This week’s installment of the new books series features a guide to appellate brief writing. Moot court participants and second-semester 1L students will likely find the information contained in this book extremely applicable for their brief-writing and oral argument preparations.
A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy
By Mary Beth Beazley
Law Study Skills Collection KF251 .B41 2010
A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy by Mary Beth Beazley is a student-focused guide to writing appellate briefs. The text offers direction for every step of the writing process, from pre-writing planning and what to do when facing a blank page, to drafting an argument, using case authority effectively, and following format rules. It also addresses how to craft issue statements, statements of the case, and point headings.
Beazley’s book emphasizes how to make your writing both reader-friendly and user-friendly, and highlights opportunities for using persuasion throughout your brief. The text also includes four sample briefs with annotations that identify strengths of the brief and explain why the writer chose a particular technique.
