WRITING SPECIALIST

Learning how to be a lawyer also means learning how to write like one. At Villanova Law, we’re committed to supporting you as you hone your legal writing capabilities —ranked as a top skill coveted by employers. That’s why we have a dedicated Writing Specialist on staff, giving you the opportunity to work on your skills one-on-one and in small workshops.

During a typical 45-minute to one-hour meeting, you will review your writing with the Specialist and identify strategies for assessing and improving its effectiveness. The Writing Specialist also reinforces concepts taught by legal writing faculty, as well as basic writing skills and the conventions of legal writing.

In addition to individual meetings, the Writing Specialist offers several workshops throughout the semester. Six workshops, typically meeting on Fridays, review topics such as parallels and passive voice; word choice and standard usage; commas; colons and semicolons; quotes, apostrophes and items in a series; and agreement. He also gives workshops on preparing a writing sample in partnership with the Office of Career Strategy and Advancement.

 

About the Writing Specialist

Steven M. Schultz joined Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in 2011 as the Writing Specialist after a ten-year career as a paralegal. Most recently, Mr. Schultz worked at Passman & Kaplan, P.C., a plaintiff-side employee rights law firm in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Schultz completed his Master’s Degree in English at Villanova University, where his studies focused on gender, sexuality, and law and literature. At the law school, Mr. Schultz oversees the writing diagnostic exercise, conducts workshops, and meets with students to provide individual feedback on a variety of written work.