Legal Writing in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) [Paperback]

Lynn B. Squires (Author), Marjorie Dick Rombauer (Author), Katherine See Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031409900X | ISBN-13: 978-0314099006 | Publication Date: September 1996 | Edition: 2nd

Legal Writing in a Nutshell offers practical guidance for organizing office memoranda and appellate briefs. Teaches how to write in the objective and argumentative styles. Provides practical solutions to common problems faced by law students and legal writers. Suggests simple methods to improve sentence structure, paragraphing, and transitions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 366 pages
• Publisher: West Group; 2nd edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031409900X
• ISBN-13: 978-0314099006
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,302,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Law > Law Practice > Writing

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and fundamental., March 20, 2003

By 

Wayne Schiess (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legal Writing in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) (Paperback)

This book covers the fundamentals of legal writing so thoroughly and carefully that it could well substitute for many first-year legal-writing texts. Its approach may strike experienced writers as too traditional or too basic. Still, for the novice it will provide a solid grounding in legal-writing style, legal analysis, legal memos, letter writing, and persuasive writing. Many practicing lawyers would do well to heed the teachings in this book.

One critique: Persuasion is so common in law schools' first-year, legal-writing courses that this Nutshell probably had to cover it. But it covers it cursorily and might well have left it out. Persuasive writing is a topic that can (and does) fill entire books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Won't Teach You to Write, but Will Give You a Pretty Decent BluePrint, August 10, 2009

By 

Asradel "Az" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Legal Writing in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) (Paperback)

Like all of West's nutshell series, this little book packs a powerful punch. I purchased it for a review prior to taking a paralegal certification exam and found it to be very valuable. It gives good, solid guidelines for legal writing as well as practical examples. I highly recommend this book to any law or paralegal student needing to get a handle on the legal writing process. It will help you narrow your focus and better identify the audience for this type of writing.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Law Aid, September 22, 2007

By 

Liza (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legal Writing in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series) (Paperback)

This book was extremely helpful! I found it to be most useful when I read it after I read the course readings(as a review tool)...but of course, you should do whatever helps you learn best. However,I must stress, as tempted as one may get, DO NOT substitute it for the actual case readings!! There are a lot of details that are not mentioned in the horn book that law professors are interested in...and they test you on what THEY think is important, not what you think is.