Excellent instruction in legal writing is essential to a strong legal education and preparation for the practice of law. CSU College of Law is committed to providing a comprehensive legal writing curriculum taught by experienced legal writing faculty. First-year students learn and practice the fundamentals of legal writing, research, analysis, advocacy, and citation in Legal Writing and Research, a full-year course.
At CSU College of Law, the importance of writing in the law school curriculum continues after the first year. Students take a required third semester of legal writing. They may choose from a variety of courses to suit their interest, such as Legal Drafting, Scholarly Writing, and Legal Writing and Litigation. This requirement is usually satisfied during the second year of law school. Finally, students must complete an upper level writing requirement in which they prepare a substantial scholarly paper under the direction of a faculty member, either through a seminar or independent study.