Does this happen to you?
After hours of research and document review, you sit down to write your argument or factum. You know the facts. You know the law. And yet -
You just can’t get started.
I have battled this for many years. So many years that I started to assume that the struggle was part of the legal writing process.
Recently, I tried something new. I was shocked when it worked.
So here it is:
Once you’ve done your research, but before you start writing, get out a pen and a blank piece of paper. Set a timer for 15 minutes. Then jot down all of the points you may want to cover. Don’t be too judgmental with yourself - write down every idea that pops into your head, not just the good ones. Do not try to write them in any particular order. Write them all over the page. You can draw lines or arrows connecting certain points or just jot them wherever.
When you’re done, tape the sheet up on your wall. Put it somewhere accessible so that you can add additional points as they arise.
Once you’ve completed your 15-minute brainstorming session, it’s time to make an outline and start writing.
I SWEAR those first 15 minutes will make the whole writing process go much more smoothly.
Many legal writing teachers advocate brainstorming. According to the experts, it works for a few reasons:
It helps us to overcome the perfectionism that often plagues our profession. Instead of trying to start writing our ideas in the perfect order - which can leave to self-doubt and overwhelm - we feel free to simply get our ideas down.
It enhances our creativity. Instead of pre-judging and perhaps prematurely rejecting our own ideas, we record them all. Then we can later reflect and improve upon them, and maybe see links between them that we previously missed.
It provides an easy and largely enjoyable way to get started (often the most painful part of a legal writing process).
It gives us a record of all our ideas so that when we come towards the end of the process, we can make sure we’ve covered off everything you want to cover off.
If you want to read more about the legal writing process, I recommend Bryan Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English. He talks about the four stages of legal writing - the Madman, the Architect, the Carpenter and the Judge - first developed by Professor Betty Sue Flowers. What I wrote about today occurs in the “Madman” stage.
