Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing: Structure, Strategy, and Style
Fifth Edition
Richard K. Neumann, Jr.
Hofstra University
2005. 544 pages. Paperback. ISBN: 0-7355-4655-X. With Teacher's Manual.
About the Book
This highly successful text remains grounded in the premise that legal reasoning and legal writing are learned better when they are taught together. Building on that foundation, the book offers complete coverage of how to form a legal argument and how to write an effective legal memorandum.
The Fifth Edition preserves the features that earned the book its loyal following:
- comprehensive coverage of writing an office memo, a motion memo, and an appellate brief, along with chapters on oral argument, client letters, and client interviewing
- the best available explanation of the reasoning underlying the proof of a conclusion of law in Explanation of the Paradigm for Organizing a Proof of a Conclusion of Law
- thoughtful treatment of all aspects of legal reasoning, from rule-based analysis to the strategy of persuasion
- instruction on the process of writing, as well as the mechanics of style and grammar
- textual explanations that include examples and exercises when appropriate
- appendices including an office memo, a motion memo, and two appellate briefs
- the skillful guidance of author Richard K. Neumann, Jr., who is highly regarded for both his scholarship and his writing
This extensive revision responds to feedback from both students and instructors:
- Chapter 2 on Rules of Law rewritten to make the material more accessible
- Chapter 10 on Organizing Proof of a Conclusion of Law reorganized into 4 discrete chapters to make the material more understandable for students. New exercises are also included.
- examples, exercises, and skill explanations are updated and refined
- new chapter on demand letters
Before you choose your next legal writing text, examine Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing: Structure, Strategy, and Style, Fifth Edition, and see how combining legal reasoning and legal writing leads to a deeper, more meaningful understanding of both essential skills.