Bridging The Perceived Gap Between First-Year Doctrine And Skills Instruction

Students focused on differences between their doctrinal and skills courses can overlook the deep and important connections shared by their varied readings, lectures, seminars, simulations, and written assignments. A LRW course that teaches 1Ls to prepare memoranda and briefs simultaneously strengthens the tools students need for success with examinations and scholarly legal papers. Explicitly discussing scholarly writing as writing when introducing it and using it as a research tool – examining the strength of an article’s thesis and organization as well as the impact of its style – is one example of how professors can help students appreciate the broad relevance of their legal writing coursework and effectively draw upon it in other contexts