Legal Writing

Legal writing skills are paramount to transactional lawyers. Baylor designed its legal writing program as a professional training system that prepares students to engage in effective written advocacy from the moment they enter practice as lawyers.

Students learn how to draft a wide range of legal documents, while progressing through a rigorous series of courses that move from the mechanics of effective legal research and writing, to the formation of legal analysis, to the construction of effective strategies and communications, and ultimately to the actual preparation of legal documents. Included in this sequence of courses is Transactional Drafting, which focuses on documents generated in a typical transactional practice such as basic contracts, advice letters, and amendments. Baylor Law mandates a minimum of seven of nine quarters of legal writing instruction, resulting in students who continuously hone their writing skills throughout their three-year journey.

Leading this program is a writing faculty with more than a century of experience in the practice of the law and a half-century of full-time teaching. Professors maintain open-door policies and devote significant time to coaching and mentoring students. The hallmark of the program is the Baylor Lawyer who is recognized for a writing style that is precise, impactful, analytically sound, and free from legalese.