter “as the
substance of the underlying law, strategies for representing a client in a
transaction, the skill of negotiation, and the ability to close a transaction (Schiess,
2019).”

3. WHAT IS THE QUALIFICATION OF A GOOD LEGAL WRITER?

In being a good legal writer, one must have two basic qualifications, namely, being
analytical and logical. Based on the definitions, classifications and categories of Legal
Writing, an analytical appreciation of facts gives the writer an edge in making a detail-
oriented document. It is essential in legal writing that even the smallest details are not left
unattended for they could form part of one’s points of argument and in some cases,
missing out details entails misinterpretation and mistakes on part of the readers.

Another is that in formulating any form of expository and persuasive document, it is

necessary to make sure that its elements are presented in a logical manner. Being logical
helps the readers get a good grasp of what the writer wants to convey. And as most of
these readers are one’s clientele or someone who is the writer must gain favor from, being
logical will give the writer more edge in his gaining his interests.

4. WHAT ARE THE BAD QUALITIES TO AVOID?

One of the common mistakes and bad habits in legal writing is that writers are too much
strict in using the legal jargon. As a law student and currently working in the legal career,
most of us always have the fear that by not using the legal parlance, it may lead to
misinterpretation and mistakes. This fear is mostly due to the lack of good grasp in legal
concepts and lack of vocabulary skills. There are a lot more bad qualities to avoid such
as writing lengthy documents, using tautologies, and other analogous habits. However,
all of these are mostly stemming from one’s lack of grasp in legal concepts and lack of
command in the English language.

REFERENCES:

Black’s Law Dictionary 11th Edition. Bryan A. Garner. 2004. Toronto. Thomson and Reuter
Publishing Co.
Hadush, Gebrehiwot. Legal Writing: Teaching Material. https://chilot.me/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/legal-writing.pdf. 2009.
Koteen, Bernard. Legal Research and Writing. https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/opia/what-is-
public-interest-law/public-interest-work-types/legal-writing/. 2019.
Mittal, Vartika. Persuasive Legal Analysis – Important for Legal Wrriting.
http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Persuasive-Legal-Analysis-Important-
for-Legal-Writing-10218.asp. 2019
Moylan, Mary-Beth; Brungess, Adrienne. 2013. “Persuasive Legal Writing.” Global
Lawyering Skills 1st Edition. M. Moylan et.al. Minnesota. West Academic
Publishing Co.

Schiess, Wayne. Legal Drafting: Three Definitions.

https://law.utexas.edu/faculty/wschiess/legalwriting/2006/06/legal-drafting-
three-definitions.html. 2019