The Adaptable Legal Writer

Today, more than ever, lawyers must constantly adapt—quickly and with deliberateness. This Article shines a light on the need to teach law students adaptability in law practice, and the central role of the legal writing professor in that endeavor. Part II explores the need for adaptability in a lawyer’s career. Part III provides an overview of three adaptability approaches from the legal writing pedagogy literature: information literacy, genre discovery, and the contextual case method.

Part IV closes with a reflection on key features of adaptability pedagogy in legal writing—curiosity, inquisitiveness, and ethicality—and its general application in legal education. At heart the adaptability approaches discussed in this Article require law students to methodically question and to work with integrity and ethicality. They compel legal writing students to practice activities that will help them adapt as lawyers in an ever-changing environment. All are invited to read this Article as a celebration of the legal writing professor’s critical role in legal education.