Week 14: Completing the Last Sections of the Memorandum of Law

Time with my Students is Coming to an End

We have long semesters at Qatar University College of Law.  It means that we are all very exhausted by the last week of the semester.  This year, the Ramadan fast adds another dimension to the challenges of teaching this last week.

I am trying to make it a little easier for students to complete all the sections of the Memorandum of Law that I have taught them to write this semester. They have analyzed the use of the same name, Azul Marine Supply, and a similar trademark in connection with two marine supply shops.  They have used two Qatari trademark cases and several sections of the Qatari code to complete their analysis.  They have listened to and summarized a meeting with the partner, a client interview, and an interview of a confused consumer.  They have learned to brief cases.   They have also learned to conduct legal research in two databases, including Westlaw Gulf.   I have also required them to keep all the handouts in an organized folder.  

This week we will write the Caption, Facts, and Brief Answers of the memo. 

This course challenges students in many ways.  They work across languages and legal cultures.  They struggle with the shift from description to analogic reasoning.  They test my high expectations.  Some try to cheat.  In the end, we teach a skill set and a mindset that I know they will use throughout their careers. 

To my students with nearly perfect attendance records, thank you for you dedication to the course and to your learning.

To my students who turned in all the assignments, bravo!  That alone is a big accomplishment.

To my students who have earned perfect or nearly perfect scores on all the assessments, congratulations on your progress to earning a high grade in the course.

To my students who managed busy lives filled with a job and a family, I admire your time management skills and your desire to get your college degree.

I hope all of you will stop by my office when you are back on campus, either next semester or after graduation.  I want to hear your stories of success.

Know that I care deeply about you and wish you the very best. 

Week 9: The CREAC Test

Heads Down 

and Do Your Own Work!

That's what I tell my College of Law Students as we shift to more independent writing in my Legal Research & Writing I course.  Through Week 8, we slowly build the scaffold for this independent work with case briefs, exercises, and sample writings.

Last year at this time, I was not so enthusiastic about the work ethic of my male students.  Almost half the class was not prepared to handle this challenging course in a second language.  Several students tried to close the gap with attempts at cheating.   

But this year, the students are far more mature (many have jobs and families) and most of them have pretty good English-language skills.  The students with very good language skills lead discussions and set the pace.  I am very proud of Hamad, Abdullaziz (both of you), Mohammed (several of you), Awad, Amer, Fahad, Hadi, Hussein, Saoud, Walid, Khalid, and Jaber (and his "Egyptain lawyer" tutor).

At the same time, each semester I get better at teaching the course, especially to our at-risk students.  This year, I provided all the CREAC Test materials in advance so they could practice over spring break.  It reduced anxiety levels, while still meeting my pedagogical goals.  I want them to feel more in control as they learn this new skill.  I also want a better first draft to grade.  I hope the momentum continues into the last six weeks of the semester.  

These young men are making this semester one of my most enjoyable at Qatar University College of Law. 

The Semester Ends. My Students Shine

The Semester Again Ends

I work here for one reason.  I love my students.  

The young women here are getting the skills they need to serve as leaders in this quickly evolving country.  Those graduates with especially good English-language skills will find opportunities that open as Qatar plays an expanding role on the international stage.  

They remind me of me when I graduated from law school in 1982, when only 8 percent of all lawyers in the U.S. were women. They will face many of the same challenges entering the legal profession here.  At the same time, they understand that the ongoing recognition of human rights in the country will support their career ambitions.  They have many great female role models to emulate. 

We are close to ending the Fall 2017 semester.  I teach one of the skills courses QU College of Law offers: Legal Research & Writing I.  This required course serves as the first course in our Legal Skills Program.  Before graduation, students must also complete the second course in the series, Legal Research & Writing II.  Students typically leave the courses to the last year.  Accordingly, they have created great pressure on themselves to pass both courses on the first try. 

During Week 1 of the course, I promise students that -- if they work hard, attend class, do the homework, and file their assessments on time -- I will get them through the course.  They are worried at first.  It requires them to shift thinking from civil law to common law.  It requires them to write in English as a second language.  They must complete 18 assessments!

In the past few weeks, they have begun to relax.  They know they can do the work.  They will pass the course. Their attention has shifted to their letter grades and GPA.  

But, we have also gotten more playful with each other.  They laugh more in class. They smile when I crack jokes or do a silly pantomime to illustrate the story of a case. Last week, I played the role of a confused Alabaman trying to decide in which donut shop she had entered -- Donut Joe's or The Donut Chef.  

I have had larger enrollments in the course this year, so it has been harder to get to know each student individually.  During the past two weeks, I have held conferences with each student.  These meetings have given me an opportunity to see their individual personalities.  I really do love them so.  

I have been so pleased to see their work product.  I am so proud of them.  

Two more weeks, and I set them off on the path to graduation.  I hope they keep in touch.  I would love to know how they change this part of the world over their lifetimes. 

Week 13: Pansies Versus Crocodiles

The Semester Comes to a Close

I had hoped to post a blog every week of the semester about my experience teaching Legal Research & Writing 1 to my Arab students.  But, the semester gets so intense about Week 10 that I feel happy just to keep up with class prep and grading.  


Over the past two weeks, I have conducted individual conferences with students. We look at their attendance record, the point scores on their assessments, their current ranking in the course, and the chance they have for a higher letter grade.  I then review their written work. 

My female students met with me first.  All of them have been working hard this semester. They are dedicated to their studies and show it by good attendance, preparation for class, and a level of engagement that still surprises me.  After all, we meet from 3 to 4:45 p.m. at the end of a very long day.  

I told them that coming to class is like looking out on the sunny, eager, upturned faces of pansies in a flower garden.  I just love them to pieces.  Now that we know each other better, I see their humor, their struggles in balancing home, careers, and children, and their desire to get a good education with a good GPA. 

Then I met with my male students.  That experience is much different.  After a two-hour class, I feel like I have been "wrestling crocodiles."  Their needs are greater, because they are less prepared for the course.

 
Most of my male students have several children, jobs or businesses, parents who need help, and then a full course schedule. Their attendance for a 9:30 a.m. course is more inconsistent. I need to set more boundaries with them.  I am strict about enforcing course rules. I police more cheating. And, I find myself in more futile negotiations over assessment scores (futile for them). 

Despite being strict with them, I am impressed by their open hearts, good humor, and strong desire to complete the course.

I have about eight male students who show me every class just how smart they are.  One student has perfect attendance and almost perfect scores on the assessments.  They consistently use my office hours to work on their memos. They ask good questions. They help me communicate with my weaker students who struggle because they have poor English language skills.   I am very thankful to them.

We are all exhausted.  My patience runs thin. I need more sleep.  But, all that is true for my students, too. 

I keep telling them:  "I will get you through the semester!"  I keep telling them, as I did the first week of class, that my job is to get them ready for Legal Writing 2.  Most of them are ready.  For the struggling students, their outcome will depend on how they do on the final exam.  I hope they surprise me. 

Week 7: Mid-Term Exams Required Some Flexibility on My Part

Best-Laid Plans 

of Mice and Men . . . .

This week, I had planned to take students through a second CREAC exercise to get them ready for the CREAC Test later in the week.

I wrote a new exercise that was more similar to the problem the students would analyze on the test.  They would apply Qatari trade name and trademark law to two restaurants using a very similar trade name: "The Oryx Diner" and "The Oryx Diner on-the-Go."  

At the beginning of the week, I ran through about 50 of the slides I had prepared. Before you gasp in horror, please know that 50 percent of each slide is a photo or other image.  I still had about 20 more slides to discuss before students would feel more confident about the CREAC Test.

In the meantime, many of the students had four or more exams this week.  They were feeling overwhelmed, over-worked, and a little hopeless.  

Because of some scheduling issues, students in my afternoon class had exams scheduled during my class! So, they were missing the test prep I was providing. Then, I learned that half of them had another exam scheduled the same day I planned to give my CREAC Test.

At that point, I surrendered to the situation.  I offered both male and female students the opportunity to take the test next week when their mid-term exam schedule begins to quiet. 

The relief they expressed almost had a tangible quality to it.  If I had made the announcement in a Facebook video, you would have seen those images of a thumbs up and hearts floating across the page.  I had made myself their hero.

As an ADR expert, I was mindful that I had my own interests at stake.  I needed to give students a chance to integrate the lessons and apply them in some homework before the CREAC Test.  I wanted their first drafts of their first CREAC to be reasonably successful.  It makes my life a lot easier during the second half of the semester. 

Not only that, I really did not want to grade a bunch of exams right before I took off for my trip to Australia for an ADR conference.

In short, I met many non-competing interests in postponing the exam.  Win-win, blah, blah, blah . . . .

Week 6: Finally Writing a CREAC

Conclusion, Rule, Explanation, Application, and Conclusion

I've talked about it for three weeks.  CREAC this and CREAC that.  Now, it's time for the students to write their first legal analysis using this format.  Baby steps. We will do it together.

I have an exercise, based on the post-9/11 U.S. Patriot Act, that involves the effort of our "client" to bring onto an aircraft two sharpened pencils, knitting needles, and nail polish remover.  Are they prohibited dangerous weapons?  At the start of class, students are skeptical. How can these household items be weapons?  

Then, in a dramatic demonstration, I light the nail polish remover on fire, jab the pencils towards the eyes of the nearest student (safely of course), and hold a thin knitting needle near the sternum of another student.

Oh! Now the analysis becomes real. 

The fun part is teaching them how to do the Application, where students compare the facts of the "illustrative case" to our client's facts.  Last year, I started using a T-Chart to help them organize the analysis.  It worked better than I ever expected.  

They practice one more time, with my help, before they are tested on the CREAC structure in Week 7. 

These are the days when I get to see my students' brains work.  I just love it! 

Week 5: The Professor Learns Some Lessons

Working Harder to Create Student Engagement

Qatar University has a very rigorous faculty evaluation program.  Once a year, we must upload a boat load of class-related data to a platform called Digital Measures.  The grousing among faculty members during this "upload" week is extensive, me included.

As part of the process, we must submit a reflection on the past year -- something I enjoy. We also must submit a plan for professional development in the coming year. This year I promised to use the peer-evaluation process offered by OFID (Office of Faculty and Instructional Development).  

Dr. Chris Stryker typically makes these class room visits and evaluations.  Chris, an American with a long history at QU, was great in providing feedback, both in writing and in our conversation after class. I am thankful that most of the feedback was very positive. But he dinged me on creating student engagement. "Ask more, tell less!," as his evaluation notes say. 

In the US, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution with a curriculum I designed, I was able to create more active learning and student engagement in each class.  Short lecture followed by an activity and then a de-briefing.

Here, I inherited a curriculum design, which I greatly appreciated.  But, I have struggled with the first five weeks of the course in which we do a lot of what I call "content dump," mostly through long lectures. 

I knew Chris was coming last week, so I suggested he attend the regular class or two different labs.  I had two terrific active learning exercises planned for the labs -- the meeting with the partner and the client interview.  But, the regular class was designed as another long lecture.  I had my fingers crossed that he would choose one of the labs.  Instead, he said he would attend the regular class because the labs met so late in the day. 

I gave that long lecture on Sunday to my female class. I had low energy (the class meets from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.) and the room was hot.  At the end of it, I told the students that it was the "most boring lecture I had ever given," and I would never give it again. 

True to my promise, that evening I redesigned the class in anticipation of Chris' visit.  Even so, he dinged me on student engagement. During our de-briefing he suggested several ways to change my techniques.  Basically, he wanted me to provide less answers to questions.  Instead, I needed to make the students work harder to answer the questions themselves.

He also suggested that I:

• Avoid one-on-one interactions. 
• Activate student memory to increase engagement.
• Respond better to changes in student attentiveness. Consider using more breaks to "reset" attention.
• Avoid giving extensions of time on assignments.
• Let the male students debate and voice opinions. They love that. 
• Rebroadcast answers by saying: "Salah, what do you think Hassan meant when he said . . . .?"
• Consider sitting down with students to create a circle of conversation.
• Create a phone use policy (and enforce it).
• Have students read and parse the slides.
• Specifically cue information students should include in their notes.
• Add drama and overplay my behavior.
• Make first hour of class more fast paced and energized. 
• Use a more authoritarian approach with the male students who will take a mile, if given an inch.
• Use group work.
• End with a bang, not a whimper.

I am putting these suggestions here so I can refer to them easily in the future. 

To implement a number of his suggestions, I need to be more selective about the topics we cover in class and the depth of coverage of each topic.  I need to create more time for pure exploration on the part of students.

I find comfort in knowing that the coming weeks will be a lot more interesting for me and the students. The curriculum finally allows for that. 

But, I am thankful Chris attended one of the classes I find most challenging.  And, I have asked if I can see him teach.  That may give me some more concrete examples of ways to foster more student engagement. 

Week 5: The Client Interview

Getting Students to Think Like Baby Lawyers

In lab this week, students conducted an interview of our client.  As I noted in my last posting, my good friend, Jessica, played the role of Fatma Alhamad, the co-owner of three gourmet chocolate shops in Qatar. She and her husband, Mohammed, want a competitor to quit using the same trade name, "The Chocolate Drops," and a similar trademark in his own chocolate shop business.  That's the basic outline of the simulation.

To supplement these facts, I have provided students with memos either from me or the "senior associate" about the client, the alleged infringer, and the chocolate industry. With this background information, I required them to draft ten questions for the client.  

The exercise helps students develop listening, note-taking, summarizing, strategic planning, and questioning skills. 

The students in the male section met first with the client.  I was excited to see that most of the students asked questions.  Most of the questions were quite good. They still need to work on listening skills.  I could tell because they often asked the same question twice.  In other words, they were not listening to each other or to the client's answer. 

The students in the female section went next. But, because they are a more introverted group, we discussed possible questions using the outline shown below.  With that help, they also did a great job of interviewing the client.

Jessica is a talented role-player and comes up with ideas I would not consider.  She is good about integrating technology in the simulation by giving facts tied to Facebook reviews, Snapchat and Instagram photos, and misdirection to the competitor's store caused by the use of Google Maps.  

I've told students that they are beginning to see how the rules of the applicable law shape the facts you hope to get -- no pray for -- from the client.  When you get a good fact, you want to kiss it. 

This week, they will continue to summarize the interview using their notes and the client-related memos they already have.

Week 4: The Fun Begins

Meeting with the "Partner"

This week I began distributing to students legal memos on "firm" letterhead. The firm name is: Suliman, Alwahaibi & Young, LL.C. 

The first memo, one of three to date, described my initial meeting with the "clients," Fatma and Mohammed Alhamad.  They own a specialty chocolate shop at three different locations in Doha.  A competitor is using the same trade name and a similar logo.  The trade name is "The Chocolate Drops."

The second memo provided some background information on the competitor and the competing product line, store, trade name, and trademark.  The third memo asked the students, playing the role of "junior associates," to attend a meeting with me, playing the law firm "partner." You see, I need to give them their legal research and writing assignments. 

Next week, the will get another memo from the "senior associate," Maryam, who will describe the chocolate industry, which I learned uses child labor on cocoa farms in Africa. Students will focus on this client simulation for the remaining weeks of the semester.

I try to dole out the client file in a way similar to actual practice. It evolves over time as a lawyer does more factual research. 

I want them to begin to understand how the law and facts interact.  I want them to begin to think of the facts that they need in order to make a case for trade name and trademark infringement under Qatari law. 

In the last lab of Week 4 (painfully scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday), my male students met with the partner (me) to discuss the assignment.  I gave them a scaffold for listening to the meeting. Afterwards, they summarized the meeting for a possible score of 2 points. 

First, I had to explain the staffing structure of law firms. Many of them did not understand the concept of a law firm partner and won't experience law firm practice until their externship during their last semester as an undergraduate law student. I drew a pyramid and then explained that the work flows down from partner to junior associate; the money flows up from associate billings to partner profits. They got that and smiled. 

Of course students were nervous. I doubt any other law school class creates this type of active learning exercise for them. Last semester, I noticed that by the third meeting with a guest role-player, students got very good about asking questions.They now understood the game and its purpose. We will see if these new students also gain confidence over the arc of the course.  

Next week, they interview the "client," who is played by my friend and colleague, Jessica. Later still, they will interview a "confused consumer" played by my driver, Ashif. I love how these role-players interpret the roles. They often make me laugh out loud in class with delight at their creativity. Ashif was a little off-balance when he first faced a room of lovely Qatari women. Even so, he did a terrific job. In fact, last semester, one student thought it was all real. 

In the meantime, I got some blazingly smart questions from about five male students who are emerging as intellectual class leaders. Today, I will send them an email showing them I was paying attention.  I love to see brains work. 

Next week, I meet with the female students to give them their assignment.  I hope they are equally engaged with the simulation. 

Week 2: Settling into the Semester

My Bright and Shiny Students

This second week of the semester marks the first week in which we hold all classes, labs, and office hours.  Students are also finalizing schedules.   We are beginning to know how the semester will feel and be.  It will be a busy one for me again.  

I have two admissions to make.  First, I needed another week of vacation.  Here in Doha, unlike the U.S., we only have about two weeks of vacation between semesters.  This job is more demanding than teaching law in the U.S., so I miss those extra couple of weeks to rest and catch up.  Of course, I created some of my suffering by traveling to Malaysia and Taiwan during the break and then having to nurse a respiratory infection when I got back.  So, as we move through the next two weeks, I plan to assume we are all feeling a little sluggish.  

Here's my second admission.  I've got great students in both sections.  They are all bright and shiny, and I can't wait to see what they will do over they semester. 

My male section consists of several older students who also work and have families.  They pack all their classes into two days of the week.  Last night, we had a lab from 5 to 6:50 p.m.  I was sure I would have a hard time keeping them awake and engaged.  Instead, they brought a lot of energy to the room.  

My female section is predictably prepared and focused.  I love the opportunity to build relationships with each one of them.  They killed (I mean really killed) the practice exercise on quotation marks.   They also zipped through the lesson on legal research finding the Qatari trademark law in two databases with ease.  I see them in an hour to discuss the different types of legal systems.

As it turns out, Qatar has one of the most complex legal systems in the world.  It's a mix of common law, civil law, Muslim law, and customary (or tribal) law.   That system reflects the country's colonial history and its geographic location.  

Why Teach Legal Writing in English?

Growth Sucks!

"We were hoping the college would drop the requirement. That's why we waited so long to take the course."  So said a candid senior student this past week.

I teach Legal Research and Writing 1 at Qatar University College of Law.  Even in the U.S. students find the course challenging.  It forces them to grow in ways they resist.  And, it's a lot of work! No passive learning in this course.  Students produce a Memorandum of Law over the course of the semester. And learn critical thinking skills.

So, the course is hard even for native English speakers.  But here, in Doha, I am teaching Arab students who take the course in English. Some students have very good English language skills, even if they are not so confident about them. Some students read at about a fourth grade level.  My job is to help them engage in very sophisticated legal thinking while they read and write in English.

Why English!  Many of my student evaluations last semester expressed love and respect for me, personally and as a teacher.  But, they also expressed great dismay and concern about having to take the class in English.  They want to be and feel successful in their studies, and this course interjects requirements that can undermine their self-image.  

So, why?!!!!   Over a very long period of time, the administration of Qatar University College of Law have agreed that the next generation of Qatari lawyers, judges, and political leaders must be able to think and write in English.  It is the international language of law.  As Qatar plays an increasingly bigger role in the world, it needs employees and citizens that can interact in that world with great skill and fluency.

So, my little course fits into a broader program design to teach lawyering skills in English. 

I admire my students.  They are bright, beautiful, ambitious, and hard-working.  Even the student with modest English language skills has greater language skills than me.  I can say about 15 words in Arabic at this point.  I can recite a nursery rhyme in Russian.  I can sing along to French pop songs.  I can ask "where is the nearest discotheque" in Italian.  That's really about it.  So, I admire my students for taking on the intellectual work I ask them to do.  I hope they know that I try my best to help them traverse the demands of the course. 

On a more practical level, learning these lawyering skills while improving their English language skills could make them more attractive to future employers.  An article that appeared in The New York Times today  -- Young Saudis See Cushy Jobs Vanish Along with Nation's Oil Wealth -- suggests why this skillset may become critical to finding future employment. While the article focuses on the job prospects for young Saudis, parallels may exist in Qatar. 

Finally, I recently spent the day providing conflict resolution training for professionals working for one of the largest realty companies in the Mideast. The trainees were mostly expats from India, Egypt, Ireland, and other countries.  I was deeply impressed with their English language skills and their critical thinking skills. I wish my students had watched this event. Perhaps it would help them understand that these folks may be their future colleagues. These professionals have high expectations largely because the business world demands it.

Teaching Writing to Others: Using the Timed Writing Exercise in Groups

Writing Imperfectly While We Strive for Perfection

Pam Jenoff -- in her article: The Self-Assessed Writer: Harnessing Fiction-Writing Process to Understand Ourselves as Legal Writers and Maximize Legal Writing Productivity, 10 JALWD (Fall 2013) -- admits that students have a hard time committing fully to the timed writing exercise I described in my last post.

She explains:

When I use Goldberg’s exercise with writing groups, I read a passage that explains the importance of such exercises in silencing our inner editors:

"Our “monkey mind” says we can’t write, we’re no good, we’re failures, fools for even picking up a pen; we listen to it. We drift. We listen and get tossed away. Meanwhile, wild mind surrounds us—sink into the big sky and write from there, let everything run through us and grab as much as we can of it with a pen and paper. This is all about a loss of control."

Janoff then asks her students to do the timed writing exercise.  She may instruct them to:

write with a particular focus or to answer a certain question, or they may just write generally. I tend to make the exercise relevant to the memorandum or brief on which the writers are working, but its less technical aspects, such as writing the fact section. I instruct them to write for ten minutes without lifting up the pencil or ceasing typing or stopping themselves to edit or doubt. 

Janoff recognizes the challenge of this exercise for many writers:

Many writers find themselves uncomfortable with the concept of writing freely and nonstop. In order to break into this exercise, it is best to do it several times in different sessions, first for just a few minutes then gradually working up to ten or fifteen minute bursts. 

Goldberg analogizes it to running: “This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don’t want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. . . . You just do it. . . . That’s how writing is too. . . . Through practice you actually do get better.”

She de-briefs the exercise by discussing the challenges and benefits of writing for a predetermined time without using the inner-critic and editor. She says:

[S]tudents often struggle with keeping their hands moving without stopping to edit or to doubt the quality of what they are writing. But they find that once they have persevered through the exercise and repeated it more than once, they have a body of written material with which they can work. Writers are generally pleased to have overcome their initial resistance. They gain confidence and walk away from the workshop with a body of written material to use as a starting point.

The take-away for me is this: Writing is not easy.  But, it does get easier with practice.  And, until we reach the point when the writing process brings us flow, joy, satisfaction, and success, we should be gentle with ourselves.  We need to find the tools that support our learning.  And, we should give ourselves permission to write imperfectly while we strive for perfection in the end.

Do you have a favorite tool for jump starting the creative writing process?  

Writer's Block: An Exercise to Jumpstart Creativity

Vomiting on the Page

The timed writing exercise can help a writer jump start the creative writing process.  Pam Jenoff, in her article: The Self-Assessed Writer: Harnessing Fiction-Writing Process to Understand Ourselves as Legal Writers and Maximize Legal Writing Productivity, 10 JALWD (Fall 2013) describes the technique:

Keep your hand moving. Frequently, a writer pens a sentence, then stops to consider it and edit, losing the flow of the idea. This exercise requires the writer to commit to writing without stopping for a specific period of time. 

Lose control. Write without fear that the work is not good enough — a common problem that can stop writers mid-project. This underscores the idea, which many of us already teach in both legal and fiction writing, to “get it out there” and then fix it up later.  

Be specific. Even on the first draft, look for language that gets to the heart of what you are trying to say and that captures the essence of the idea. 

Don’t think—get below discursive thought to the place where your mind is original, fresh. Just write and let your hand flow without stopping to edit or worry about the quality of the work at the initial stage. 

Don’t worry about punctuation, spelling, or grammar. These can come in at a later draft stage and should not hinder free-association writing. 
You are free to write the worst junk in America. Write without fear in starting a new writing project. 

Go for the jugular. Go deep, something that may be difficult at first draft stage. 

In short, for a predetermined amount of time, the chief rule is that the hand must keep moving — no editing or stopping to think.

Janoff takes this exercise from Zen Buddhist author Natalie Golberg's book: Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind (2005).

When I taught Legal Writing to our 1L students, I told them to jump start the writing process by "vomiting" on the page.  Even if it stinks, your are making progress.

Plodder or Pantser: Approaches to Legal Writing

Recognizing the Source of Writer's Block

A plodder is the type of writer who creates an outline or a well-established story structure before he or she ever begins writing.  A pantser -- as the name indicates -- flies by the seat of his or her pants. A pantser writes first, then organizes later.

So says, Pam Jenoff, in her article: The Self-Assessed Writer: Harnessing Fiction-Writing Process to Understand Ourselves as Legal Writers and Maximize Legal Writing Productivity, 10 JALWD (Fall 2013).  Jenoff also suggests that each writer is both plodder and pantser depending on a number of factors, including:

• The nature of the project
• Size
• Subject matter
• Etc.
• Whether one is co-authoring.
• Whether one is required to submit an outline in advance of publication.

Each type of writer faces different challenges when it comes to the next stage of writing.  

The free-writing pantser often can't get the material she's written properly organized.The plodder, in contrast, may feel stymied in getting words on paper.  He needs a way to jump start creativity.

Jenoff suggests that most legal writers fall in the plodders category.  They may need some exercises to help them begin the actual writing process.  

In my next posting, I'll describe one of those techniques to surmount writer's block. 

Storytelling for the Legal Writer

Non-Fiction Storytelling Advice for Lawyers

Lawyers tell persuasive non-fiction stories in letters, briefs, motions, negotiations, transactional representation, and oral arguments.

The Fall 2013 issue of the JALWD, the journal for Association of Legal Writing Directors, suggests two books that will make lawyers even more effective at describing the situations of the clients they represent. The reviewer of the first book, Jack Hart's Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction (U. Chi. Press 2011), notes that people learn best when they receive information through story. Neurobiologists have watched fMRI images of people thinking in story structure. Hart explains:

[S]tory is story. The same underlying principles apply regardless of where you tell your tale . . . . Successful nonfiction storytelling requires a basic understanding of fundamental story theory and story structures the theory suggests. Ignore them, and you’ll fight a losing battle with human nature.

The book reviewer, Ruth Anne Robbins, calls the book "an eminently readable book," "skillful," providing "readily accessible and transferable messages," with examples drawn from the author's experience as a journalist.  The chapters cover topics including your distinct writing voice and point of view.

The second book, William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (Warner Books 1983), is apparently a "raunchy," "painful," "funny," insider's view of the world of the Hollywood screenwriter responsible for the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, A Bridge Too Far, and The Princess Bride.

The reviewer, Ian Gallacher, finds the proof that "good writing in whatever form we might encounter it" comes from this "beautifully written" book in a fascinating, valuable, insightful, and entertaining way.  The four sections of the book cover the process of making movies, the roles people play in the process, the author's experience on the movies he scripted, a "brutally honest" analysis of the screenplay he wrote for Butch Cassidy, and an opportunity to see a short story converted to a screenplay.

The reviewer also describes the speed-writing process Goldman uses to write scripts after he has completed his research.  For Butch Cassidy, Goldman conducted eight years of research, but wrote the first draft of the script in four weeks.  The script, of course, went through numerous revisions, but the speed-writing technique allowed him to capture his creative passion.

The reviewer also highlights Goldman's emphasis on structure in a script.  "[I]f the structure is unsound, forget it."  Law students, struggling with the IRAC or CREAC organizational method, should pay attention to this advice.

The reviewer concludes:

Goldman has written other books about Hollywood, another about Broadway,and many books of fiction, and they’re all interesting, entertaining, and wonderfully written. But any writer, including any legal writer, who wants to learn from a master craftsman could do much worse than reading this book carefully. It’s an entertaining master class that will teach important lessons about writing while being appropriate beach reading. There aren’t many books about which you can say that.

This older book is still available on Amazon and in bookstores.  I just put it on my Christmas list.