The Genres of Criminology for the courts: Legal Briefs; Summary of the Facts/Evidence, Relevant Legal Issues and

Applicable Law

Genres can come in all shapes in sizes. There is a genre on how you write a ten-page research paper to a genre on how to write a small introduction paragraph just like this one. However, genres now seem to change and we now understand all the different types there are, especially after college when they need to be understood and practiced regularly in every day life. Everyday we participate in genres, some even subconsciously. One example of this subconscious genre is shown in the example given by Beaufort. She talks about a show and tell circle in kindergarten. We know to get in a circle, stand up, and share the object we brought into class, and if someone else is talking while another student is sharing we learn that talking out of turn is wrong. Before these readings I never fully understood how many types of genres there are, and how they are subconsciously applied in our every day life. Understanding genres is very important because we really could not imagine an world without them. Dirk gives a really good example of how important genres are by explaining how you would write an email to a friend compared to an email to a professor. When emailing a friend it could be more casual, laid back, less detailed and formatted while emailing a professor would be much more formal, and would require more attention to detail and format. Even though this seems so simple its a genre we use everyday. In college and graduate school we would never think to email or talk to a professor the way we talk to our friends. This just shows how genre is in our every day lives and how important it really is to understand.

In the following essay, I examine how to write a legal brief. I will touch on how to write an appropriate legal brief effectively. I will also explain the type of discourse community in which the legal brief is written for. The community would be the judge and the courtroom actors etc. There are five areas in a legal brief I have done my reach on, which are, citations, facts, issues, history, holding and reasonings. Each of these areas have specific criteria involved in order to complete an effective and appropriate legal brief. There is a certain genre for each community. Beauforts demonstrates that genres themselves could reveal a communitys norms, an ideology and a social ontology. Genres are also a form of situation cognition that continues to develop as we participate in the activities of the culture. Another author Berkenkotter and Hucken touch on genres and communities as well. They express this by explain how a sociocognitive perspective, and genre knowledge of an academic discourse, requires an understanding of both oral and written forms of an appropriate communicative behavior. Instead of this type of knowledge being taught it is transmitted through enculturation as apprentices become socialized to people speaking in a particular way. This relates directly to writing a legal brief. When first starting out in a courtroom and writing legal briefs there may be some things law school didnt always teach you. With time in the courtroom it is possible to ask questions to those who have been writing briefs longer, or to have someone look over yours so in time one can adjust and adapt to the community through participation. The courtroom field is very standard when dealing with writing a legal brief. It is something every lawyer has to write when involved in a lawsuit. It must be composed of several components, including a summary of the facts/evidence, relevant legal issues and applicable law (i.e. precedent), and the argument that the attorney is using to persuade the court to rule in his or her clients favor. I examined a sample legal brief to get more information. The first thing on the

brief would be the case name. This example case was named, State v. Worley, 265 S.C. 551, 220 S.E.2d 242 (1975). The next step would be to state the facts; this is a short paragraph containing the most important information. It would be short and to the point. Then we list procedural history. That is writing down what happened procedurally between the time the lawsuit was filed and the time one of the parties appealed. The next part is the most important, the issue. It would contain a yes-or-no question that identifies the specific issue that the court must answer in order to decide which party will win the appeal. After that come the holding and judgment section. This should answer a yes-no-question to the issue question and the issue question turned into an affirmative or negative statement and any brief qualification necessary to make the statement accurate, or a brief because clause. Lastly, would come the reasoning section. This is extremely important because it describes what led the court to answer the issue question as it did. Although some lawyers may have some small different changes in their technique, the format is closely the same. One of the most important things to look out for that is standard to all brief case writings is the importance of formality and correct grammar. Writing a good legal brief can wine a case, and writing a bad legal brief can loose one. Although there are different types of courts that lawyars can work in, I decided to focus on the legal brief. It is important because it seems like the most common writing a lawyer has to do. No matter what the case is about, whether its a murder, burglary etc., the brief must provide the exact same things. When people hire lawyers they are using them to help them win the case and the legal brief is very important in helping them do so. It is reviewed by the judge and can ultimately persuade a judge to convict or not convict based on the facts and reasonings listed in the brief. The main idea to understand involves realizing who the discourse of your community is, and whom you are writing for. Federal appellate judges are the ones who

read the briefs, and they make their living as legal writers, and they expect that the lawyers who appear before them show due regard for the craft of good writing. The courts cannot afford with their hundreds or thousands cases a year to be distracted or confused by grammatical errors, which at best suggests sloppy thinking and can even change the meaning of sentences. So not only does this genre of writing require you to realize what the piece is composed of, it also require you to be aware of the community and people who are reading it. In an article I read it gave an excerpt from a speech Chief Justice Roberts talked about in an interview. He stated that bad writing could loose a case. He said this happens because the judge may not see your case as strong if its poor work. He goes on to say that if it is so poorly written that we (the judges) dont see how strong the precedents in your favor really are because you havent conveyed them in a succinct way, and we dont see exactly how the statutory language works together to support the case and that can all happen because of it being inadequately explained. This point made by Chief Justice Roberts seems really important because not only in the community do you have to learn the contents of what forms a legal brief, one must be able to effectively, appropriately and formally write one in order for it to be efficient. In regards to writing a proposal Beaufort addresses that it isnt always about writing the genre but the issues associated with learning any new genre. In this case the issue associated with the legal brief would be strong writing. Not only is one worrying about the composition of the brief, which seems normal but also learning what judges expect and learning that mistakes in grammar can sometimes loose a case. One of the biggest points, and most important , is that you not only have to worry about one community, the judge, but also about the people who hire you. If word gets around that you are sufficient in the cases, people may begin to seek different people to represent them.

The whole point of these points is to show that the idea of legal briefs, like many other genres, requires immersion and experience into the community. Even without that experience, however, writers in the field can learn about the genre of legal briefs by being aware of the community and how the conventions of the courtroom work. Learning a new genre can sometimes be easy and it may come more naturally to some, but with time and practice it can be easily obtained. If at first you do not succeed, try again.

Appendix

Effective Brief Writing. Feferal Appellate Practice. The Bureau of Nation Affairs, Inc. 2008.

http://subscript.bna.com/pic2/lsll.nsf/8e9ea8728473b3be852569f9005d302a/36659829b6a2f210 85257505004ffcd9/$FILE/Effective%20Brief%20Writing.pdf

http://www.law.sc.edu/lraw/assignment.pdf

Works Cited Beaufort, Anne. Learning New Genres: The Convergence of Knowledge and Action. Writing in the Real World. New York: Teachers College Press, 1999. 103-137. Print. Berkenkotter, Carol, and Thomas N. Hucken. Rethinking Genre From a Sociocognitive Perspective. Written Communication 10.4 (1993) 475-509. Print. Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 1 (2010) 249-262. Print.

Jenna McGlinn

Eng3840

Project 1: Reflective Essay

Throughout this whole course about genres I was able to learn many new things that will help me in college now, and in graduate school. Its apparent in my paper above how much I really liked learning about the discourse community. Going into this I thought a legal brief was just something you needed to know the contents off and that was it. It was awesome to learn the within a genre you can never forget the audience and the community you are writing for. This can apply to almost any other field as well. I now am aware that I must make sure my writing is strong while composing a legal brief. My strong writing can technically alter the judges decision. This project and course in genre also gave me hope. It took a weight off my shoulder in knowing that in many fields people can and will struggle at first learning a new genre and its nice to know I wouldnt be alone. Through experience and practice anyone will be able to accomplish perfecting their genre for their appropriate field. This essay gave me a little struggle at first. I felt a little confused and lost as to what my point was trying to be in the beginning. I think requiring a one on one session with you just to talk about our ideas and questions may be more helpful than a whole class dedicated to peer reviews. After meeting with you, I left so much more relieved and back on the right track and revising my paper afterwards was a breeze. After all the struggles and confusion I found this essay to be extremely rewarding. I found myself forgetting about writing the paper and reading a ton of articles about my major and learning things I did not know before. Overall, this project

really has given me more insight into the genre I will be entering into after college and I feel more confident now knowing what is expected to come my way.