For Students

The following sites offer further resources on legal writing-related topics:

Grammar Girl
Quick and dirty tips for better writing.

"After Deadline"
A blog from The New York Times, exploring style and grammar issues arising in articles.

Hip-Hop Justice Brief (PDF) <pdf>
This brief was written partly in rap/rhyme.

Six-Word Memoirs at SMITH Magazine
This magazine revived a challenge famously met by Ernest Hemingway: to write a story in six words.

Short On Words, Deep In Meaning
Los Angeles Times article on the six word memoir project.

News from the Trenches in the War of the Words
Describes some recent controversies concerning the legal implications of grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Pennsylvania V. Nathan Dunlap (PDF) <pdf>
Bold use of narrative fiction techniques from Chief Justice John Roberts.

Schott's Vocab
Blog about newly coined words and expressions.

These articles comment on Barack Obama's rhetoric:

The Legal Writing Teaching Assistant: The Law Student's Guide to Good Writing
Lexis-Nexis Interactive Citation Workstation
This site provides a guide to correct citation usage, featuring numerous interactive exercises.
'Lectric Law Library
A legal dictionary featuring thousands of terms. While not a substitute for the more thorough Black's Law Dictionary, it is a handy place to find definitions while online.
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation
This Cornell University site provides extensive information on citation form, based on the current edition of the Bluebook.
The Bluebook of Grammar and Punctuation
Legal Writing Center-CLE of British Columbia
A Beginner's Guide to Legal Education
CUNY Law School Library

The Elements of Style
This site offers an online version of William Strunk's classic writing guide.
Purdue University OWL
Purdue's Online Writing Lab offers printable handouts and exercises on a variety of writing issues.
CUNY Write Site
CUNY's Online Writing Lab, which contains discussions and exercises on many writing topics, as well as links to writing resources on other CUNY campuses.
Common Errors in English
Want to know the difference between "ensure" and "insure"? Is "ATM machine" correct usage? This site explains such nuances with sharp wit.
Merriam-Webster online dictionary
National Punctuation Day
Roget's Thesaurus