Recommended Citation
Helen A. Anderson, Insights from Clinical Teaching: Learning about Teaching Legal Writing from Working on Real Cases, 16 Persp.: Teaching Legal Res. & Writing 106 (2008), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/220
Publication Title
Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing
Document Type
Article
Abstract
I began teaching legal writing in 1994, but I've since had the occasional foray into practice through supervising students who represented clients in our state's appellate courts. I directed an appellate clinic for two years, and most recently supervised two students who briefed and argued a case in the Washington State Supreme Court. These experiences have taught me some important lessons that I have brought back to my legal writing classes. The clinical cases have not only reminded me what writing for practice really entails, and how hard it is to follow our sage writing advice, but they have given me key insights into aspects of writing that we (or at least I) don't always address in first-year legal writing classes.