This article has been authored by team Ghostline Legal.
To those who have found home in FILAC and IRAC in law school, online writing can feel like unlearning everything you’ve been taught. It is less about proving knowledge and more about voicing opinions and lending perspectives.
Law students are trained to think and write within structured frameworks, identify the issue, state the rule, apply it to facts, and conclude with precision. This method is effective in exams, internships, and legal practice. However, when the same approach is carried into online platforms, it can feel rigid and distant. The writing often appears heavy, as though it is addressing an examiner rather than engaging a reader.
The audience online is fundamentally different. It is not composed of professors or evaluators (or perhaps present in a negligible ratio), but of individuals who are scrolling, skimming, and deciding within seconds whether to continue reading. If a piece begins with overly formal phrasing or resembles the opening of an exam answer, it risks losing attention immediately.
Instead of beginning with rigid formulations such as identifying “the issue,” effective online writing often starts with a thought, a question, or a relatable situation. This reflects a broader shift in purpose: online writing prioritises sharing perspective over demonstrating knowledge.
One of the most common habits law students must consciously move away from is the urge to sound overly formal or impressive. Academic training often rewards complex vocabulary, passive constructions, and long sentences. However, in an online context, these elements can create distance rather than credibility. Clear and direct language is more effective in holding attention and ensuring understanding.
Another important adjustment involves restraint. Academic writing encourages exhaustive explanation and justification, often supported by extensive citations. Online writing, by contrast, values clarity and flow. While legal references remain important, they should be used selectively and explained in a way that enhances, rather than interrupts, the narrative. A well-expressed idea in simple terms is far more impactful than a complex sentence that requires effort to decode. The goal is not to sound impressive, but to be understood.
Tone plays a critical role in this transition. Effective online writing is neither overly casual nor excessively formal. It strikes a balance between being professional yet conversational. The aim is to sound like someone explaining a concept to an intelligent reader who may not have a legal background. This approach makes the content more relatable without compromising on depth.
Storytelling further strengthens this connection. Although rarely emphasised in legal education, it is a powerful tool in online writing. Beginning with a real-life scenario or a relatable example provides context and makes abstract legal principles more tangible. It allows readers to see the relevance of the law in everyday situations. While still requiring coherence, it is more fluid. It allows ideas to unfold organically, guided by the writer’s thought process rather than a prescribed format.
It is also important to recognise that simplicity does not equate to lack of depth. In fact, the ability to present complex legal ideas in an accessible manner reflects a deeper understanding of the subject. It requires clarity of thought, not reduction of substance. Choosing topics of genuine interest further enhances this process. When the writer is personally invested in the subject, the writing becomes more authentic and naturally more engaging. Forced topics, on the other hand, often result in a piece that feels detached. This might mean choosing one aspect of a judgment to analyse, one implication of a policy to explore, or one question to examine in depth. This focus not only improves clarity but also strengthens the impact of the writing. At the same time, there is value in restraint. Having a perspective does not mean being overly assertive or dismissive. It means presenting a viewpoint with reasoning, allowing room for nuance, and recognising complexity where it exists. The aim is not to win an argument, but to contribute to a discussion.
In the end, writing online as a law student is less about abandoning what you have learned and more about adapting it to a different audience and purpose. The analytical skills developed through legal education remain invaluable, but they need to be expressed with greater flexibility, clarity, and awareness of how people consume content today.
As a strong piece does not try to say everything. It tries to say something meaningful.
