Wednesday night I went to see the movie Julie & Julia, which is about a writer, Julie, who blogs about working her way through chef Julia Child’s famed cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in one year.  I loved everything about the movie, and as such, I’m starting off this blog post with a discussion of the movie.  (This post was actually originally entitled “Best Brief Awards.”) 

One of my favorite scenes was when Julie pulled her first roasted whole chicken out of the oven.  I roasted my first whole chicken this summer.  Like Julie, who felt like a “lobster killer” when she boiled three live lobsters for Lobster Thermidor, I must admit that I felt a bit like an executioner when I ordered my organic hand-fed chicken through our CSA, Backyard Bounty.  Guiltily, I asked Farmer Laura how she knows which chickens are ready for slaughter.  She said she knows it’s time when the chickens start to bite her.  (I guess the lesson there is “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”)  At home with my chicken, I tried to do the chicken justice by dressing it with olive oil and sprigs of thyme and rosemary from our garden.  I felt Julie’s same sense of pride and excitement when I opened the oven door and a perfect golden-brown roast chicken appeared from the oven.

Watching the movie reminded me of how students develop in their legal writing classes. 

Legal writing is, in part, a skills course.  Learning how to cook and learning how to write are both skills to be developed.  And they both can be learned.  No one is hatched from the egg with writing skills.  Writing skills, much like chopping an onion (Julia discovered), greatly improve when a person employs easy-to-use techniques.  Mastering the art of legal “writing” also includes mastering the art of legal analysis and research, which is why our first-year course is called Legal Analysis, Writing & Research.  To that, I would also add mastering the art of legal reading, which calls for close reading and critical thinking skills.

At Marquette, we have a number of opportunities for students to take advanced legal writing courses and to practice their legal writing skills in competitions such as moot court. 

This week at the fall Moot Court Program reception, we recognized two outstanding appellate briefs written by our students in national moot court competitions this past year.  Jon Fritz and Dale Johnson wrote the best petitioner’s brief.  Their brief was submitted in the August A. Rendigs, Jr. National Products Liability Moot Court Competition, where the team advanced to the semi-final round and won the best petitioner’s brief at competition.  Stephen Boyett, Carrie Devitt, and Jessica Franklin wrote the best respondent’s brief.  They competed in the ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition, where they advanced to the national finals and placed among the top four teams at the Boston regional competition.

Congratulations to these students for mastering the art of appellate brief writing and appellate advocacy.  As Julia might say, “Bien Écrit!”