U.S. Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Practice for International Lawyers

Author: John B. Thornton (Author)
This comprehensive legal writing text for international LL.M. students reflects the author's experience as a lawyer, professor of legal writing to international LL.M. students, and applied linguist who taught academic English as a Second Language to international university students.
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eBook: epub 2014 Edition
$60.99
In Stock ISBN: 9780327179801

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This comprehensive legal writing text for international LL.M. students reflects the author's experience as a lawyer, professor of legal writing to international LL.M. students, and applied linguist who taught academic English as a Second Language to international university students. The book has a unique set of features:

•  It introduces the common-law system in the U.S. and contrasts it with the civil-law system, while teaching legal reasoning and writing skills that international students need, such as how to draft memos, contracts, emails, and letters to clients, opposing counsel, and colleagues, as well as how to do legal research;
•  It teaches law-school skills such as how to read cases and write case briefs and outlines, and how to take final exams;
•  It helps students to address their second-language difficulties with targeted material that provides specific advice related to common student grammar issues, legal English vocabulary, the use of plain English, and the rhetorical style of U.S. legal writing;
•  It discusses current legal practice, by describing the culture, hierarchy, and economics of law firms, what partners expect from associates, and how to communicate with colleagues; and
•  It provides an extensive selection of real writing samples redacted from actual attorney work product.

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Chapter 1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COMMON LAW IN THE UNITED STATES
Chapter 2 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CIVIL LAW SYSTEMS AND THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM
Chapter 3 THE CONSTITUTION AND THE U.S. SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT
Chapter 4 THE THREE-TIERED U.S. COURT SYSTEM
Chapter 5 READING CASES
Chapter 6 WRITING A CASE BRIEF
Chapter 7 ORGANIZING INFORMATION FROM CASES
Chapter 8 THE CIVIL LITIGATION PROCESS IN THE UNITED STATES
Chapter 9 DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE REASONING
Chapter 10 INTRODUCTION TO U.S. LEGAL RHETORIC
Chapter 11 CONTRASTS BETWEEN THE RHETORICAL STYLES OF ENGLISH AND OF OTHER LANGUAGES
Chapter 12 WRITING THE OFFICE MEMORANDUM: LARGE-SCALE AND SMALL-SCALE ORGANIZATION
Chapter 13 THE HEART OF LEGAL REASONING
Chapter 14 CITATIONS TO AUTHORITY
Chapter 15 THE QUESTION PRESENTED, THE SHORT ANSWER, AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES
Chapter 16 THE INTRODUCTION, OR STATEMENT OF FACTS
Chapter 17 WRITING AND EDITING THE WORK: VERB TENSES, ARTICLES, PLURALS, AND PUNCTUATION
Chapter 18 EDITING UNNECESSARY LANGUAGE AND CHECKING FOR PROPER LEGAL VOCABULARY, ACTIVE VOICE, AND ACTION VERBS
Chapter 19 OVERVIEW OF LEGAL RESEARCH
Chapter 20 WORKING IN U.S. LAW FIRMS
Chapter 21 WRITING EMAILS AND THE EMAIL MEMORANDUM
Chapter 22 WRITING CLIENT LETTERS AND LETTERS TO OPPOSING COUNSEL
Chapter 23 OVERVIEW OF CONTRACT DRAFTING
Chapter 24 LAW SCHOOL SKILLS: PREPARING FOR AND TAKING FINAL EXAMINATIONS
APPENDICES
INDEX

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