Nice Present for Incoming or Returning Law Students:

I thought I’d take the liberty to pitch again my Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (2nd ed. 2005), as a nice back-to-school present for your law student friends or relations (or for yourself):

1. First-year students can use it to help them get onto a law journal, and can also use some of the tips in the Writing section for their first-year writing class.
2. Second-year students can use it to write a law journal note.
3. Both second-year and third-year students can use it to write seminar papers, and to do independent writing projects.

You can find reader reviews at amazon, and some other unsolicited messages from readers here. Here are a few more than have come in since then:

Matt Carlson: “Your Academic Legal Writing book is excellent — I read it before trying out for law review recently and found it to be extremely helpful. I am happy to say that I made the law review as a 1st year staff member, and will definitely continue to use your book in writing my articles this summer.”

B.A. Cooper: “Last Fall, I approached one of my professors, and told her that I was interested in academia, and that I would like to begin my legal writing career immediately. She told me, in no uncertain terms, that your book ‘Academic Legal Writing’ was a must. I ordered a personalized copy soon after that, and I am happy to report that my first article has already been accepted as an ‘essay’ in the upcoming Fall issue of the Regent University Law Review. I just wanted to say thank you for providing such a wonderful resource.” Update some months later: “[P]erhaps in part part because I was published as a first year student, I have now been accepted to the University of Texas as a transfer student. In addition, my most recent article has made it past the initial screening at [a well-regarded specialty journal], and will soon be peer reviewed …. So thanks again for your book!”

Steven R. Obert: “Thank you for the legal writing and publishing advice contained in your book. I followed it exactly, and recently found out that my paper, ‘Public Prayer in the Navy: Does It Run Afoul of the Establishment Clause?‘ will be published in the next issue of the Naval Law Review.”

Jason Watson: “I was just writing to let you know how helpful your book on academic writing has been. I’m a 1L at Valparaiso Law and we have our case comment assignment approaching, as well as Law Review tryouts after finals. My writing teacher … recommended your book and, being a dedicated fan of the website, I picked it right up. It’s been a great resource, I wish I’d had it while writing my Appellate Brief. I hope I’m the only one here at Valpo to get it, I NEED an edge to get on Law Review!” Update some months later: “I made Law Review. I’m sure your book played a big part. I wrote on, too, which I’m strangely proud of. I’m in the top third of my class but my grades didn’t get me the spot.”

Roman Goldstein: “Allow me to thank you for writing an excellent chapter on how to make law review. True, I think it’s especially excellent because I followed your advice and made law review. But even had I not made law review, I would have thought the chapter was good: you provided a road map that made the competition manageable and even enjoyable. Also, I’d like to thank you for demystifying a bit of law school. Too much of law school is hide-the-ball, especially when it comes to grades and exams. Your chapter on law review (and indeed the book as a whole), on the other hand, made the expectations and objectives of the competition clear. I will of course use your book when I write my note.”

Guy Carmi: “I read and implemented your tips in your ‘Academic Legal Writing’ book. I got more than 20 offers … [and] finally accepted offers from the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law and the Oxford University Comparative Law Forum, also thanks to your tips regarding copyright management of the piece. This is going to be my third publication, but I feel that had I read your book earlier, I could have done better with the two previous pieces. I simply felt a need to thank you personally for the indispensable advice you share in your book.”

The book should be available from amazon. Make sure you order the Third Edition (that’s the link to which I just pointed). For the Third Edition, the publisher is no longer sending me author’s copies for signing and resale; but if you’d like me to send you a free personalized bookplate (basically just a label) to be pasted inside the book, just e-mail me at volokh@law.ucla.edu and tell me (1) the name and address to which you want the bookplate sent, and (2) the inscription you’d like me to use.