With the anticipated launch of the NextGen bar exam next year, transactional lawyering skills are enjoying increased attention in first-year law school curricular development. At the same time, recent amendments to ABA Rule 303 have made it essential for new law students to learn about the profession’s core values and responsibilities. While these evolving priorities open the door to pedagogical innovation, incorporating two distinct topics into an already packed curriculum can be challenging.

Motions. Briefs. Oral arguments. For students interested in a transactional career, a typical legal writing semester focused on persuasion sometimes feels like it is centered on inconsequential litigation-style assignments. What many students do not realize, however, is that many skills learned in a persuasive semester, including through the context of litigation-style assignments, are transferrable to transactional contexts and help students prepare for careers in transactional practices.

A cappella. Zoom. Tax law.

Never before did these three things go together as well as they did during the spring 2021 semester in my legal writing and oral advocacy course at Suffolk University Law School.