A few of my upper-level writing students requested the names of publications to have on their bookshelves following graduation. The students were looking for “how to” practice resources that would provide easy reference for new lawyers. For advice, I turned to my generous colleagues on the Legal Writing Institute Listserv. Their very helpful responses are compiled here.
General Resources
A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting by Kenneth A. Adams
A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy by Mary Beth Beazley
Client Science by Marjorie Corman Aaron
Legal Method and Writing II: Trial and Appellate Advocacy, Contracts, and Correspondence by Calleros & Holst
Legal Writing in Plain English by Bryan Garner
NITA’s Rules of Evidence With Objections
Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates by Ross Guberman
Texas Law School Style Manual—used for briefing/memos; it is a very quick reference that is easy to carry around
The Art of Advocacy: Briefs, Motions, and Writing Strategies of America's Best Lawyers by Noah Messing
The Art of Cross-Examination by Francis Wellman
The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation
The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy by Heidi K. Brown—for new practitioners who are feeling nervous about new performance situations
The Redbook by Bryan Garner
The Winning Brief by Bryan Garner
Thinking Like a Writer by Armstrong and Terrell— the best legal writing book for practitioners
Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy by Heidi K. Brown—for new practitioners who are feeling nervous about new performance situations
Winning on Appeal by Aldisert—recently updated by Dysart and Southwick
Writing to Win: The Legal Writer by Steven Stark
Practice Area Resources
Consumer Law: any of the NCLC volumes on specific niche areas
Federal Practice: Wright & Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure on Westlaw or Moore's Federal Practice on Lexis
State-Specific Resources
California: Rutter's Civil Procedure Before Trial—a multi-volume, loose leaf set that every litigator in the state has in her office (or access to through her Westlaw subscription); generally, the Rutter Guides are excellent
Michigan: The Michigan Supreme Court’s Judicial Institute (MJI) Publications for all judges across the state—for free download in PDF format
Ohio: The Baldwin’s Series
Have we missed one of your favorites? Feel free to make additional suggestions in the comments for this post.