Evaluate and briefly discuss which paragraph is more effective in making the argument more persuasive and why.

Learning Goal: I’m working on a law discussion question and need support to help me learn.

Part 1:

Most of your work as a paralegal for Attorney Ivy involves drafting documents for internal review, such as office memos, or drafting documents for external review by opposing party/counsel.

Ivy understands the importance of drafting documents to a court. Drafting documents to a court is unique in that the judge is ultimately the audience, and the thoroughness of your research and effectiveness of your advocacy in writing may be enough to sway the judge in your favor. Writing for the court is a critical skill for a paralegal, which brings together everything in your legal writing arsenal: research; grammar; proper citations; clean/concise writing; and advocacy skills.

Ivy wants you and the other paralegals to practice drafting to a court, and compare and discuss your practice work.

Ivy asks the team to first review Drafting a Brief to a Court provided at the following link:

https://www.law.cuny.edu/legal-writing/students/court-brief/

Instructions:

After reviewing Drafting a Brief to a Court, click on the link in the left menu, Case Study: Two Versions of a Trial Brief (in blue at the bottom of the list on the left side of the page).

Review the First Draft and Final Draft versions of the trial brief.

Choose one First Draft paragraph and choose one Final Draft paragraph (the same paragraph in both versions, revised in the Final Draft).

Cut/paste the before/after paragraphs.

Evaluate and briefly discuss which paragraph is more effective in making the argument more persuasive and why.

• Support your position by citing effective use of citations, legal support, advocacy, grammar, etc. and creating a thorough, substantive response.

Label responses, as appropriate.

Write in correct, complete sentences in paragraph format, unless instructed otherwise.

Use Arial or Times Roman, size 12 font.

Part 2:

React to three colleagues’ comments regarding a paragraph that the paragraph you chose.