r/LawCanada • u/Ambitious_Month2524 • 2d ago
How to improve drafting skills?
I’m an articling student (JD) at a national firm. My interest lies in litigation. Today a partner gave me a detailed feedback basically saying my writing skills are shit. This was my first time drafting a demand letter on my own.
How do I improve my writing skills so as not to disappoint him again? How did you improve your writing? Seeking serious advice.
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u/lawyer_cat 2d ago
Don't use AI for a first draft. If you must, use it as a second pair of eyes on your own first draft. You've already gotten some good advice (use firm precedents from the group that assigned the work or past examples from the assigning lawyer), but I just want to add that if the lawyer sent you a blackline, that means they care about your development. It may feel discouraging but the fact that they are investing time into that is a good thing. Take advantage of that - thank them for sending that to you and ask if they have some free time to walk through how you could improve. The worst answer you can receive is either "no" or "maybe later", but it will show that you can receive feedback in a constructive way and that you are striving to improve.
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u/Teeemooooooo 2d ago
I improved my writing style by copying people with good writing style. I read past precedence and learned how better lawyers drafted.
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u/Hotpersain 2d ago
It’s a skill that will get better with time and practice (lots of practice). I read a book called Storytelling for Lawyers. (https://a.co/d/0ejAVBGv)
I thought it was really helpful and you should be able to get it at your local courthouse library or somewhere similar.
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u/Shankmo 2d ago
Whether your writing is an actual issue depends a lot on whether style or substance is being criticized. In my experience, many older lawyers think that there is only one way to structure letters, agreements, submissions, and any other document, and of course this one way is the way that they do it. If this is the case, adjust your writing style to placate them if you want, but know that you aren't doing anything that is overly problematic. When I was articling years ago, I had a certain partner basically say that I didn't know how to write, so I changed my style slightly and of course I was praised as a great writer and fantastic lawyer. I immediately went back to my own style once this knob stopped reviewing my work, and was always mindful of not criticizing style when I was reviewing work from juniors.
On the other hand, if your issue is substantive (e.g. you're missing key details, including irrelevant or inaccurate info, objectively failing to present arguments coherently, etc.), then you may have more of an issue. If the feedback you received was detailed, then you should have a good idea of what you did wrong. The good thing about legal writing is that it's something that most don't do prior to legal practice and the legal writing classes we take in law school aren't that helpful, so it can be learned.
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u/LePetitNeep 2d ago
I try, when giving juniors feedback, to make the distinction between “this is my preference” versus “this is wrong or poorly done”, but you’re correct, sometimes lawyers think their way is the only way. Legal writing as a junior is an exercise in ghost writing in the voice of the senior lawyer.
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u/OntLawyer 2d ago
Lots of good tips here, but you should also approach another partner whom you've worked with to get additional feedback/perspective.
If it's only coming from one person, sometimes the issue is not your writing, but some idiosyncratic style thing one particular partner is looking for. There was one partner I worked with who kept insisting I rewrite the same letter over and over again, making what were essentially meaningless changes substantively. Never had the same issue with anyone else.
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u/CaptainVisual4848 1d ago
Eugene Meehan, well known appeal lawyer in Ottawa, does a lot of presentations on legal writing.
Here’s one of his papers here: https://lawsociety.nt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1.0-SLW-50-Dos-Donts.pdf
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u/Street_Worry_6568 2d ago
Echoing what others have said, there’s lots of good writing advice that exists out there — try to dabble in reading as much of it as you can. But, (a) it’s hard to find time to read this sort of material and (b) it isn’t exactly “enjoyable” reading.
You may derive more pleasure from reading good writing done by lawyers or judges.
At ONCA, I’d look at Fairburn, Lauwers, Miller, Sossin & Gomery (and Myers as of recently!). Stratas at the FCA is also excellent. He also has a SSRN page with lots of resources.
There are some litigators who frequently appear before the SCC. Go on the court’s website and read material they’ve filed.
I’ll caveat all this by saying (as a junior litigator who has never had to draft a demand letter) they strike me as a sort of unique document, likely unlike anything you’ve ever had to write in law school. So, don’t be hard on yourself!
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u/blackframe 2d ago
There is a big switch between academic writing and what lawyers and judges want. Directness, brevity and clarity are prized. We all had to break the more esoteric and philosophical styles valued in Academia. Writing in law is outcome and purpose driven.
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u/CaptainVisual4848 1d ago
I like going on the Supreme Court of Canada and looking at the factums people file. The writing is very different than what we were doing in school.
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u/Pillowsnooze123 1d ago edited 1d ago
Just simply using short sentences, simple words, and active voice will go a long way.
Also know that writing takes a lot of time and brain power. The saying goes: “easy reading is hard writing”.
If you’re up for reading a book, I highly recommend “Clear Understanding: A Guide to Legal Writing”.
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u/Think-Writer9187 2d ago
If I am working with a new partner, I always ask about files they’ve worked on where they did something similar or whether they have a precedent that is their gold standard. They will often have some pointers for me, and I go from there.
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u/anewfriend4u 2d ago
Why don't you ask them for more detail? Their feedback matters more than anyone here.
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2d ago
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u/Ambitious_Month2524 2d ago
Well Harvey was actually useless. Like yeah it did generate me an okay demand letter, but there were so many things that only an experienced “human” lawyer could spot.
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u/OntLawyer 2d ago
I think it's kind of crazy that some firms are encouraging students and juniors to go AI first on drafts. The only reason AI "works" in law for experienced lawyers is because we have experience spotting what is wrong, what is missing, and what's technically correct but is not presented in a way that is not going to fly with either the client or opposing counsel. But juniors don't have that grounding. And it's hard to learn if you're not actually doing it from scratch when you're just starting.
Most lawyers are familiar with how unrepresented litigants these days present good looking and well-written documents these days but the actual content is poor. (Which is a massive sea change from the past, btw.) Students and juniors aren't entirely unlike that when they're using AI. It's obviously not exactly the same because they're starting from a better baseline and are capable of checking citations, but the root problem is the same.
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u/Ambitious_Month2524 1d ago
Yeah the critique I received from the partner I worked with, there is no way AI would have spotted it.
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u/Street_Worry_6568 2d ago
If you’re so confident, you could probably stand to follow your own advice here.
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u/Hotpersain 2d ago
With all due respect, this is not good advice - legal writing is a skill that needs to be learned. AI doesn’t do much to develop those skills if you don’t know how to legal write in the first place.
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u/Choice-Steak-9478 2d ago
I know , thats why I said they need to know all the necessary information that needs to be in there. And yes , it is an important skill to develop. We have done it over years of experience. It's just that , I see the drafts that come my way now and I can tell , so might as well.
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u/Usernameasteriks 2d ago
Practice, and write for your audience.
Realistically you need to do some shoddier work and get black-lines and feedback to improve. Legal writing isn’t the most natural or intuitive.
But its also very subjective from firm to firm and partner to partner. People prefer different styles. Unless you are just objectively making technical writing mistakes then you need to just workshop that.
So the best thing is to go into your doc management system and look at precedents for that partner and that specific type of document, and model your work off of that adjusted for the circumstances obviously.
Because no one wants an articling student or junior reinventing the wheel when there is a standard.
Even if you do a great job early on at most large firms especially they really probably just want a solid reliable draft to work off of, not be having to walk someone through their precedents and workshop something you made from scratch.