Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [162]
d. Compare the various citations you're asked to check to see if you can spot any inconsistencies. Seeing “U. S.” written with a space might not make you think there's anything wrong; but seeing it written with a space in one place and without a space in another should remind you that at least one of the citations is incorrect.
e. Go over (i) any bluebooking exercises you might have done in your first-year legal writing class, (ii) any bluebooking exercises you might have done while preparing for the competition, and (iii) any citation format corrections that your legal writing instructor might have made in your first-year writing papers, and see if there are bluebooking rules that you've consistently ignored or erred on. If there are, chances are that you'll have made the same mistakes again in the editing test; go over the test to correct any such mistakes.
f. Take advantage of the Bluebook's Index, which is pretty comprehensive (though don't rely on it exclusively—it's also important for you to have read the relevant chapters from beginning to end). If you have any uncertainty about a citation, look it up.
g. Expect the editing test to be time-consuming. Even one sentence in one footnote could take you a long time, as you check all the rules that may apply to it. That's another reason to do one pass of the editing test early.
8. Write a rough draft of the paper, quickly
a. Follow the law review's instructions about the structure
The law review will likely give you instructions about how to structure your paper—for instance, whether you should include a separate section describing the facts of the problem, whether you should include one for a summary of the background law, and so on. Follow these rules precisely. As one former law review editor told me, “If you can't even follow the basic directions on format put in front of you, in writing, why should we think you'll be better on substance?”
b. Get something done
Try to finish a first draft quickly. Skip over sections on which you're blocked. Don't spend time proofreading as you write (except when you're too tired to write more, and proofreading what you've written is the best use of your time—see Part XXV.H.8.m, p. 321). Don't worry too much about citation format. Just get something done.
The result will be badly structured and clumsy. (My first draft certainly was.) It may be full of misspellings, grammatical errors, and unnecessary words. Your argument may change as you write. Don't worry: Just get something down on paper, flawed as it may be.
In my experience, it's much easier to edit a draft that you've already written than to get a rough draft finished; and I've heard many others say the same thing. You'll need to spend lots of time editing in any event, so you need to finish the first draft as quickly as possible. You'll also need a bit of time to rest after the mind-frying experience of reading the sources, coming up with a thesis, and writing the first draft. Give yourself this time by getting the first draft done as fast as you can.
Students I've talked to agree: “Get a draft done as soon as possible. For me, leaving significant time to edit not only helped me edit for sentence structure, usage, grammar and spelling, but also helped me think about the topic and choose the most compelling arguments and counterarguments.”
If you're afraid that your paper will have serious flaws even at the end of the competition, don't despair. You don't have to have a perfect paper, or even the best paper. It just needs to be good enough compared to the rest of the competition: In many competitions, the top third or more of the competitors will be accepted. That's not reason to slack off. But it is reason not to give up.
c. Don't worry about the page limit for the first draft
When writing the first draft, or even the second or third draft, don't worry about the page limit. A typical first draft is probably at least onethird flab. There are always redundancies, surplus phrases, longwinded explanations, and unnecessary