Legal Skills and Strengths
Ms. Davey, right before the beginning of the semester, I previously outlined the various objectives that I hoped to achieve during the legal skills class that I as a law student at the California Western School of law was required to partake during my first semester in law school. I outlined some of the objectives that were of main concern to me. They comprise of knowledge on modes conducting better research, drafting legal memos e-memos as well as learning the modes of citations of legal authority. At the beginning of my first semester at the law school, I assumed that all the cases I came across supported a given proposition as a result of the multiple citations in one document. Furthermore, the legal phrases used were a foreign language to me. The choice of the cases to cite for a certain proposition wasn’t always easy as it really frustrated my research efforts. Nevertheless, I intend to reflect on the major strengths during the course of the semester in addition to I intend improve on in future during the course of my studies at the school of law.
In regards to the above, I have identified the key strengths in my legal profession that constitutes carrying out in depth research for writing or drafting legal memos and e-memos. I am confident that my experience in writing legal memos will help me to learn more on how to effectively conduct and manage legal research, draft legal briefs, prepare motions, pleadings, and provide the general legal administrative support. I believe that my strong research and writing skills will be beneficial in accomplishing my goal of helping people to fight against gender imbalance in the society as well as building a community where the rights of individuals are not compromised. To achieve this, I will need effective research and writing skills in order to participate in developing or reviewing legal documents or policies as well as identifying the best legal programs that can be adopted in various institutions with aim of achieving a fair and just legal system globally.
On the other hand, I have areas in my legal skills that I need to improve in order to achieve success in my class and society in general. I need to improve my grammar. The way we use grammar can determine how a situation is misunderstood or understood. In the field of law, it is vital to understand grammar and apply it correctly. I believe I need to learn more on the different forms of legal terms to avoid the occurrence of my writing being considered to be abstract and stilted. According to Munneke, the risks involved when translating legal documents or using grammar is very high (105). In addition, citations play a significant role in conducting any research or writing any legal document. Therefore, the need to improve on the different forms of citations in legal writing by doing a thorough assessment on myself by undertaking bluebook exercises that will assist in categorizing and understanding cases that support a given proposition. For instance, following guidelines on citations such providing seminal and recent authority and utilizing reformulation cases to provide better explanation and strengthen. In addition, writing more legal memos in order to determine the extent at which different forms of grammar that include the legal phrases can be utilized.
Works cited
Munneke, Gary A. “Legal Skills for a Transforming Profession.” Pace L. Rev. 22 (2001): 105.