Law Commons^™

Why Legal Writers Should Think Like Teachers, Laura A. Webb

Law Faculty Publications

This article proposes that new legal writers can improve their work by “thinking like teachers.” I assert that legal writing is fundamentally educative. Good writing thus requires good teaching. The article discusses the “curse of knowledge,” which makes it difficult for a writer who fully understands her topic to remember how a reader who is less knowledgeable about the topic will approach the material. It then explores three concepts from the science of learning — context, chunking, and connections — and discusses how a writer can use these concepts to effectively teach her readers.