legal research writing and reasoning

LRW uses a series of writing, research, and advocacy projects to engage you in the process of legal reasoning. The course instructs you in basic methods of legal analysis, effective written and oral communication of your analysis, and essential legal research tools and methodologies.

Lawyers engage in five types of legal reasoning. Lawyers base their arguments on rules, analogies, policies, principles, and customs. Rule-based reasoning relies on the use of syllogisms, or arguments based on formal logic. A syllogism consists of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

In classes devoted to legal research and writing, students weave analysis into research and writing and learn how to practice law. This article introduces you—the new law student—to the first-year legal research and writing class and to writing opportunities beyond the first year.

To help you learn and then master the skills of legal reasoning and writing, this book emphasizes the process of legal reasoning and writing, from the reading and thinking stages, through the outlining and drafting stages, to the

During the Fall Semester (LRW, or Legal Research and Writing), students learn legal reasoning, research skills, and predictive legal writing. For each project, students research the law relevant to a hypothetical dispute and predict how a court would apply the law to specific facts.

2022-2023 Autumn. Legal Research and Writing (219): Legal Research and Writing is a two-unit course taught as a simulation. Students work on a legal problem starting with an initial interview, and they conduct fact investigation and legal research related to that problem.