Many employers and most judges require applicants to submit a legal writing sample.
Be forewarned that some judges require a writing sample that has not been
edited by others; at a minimum, your writing sample should be substantially self-edited.
It is less important that your writing sample be of a particular type
than that it be flawless and well-written. When choosing among writing
samples, keep in mind that judges are looking for work that shows legal
reasoning and analysis, while other legal employers look for examples of analytical or persuasive writing in the form of a legal memorandum or legal brief.
If you want to use a writing sample drawn from a legal internship/clerkship, clinical or summer associate experience, you must obtain your employer's permission, and you may be required to eliminate any client-identifying information. (Note: try to avoid meeting this requirement by blacking-out the client's name or other identifiers. Instead, change names to "Client X" or "John Doe" or something similar, so as not to disrupt the flow of your sample.) It also is helpful to indicate on the face of the writing sample that you are submitting it with the permission of your employer.
If you are using a law review or journal publication, it is usually the
best practice to submit a pre-staff-edited version. If, however, you submit
a reprint of something that has already been published, you should also
submit a different, self-edited piece. You might also want to use a brief prepared
for a moot court competition.
It is generally not recommended to use writing samples from work you did in your second- or third-semester Legal Research & Writing course. These assignments tend to be seen as formulaic and simple, so if you have a choice between a LR & W sample and any of the other types of samples mentioned above, it is best to use another piece.
Your writing sample ideally should be between 7 and 15 pages long. It is acceptable to use an excerpt from a longer piece, if necessary; however, if you do so, make sure you provide a cover sheet that describes important facts and the general context. If you find that editing for length will sacrifice comprehensibility, it may be best to provide a longer sample.
Finally, make sure your writing sample is free of bluebooking, typographical
and grammatical errors. Employers will be relying on you to provide clear,
concise, error-free work. There is no better way to derail your application
than by submitting a sloppy writing sample.
