Elegant Legal Writing with UCLA Law Professor Ryan McCarl

Elegant Legal Writing with UCLA Law Professor Ryan McCarl

Legal Writing, that chronically underappreciated 1L requirement, finally gets its due as Branden & Jelena interview UCLA Law Professor Ryan McCarl.

Show notes

Legal Writing, that chronically underappreciated 1L requirement, finally gets its due as Branden & Jelena interview UCLA Law Professor Ryan McCarl.

He created and teaches a unique Advanced Legal Writing course at UCLA, which covers everything from story mechanics to beating legal writer’s block. Listen in as Ryan explains why writing is the single most important skill a lawyer can have.

In this episode, you’ll learn . . .

  1. How legal writing differs from the writing you did as an undergrad
  2. Why people with a natural affinity for writing sometimes struggle in Legal Writing classes
  3. What great legal writing looks like in the real world (and how it can be INFURIATING when the wrong people are good at it!)
  4. What to do before law school to prepare for legal writing, especially if you’re not someone for whom writing comes easily
  5. How to apply the principles of legal writing to your law school personal statement
  6. And much more!

Thanks to Professor Ryan McCarl for joining us to share his knowledge and expertise!

Links and Further Resource from this Episode:


About Professor McCarl


Elegant Legal Writing (Prof. McCarl’s newsletter)


Follow Ryan on Twitter


Point Made (legal writing book recommended by Prof. McCarl)


Start Your LSATMax Free Trial


Enroll in LSATMax's #1-Ranked LSAT Course


LSATMax's Private LSAT Tutoring


33 Common LSAT Flaws


Start Your 1L Free Trial Now (The Greatest Law School Supplement)


Start Your BarMax Free Trial Now

Hosts

Jelena Woehr

Jelena Woehr

Jelena was born & raised in Golden, CO. There she cut her teeth on logic by getting into, then out of, an impressive amount of trouble. When not organizing student protests or lobbying the school board, Jelena competed in equestrian sports & constitutional debate. Jelena took the June 2017 LSAT, partly out of curiosity and partly because she developed a serious Logic Games addiction. After three months of study, Jelena achieved a score of 178. While she didn't end up falling in love with law school, she did find herself really enjoying the LSAT—so much that she left her previous career in tech startups behind and began teaching. Jelena prides herself on helping her students understand not just the systems and methods they can apply to get a good score, but the underlying logic & its applicability to the challenge of learning to think like a law student. Outside of her work with the LSAT, Jelena is a writer, creative content producer, & a competitive equestrian endurance rider.

Branden Frankel

Branden Frankel

In 2000, Branden graduated with a BA in Philosophy from UC Santa Barbara. For a few years after, he cast about in vain for entry-level philosopher positions, but, when he was visited by the Ghost of Student Loans Past, he knew it was time to make a change. In June 2006, Branden took the LSAT, scoring a 175. Thereafter, he attended UCLA School of Law, graduating in 2010 and practicing patent law for several years. Since 2013, he has taught dozens of live LSAT classes and tutored scores of successful test takers. When he's not considering the finer points of a particularly tricky Logical Reasoning question or kicking it with his daughter, Branden writes Science Fiction. You can find him after work at the local Starbucks, typing furiously, then deleting what he typed, then typing more, and so on for hours.


Guests

Ryan McCarl

Ryan McCarl

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