Legal Analysis, Writing & Research

Legal Analysis, Writing & Research is nationally recognized. U.S. News & World Report ranks Rutgers - Camden Legal Writing # 20, as voted on by other legal writing professors from around the country. As part of the Lawyering Programs, Legal Analysis, Writing & Research is integrated with the school's clinics, competitive moot court, and pro bono programs. This interdependence and client-centered focus is reflected in the collaboration among faculty. Many legal writing faculty teach extensively in or work with the clinical and pro bono programs.

The first-year legal writing courses focus on predictive interoffice memos in the fall and briefs and oral advocacy in the spring. In both semesters, students write multiple drafts of assignments. Students also have the opportunity to receive individualized feedback from their professors during scheduled conferences. Classes have a student-teacher ratio of approximately 18 to 1. Teaching assistants are an integral part of the first-year program, earning academic credit and grades for their work. The upper-level curriculum is designed to enhance the depth of student knowledge and also to introduce students to more sophisticated techniques of persuasion, drawing on classical rhetoric, psychology theory, creative writing, and visual design theory. The law school also offers multiple sections of writing courses each summer.

Legal writing faculty are dedicated to both teaching and scholarship. They present regularly at national and regional conferences and serve on the boards and committees of national legal writing organizations. Many of the legal writing faculty have received competitive scholarships and have been selected to attend scholarly writing workshops. They regularly conduct continuing legal education seminars and publish scholarship on the practice and teaching of law.

In 2006, the Legal Writing Institute selected Rutgers - Camden as the host of the LWI Idea Bank. With nearly 1,800 members, LWI is the world's largest organization dedicated to advancing the field of legal writing.

For more information about the Legal Analysis, Writing & Research, please contact the current Chair of the Legal Analysis, Writing & Research, Professor Sarah E. Ricks, at: sricks@camden.rutgers.edu.

Lisa Capasso Jason K. Cohen Cynthia Covie Leese Patricia Legge Alison Nissen Sarah E. Ricks Ruth Anne Robbins Sheila Rodriguez Meredith L. Schalick Linda Shashoua Deborah Shore Carol L. Wallinger

First-Year Curriculum Legal Analysis Writing & Research I Legal Analysis Writing & Research II

Upper-Level Curriculum Advanced Brief Writing Advanced Legal Research Advanced Legal Writing Legal Drafting Persuasion in Legal Writing Teaching Assistant

Writing Resources:
Barger on Legal Writing
WIRE, Writing in Rutgers Education
The Writing Center

Other Links:
LRW Teaching Asst. Application(pdf)
LRW Teaching Asst. Application(doc)
Legal Writing Institute
NSU Law
Legal Writing Scholarship
Hieros Gamos Legal Directories