A few of my upper-level writing students requested the names of publications to have on their bookshelves following graduation. The students were looking for “how to” practice resources that would provide easy reference for new lawyers. For advice, I turned to my generous colleagues on the Legal Writing Institute Listserv. Their very helpful responses are compiled here.

General Resources

• A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting by Kenneth A. Adams

• A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy by Mary Beth Beazley

• Client Science by Marjorie Corman Aaron 

• Legal Method and Writing II: Trial and Appellate Advocacy, Contracts, and Correspondence by Calleros & Holst

• Legal Writing in Plain English by Bryan Garner

• NITA’s Rules of Evidence With Objections

• Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates by Ross Guberman

• Texas Law School Style Manual—used for briefing/memos; it is a very quick reference that is easy to carry around

• The Art of Advocacy: Briefs, Motions, and Writing Strategies of America's Best Lawyers by Noah Messing

• The Art of Cross-Examination by Francis Wellman

• The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation

• The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy by Heidi K. Brown—for new practitioners who are feeling nervous about new performance situations

• The Redbook by Bryan Garner

• The Winning Brief by Bryan Garner

• Thinking Like a Writer by Armstrong and Terrell— the best legal writing book for practitioners

• Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy by Heidi K. Brown—for new practitioners who are feeling nervous about new performance situations

• Winning on Appeal by Aldisert—recently updated by Dysart and Southwick

• Writing to Win: The Legal Writer by Steven Stark

Practice Area Resources

• Consumer Law: any of the NCLC volumes on specific niche areas

• Federal Practice: Wright & Miller's Federal Practice and Procedure on Westlaw or Moore's Federal Practice on Lexis

State-Specific Resources

• California: Rutter's Civil Procedure Before Trial—a multi-volume, loose leaf set that every litigator in the state has in her office (or access to through her Westlaw subscription); generally, the Rutter Guides are excellent

• Michigan: The Michigan Supreme Court’s Judicial Institute (MJI) Publications for all judges across the state—for free download in PDF format

• Ohio: The Baldwin’s Series

Have we missed one of your favorites? Feel free to make additional suggestions in the comments for this post.