Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [169]
h. Check the quotes
If you quote a source, make sure that you quote it correctly, down to the punctuation and the capitalization. Also make sure that any omissions or changes are noted using the proper Bluebook style, for instance using the proper bracketing or ellipses.
i. Look it up
If you're unsure about spelling, grammar, usage, punctuation, or bluebooking, look it up, in the dictionary, the writing style manual, or the citation style manual (such as the Bluebook). Look at the bright side: Unlike with law, there are right answers to those questions; you have no excuse for not finding those right answers. And these details count, often for a lot.
j. Use your ears
Read the piece out loud to yourself. You might hear errors that you didn't see.
k. Have others proofread your work, if you're allowed to do this
Most law reviews forbid competitors from letting anyone else—law student or not—proofread or comment on your work. But if your law review lets you have a friend proofread your work, take advantage of this as much as you can. Other readers will always be able to catch errors that you didn't catch.
14. If you have time, reread this section and the Writing sections
This section (Part XXV.H) and the Writing sections (Parts XI through XVI) contain a lot of advice, likely more than you can absorb in one sitting. If you have some spare time during the competition—time when you're too sick of writing, proofreading, editing, and bluebooking to do any of that, but too worried or industrious to relax—reread these sections. You might find some tips that you initially missed, or didn't properly understand before you started the competition. Or you might realize that you made certain mistakes that you ought to correct.
15. What to do if you're over the page limit
As I mentioned before, when you're writing, don't worry about the page limit. Write what comes to mind, and then cut it down to size later.
But now “later” has come, and you're several pages over. What to do?
a. Use the editing advice in the previous subsection
First, edit the paper. As you edit, you'll find words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs that are redundant or unnecessary. Reread Parts XII–XIV for tips on how to recognize these. Cutting them will both save space and make the paper more effective.
b. Trim the background / fact summary / case summary section
Most student writers spend too many pages on the sections that restate the facts or the law—the sections that explain the background legal principles, the fact pattern, or, in a case note, what the case held—and too few on their original analysis. If you need to trim, trim down the background section first. A paper that's mostly a summary of the background law, with little original analysis, will not get a good score.
Naturally, some of the background section is necessary, but much of it probably won't be. Look over each paragraph and each sentence, and ask yourself: Does this really help make the paper accurate, readable, and persuasive? If it does help, can it nonetheless be put more succinctly? Is the discussion of some particular leading cases really needed, or can you just explain the rule that can be drawn from those cases, citing them as needed in footnotes? Are certain procedural details really important, or can they be omitted? See also Part IV for more about this.
c. Decide which digressions and counterarguments are important
Some of the things you say may be less important to the argument than others. It's always hard to tell which are which, but sometimes you have to do it. A few tips:
i. Focus on the counterarguments that seem most familiar, rather than the ones that seem the most creative. Often, your proposal will be at least reminiscent of ones you've heard before, and you would have heard the standard counterarguments against those proposals as well. Chances are that the graders