What makes for strong legal writing? Prof. Jones weighs in

The main grade in Professor James T.R. Jones’ Written Advocacy Seminar is an appellate brief.

Because the document is so complex, students have the opportunity to submit several drafts to Jones, who will make edits and offer suggestions.

“If you learn and improve, your grade will reflect that,” he said.

Jones recalled one student who entered the class convinced he wasn’t a skilled writer. Jones encouraged him to persevere, and the student submitted multiple drafts and eventually earned an A in the class.

“He ended up trying out for Pirtle-Washer and coming in third,” Jones said, referring to the law school’s annual Pirtle-Washer Moot Court Competition.

Jones has been teaching the Written Advocacy Seminar for 20 years and taught legal writing for 11 years before that. During that time, he’s pinpointed a few characteristics of strong legal writing.

“You’ve got to know the law, obviously. You’ve got to know how to use the law to the maximum benefit of your client,” he said, adding that it’s also important to drop the legalese and “write in clear, understandable, persuasive prose.”

Jones grades the briefs as if he were a judge and encourages students to keep judges in mind when writing.

“What could you do to make your case strong?” he reminds them.

As a former clerk for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jones brings a unique background to teaching legal writing.

“The best way to learn what a good brief is, is to clerk for a judge and see the lousy briefs people submit,” he said. “You learn what not to do.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of the Louisville Bar Association's Bar Briefs.