Welcome to 1L Legal Writing. I look forward to working with all of you to help you practice and develop your legal research, analysis, and writing skills through hands-on engaged learning.

The textbooks for this class are:

Legal Writing, Neumann, et al., 4th Edition, ISBN 9781543805192 (REQUIRED);

The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation, 21st Edition, ISBN 9780578666150 (REQUIRED);

Interactive Citation Workbook for the Bluebook, 2022 Edition, ISBN 9781663340351 (REQUIRED); 

Plain English for Lawyers, Wydick & Sloan, 6th Edition, ISBN 9781531006990 (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED).

If you acquire earlier editions than the ones listed here, you will be responsibile for tracking and knowing of any updates in the edition assigned for class. This is especially relevant for the Bluebook, which is the primary citation manual for writing in the legal profession. *You must have the 2022 edition of the Interactive Citation Workbook for the Bluebook (ICW), as the exercises change every year.*

We will also be using a free online textbook, Sources of American Law by Steenken and Brooks, available here on the CALI website for download. If you have any difficulty accessing CALI materials, please contact the Law Library for assistance. 

Note: You will use the above textbooks for both semesters of Legal Writing. 

ASSIGNMENT: For our first class on Tuesday, August 23, please read Legal Writing, Chapter 1: Writing and Professional Work, and Sources of American Law (on CALI, link above), Preface and Chapter 1: The United States Legal System. Please be prepared to discuss the material. You may work through the exercises in the research reading on your own if you wish, but you do not have to turn anything in. We will work through some simpler illustrations of these concepts in class. 

All Students: Please make sure you have completed your Law Library Orientation before our first class. Please check your CSU email regularly for communications from me.

Evening Students: I will email you a Zoom link for our classes this semester. 

Everyone, please reach out to me via email with any questions. See you soon!

best wishes,

Prof. May

LL212A

c.c.maynull@csuohio.nulledu

216-875-9842 (office)