What’s the best college major for an aspiring law student? That is the question I’ve often heard. While there is no perfect answer, one major can produce some good legal writers. That major is Journalism. So what can persuasive legal writers learn from Journalism? Despite obvious differences between persuasive legal writing and news reporting, there are some principles that apply very well to persuasive legal writing. Here are some:

• The five Ws and the H–In news reporting there is an emphasis on clearly stating the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a story. The storytelling movement in legal writing has rightfully focused on creative writing as a model. But it would serve even persuasive writers well to make sure they clearly convey the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the story they are telling. Who are the actors? What did they do? When did they do it (perhaps not as important in persuasive legal writing as lots of dates can bog down the reading)? Why did it happen? And how did it happen? Appellate advocates are necessarily stuck with the record while journalists often get to decide what facts to  present. However, the idea is the same.
• Readability–