As part of its commitment to developing strong writers and communicators, BYU Law today announced the establishment of a new writing center to augment its unique focus on writing across the curriculum. Opening for the fall 2025 semester, it is expected to be one of the most robust writing centers in the country, with a gold-standard teaching model and expanded support for upper division students seeking to hone their writing skills and publish legal scholarship.
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“Writing is a critical skill for lawyers,” said David Moore, Dean, BYU Law. “BYU Law is dedicated to helping students develop their writing skills throughout the law school experience, preparing them to be effective at the highest levels of legal practice.”
The BYU Law Writing Center encompasses a range of resources, including seminars, weekly writing tips, and individualized writing consultations with well-trained writing fellows available by appointment.The center employs a teaching model that doesn't just help a student fix or edit a paper, it delves into the writing process to equip students with best practices and techniques to improve their writing.
Many law schools have 1L writing centers and curriculum, but few have upper division support. The BYU Law Writing Center expands on 1L writing skill development and elevates 2L and 3L writing skills, including by increasing student publication. Students are often surprised to learn how many law school journals accept scholarship from students at other law schools. The writing center includes resources to equip BYU Law students with the knowledge and tools to pursue publication opportunities and get published at a higher rate.
Recent studies, including “Building a Better Bar: The Twelve Building Blocks of Minimum Competence,” recognize the importance of the ability to effectively communicate in writing as a critical skill for successful lawyers. One of the 12 building blocks, which is incorporated into the newly designed bar exam, is the “ability to communicate as a lawyer.”
Writing Across the Curriculum
The BYU Law School has also taken a number of steps to improve writing across the curriculum, which includes offering writing labs in conjunction with substantial writing classes, and focusing on both litigation and transactional legal writing.
The writing curriculum includes Advanced Litigation Writing, Transactional Legal Drafting, Appellate Writing, Substantial Writing Workshop, and Legal Writing Theory and Practice that looks at good writing from micro, meso and macro levels studying everything from core grammar to word choice to pacing, style and tone, even diving into the writing style of Supreme Court justices.
The BYU Law Teaching Committee and Deanery have also invited every faculty member to incorporate some form of writing and accompanying feedback (beyond a final exam) in every course taught beginning winter semester 2025.
“Good writing is good, clear thinking,” says Catherine Bramble, BYU Law Writing Center Director. “We're committed to collectively making writing a serious focus, offering multiple modalities by which to improve your writing, which appeals to employers and lends itself to success in the legal profession.”
AboutBYU Law SchoolFounded in 1971 with its inaugural class in 1973, the J.Reuben Clark Law School(BYU Law) has grown into one of the nation's leading law schools – recognized for innovative research and teaching in social change, transactional design, entrepreneurship, corpus linguistics, criminal justice and religious freedom. The Law School has more than 7,000 alumni serving in communities around the world. BYU Law is consistently ranked by National Jurist as one of the best-value law schools in the country. BYU Law is also one of only six law schools to receive the Bloomberg Law School Innovation recognition. As a faith-based school, BYU Law seeks to “develop people of integrity who combine faith and intellect in lifelong service to God and neighbor.” For more information, visithttps://law.byu.edu.
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