Penn Professors on Writing in Legal Studies

Professor Georgette Chapman Phillips

About the Professor

Professor Phillips is Vice Dean of the Wharton School and Director of the Undergraduate Division. She is the David B. Ford Professor of Real Estate and Legal Studies at Wharton and a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was also an academic visitor at the London School of Economics. Prior to joining the Penn faculty she was in private law practice in New York and Philadelphia. She was named as a Ballard Research Scholar at the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School. She lectures internationally on topics in commercial real estate and urban planning. She is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College.

Writing Tips

When asked to rank the importance of various elements of writing, Professor Phillips ranked reasoning and evidence, following the assignment instructions, and organization as the top three elements. Mechanical aspects of writing, e.g. formatting, were ranked towards the end of the list.

Students should make sure that they do not just state an opinion and not support it. Writing a persuasive paper strong, organized evidence and reasoning.

Personal Writing Process

Finding a good question is the most difficult part of writing a paper. After developing a relevant, timely question, Professor Phillips reads books, articles, cases, and studies that relate to the topic she has chosen. She then organizes her idea into an outline and does not presuppose the conclusion. Sometimes the conclusion does not end up where one expects.

Papers will go through multiple drafts and are then presented to student-edited law reviews. Law students like "bright, shiny, sexy things," so authors should keep their audience in mind.

Professor Phillips analogizes writing a paper to "having a baby." "It takes approximately 9 months, from [her] perspective. By far the most fun is the conception because it's so exciting. The first couple of months, it's unformed. There's no there-there yet; it's kind of out there, and it's gushy. The second trimester it starts to take shape, and you can say baby has a head. Baby has little arms. The third trimester: it's big and bulky, unwieldy, and your concerned there's going to be problems. And then boom it's out there and it's the most wonderful thing to shoot it out there. And there's a baby... it's there."

Writing Assignments

In Legal Studies 204, Real Estate Law, Professor Phillips organized students into teams where one side is for an argument and one against. An example argument: is the use of city money to build a sports stadium a public use? Public money can only be used for public good. Is it a public good? You decide. It has to be an argument you can see going both ways. Each side writes an argument and writes a rebuttal.

Links

Back to Writing in the Discipline

Other Professors in Legal Studies:
Professor Amy Sepinwall