A legal wring career can be a huge source of revenue for legal practitioners. For many lawyers, especially the new ones who just joined the profession, establishing oneself can be a tough nut to crack.
Building a career in legal writing will be a great alternative to litigation and solicitor jobs, where getting quality briefs from clients is difficult.
This is because clients would rather consult an established lawyer or law firm to handle their matters than take a chance on a greenhorn.
One of the common mistakes young lawyers make is to think that going to court and doing solicitor jobs are the only ways to make money. But there are many areas a lawyer can fit in and create a successful career.
One area that lawyers can build a successful career is in legal writing.
Legal writing is the production of legal materials for specific purposes. Because this involves the use of technical legal language, legal writers must have some kind of legal training or education.
Lawyers, therefore, are best suited in this regard as their training puts them in an advantageous position to engage in this type of writing.
Lawyers can get legal writing jobs and become legal analysts, brief writers, law feature writers, law content writers, copywriters, law correspondents, etc.
For those interested in this area of the legal profession, here are some tips on how to make money from writing.
Read.
It is hard to find a good writer who is not an avid reader. Reading widely is one of the surest ways to improve your writing.
When you spend quality time reading law books, reports, and other legal materials, you are exposed to the works of legal writers, and this can help you develop your writing skills.
Exposure to different writing styles can help you develop your own unique voice.
For legal writing, the type of materials you will need to read will depend on the type of legal writing you want to do. For example, those who want to work as legal correspondents will have to read a lot of those materials to get familiar with the language.
Join Writing Courses and Workshops.
Writing is a craft. The techniques of good writing have been studied and organized into courses and workshops. The fact that you are a lawyer does not automatically make you a good writer.
Joining a writing class will help you develop writing skills. This is where you will be exposed to the techniques of good writing and reading.
You will also be taught the rules of grammar and you will gain the confidence that comes with daily writing practice.
There are no short cuts to these things. If you want to develop your writing and become a better writer, then you must write.
When you create time to write on a daily basis or as often as possible, it will help you develop and maintain your writing skills.
Some people think that writing every day is a little too much, but it’s not. In fact, most people write on their social media platforms every day.
So you can turn this into an advantage by consciously writing a few sentences using proper techniques on legal topics of your interest on your social platforms.
Use Editing Tools.
This is an interesting time to be a writer. There are many editing tools out there that help writers in their trade.
Yes, the editors will not do the writing for you, but the editing tools will point out errors that your senses missed.
Having a human editor or proofreader is good, but as humans, they will not always be available like your electronic editors.
Admire But Don’t Imitate Writers.
As you embark on this journey of improving your writing, you will be exposed to materials from other writers. You are likely to fall in love with the writing style of one or a few of them. The temptation to imitate and start writing just like your favorite writer(s) becomes very strong.
Avoid the mistake of becoming another version of your favorite writer. Your attempt will fail as no two writers are the same.
While you admire the works of great writers, study their writing styles and let them help you develop your own unique style.
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