Legal Writing Assignments
Professor Brian Glassman
July 31, 2008
Dear Student:
Welcome to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. I will be your teacher for Legal Writing, Research, and Advocacy this year. The texts for this course are listed below.
Required Texts:
- Laurel C. Oates et al., The Legal Writing Handbook (4th ed. 2006).
- The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed. 2005).
Recommended Texts:
- Laurel C. Oates et al., Practice Book To Accompany The Legal Writing Handbook (4th ed. 2002).
- Alan L. Dworsky, User's Guide to the Bluebook (2006).
- William Strunk, Jr. & E.B. White, The Elements of Style (4th ed. 2000).
- Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers (5th ed. 2005).
All of these texts should be available at the campus bookstore (Barnes & Noble, 2400 Euclid Avenue; 687-2128) shortly before the start of orientation (you might also want to check Amazon.com). A few copies of each of the texts are on reserve in the Law Library.
Your first Legal Writing class is Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 9:00 a.m. - 10:40 a.m. (room assignment to be posted at orientation). For that class, I would like you to read pages 1-15 of The Legal Writing Handbook. Given the vast amount of material we will be covering during that week, you should not miss either of those classes (8/19, 8/21). Note that, the week of August 25, we will have extra class time. The details of that extra class time will be provided to you at our first meeting.
I'd like to mention two other items. First, please let me know immediately if you have decided not to attend Cleveland-Marshall this fall. Second, your Legal Writing section will meet throughout the year on Mon. and Wed., 12:45 p.m.- 1:35 p.m. (Section 5) or Mon. and Wed., 1:45 p.m.- 2:35 p.m. (Section 6). However, certain activities, such as computer training and library tours, will be scheduled for other times. Occasionally, they will be scheduled for Mon. and Wed., 12:45 p.m.- 1:35 p.m. (Section 6) or Mon. and Wed., 1:45 p.m.- 2:35 p.m. (Section 5), so do not schedule yourself for other activities during that time slot.
I hope you find law school challenging and stimulating. We will work together to make it a fulfilling learning experience for you.
Sincerely,
Brian A. Glassman
Legal Writing Professor of Law
(216) 687-2330