SEATTLE—Today, WordRake Holdings, LLC, a software company focused on clear and concise editing for professionals, announced its collaboration with Suffolk University Law School for the 2019-20 academic year. Together, WordRake and Suffolk hope to elevate the importance of legal editing so it is embraced as a critical part of the legal writing process.
“We released the Mac version of WordRake last year and can now reach students in law schools, where Mac use is commonplace,” said Jim Figel, CEO and President of WordRake. “WordRake can help students produce clear and concise legal writing and help them avoid writing in ‘legalese’ before it becomes a bad habit.”
Suffolk’s Legal Practice Skills program is nationally recognized for its high-quality instruction in legal writing. The legal writing faculty believe the WordRake software will reinforce classroom instruction, support students in the editing process, and strengthen their students’ writing.
“We are excited to be the first law school in the country to collaborate with WordRake and incorporate it in the required LPS course,” said Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson, Director of Legal Writing, Research, and Written Advocacy at Suffolk Law. “WordRake can help students edit their writing so they can focus on making their substantive legal analysis clearer and stronger.”
“I use WordRake on my own writing, and it’s easy to see how students would benefit from it, too,” added Professor Dyane O’Leary, Associate Professor of Legal Writing and Co-Director of Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology Concentration. “As someone who learned from WordRake founder Gary Kinder early in my law firm career, I’m excited to bring his editing expertise into the classroom and to make this collaboration a reality.”
The collaboration also introduces students to legal writing technology widely used in practice. By incorporating simple, secure, and innovative technology into the classroom, students will be better prepared to deliver effective, efficient legal services in their internships, and ultimately in practice.
Nearly 360 incoming 1L Suffolk students will receive a one-year WordRake license to use the software on their personal computers for writing assignments. All Suffolk faculty will also receive WordRake licenses to aid with their writing and research projects.
“Suffolk is a leader in legal writing, technology, and innovation so it makes sense to help the law school add legal writing software to its LPS program to support its mission,” said Ivy B. Grey, Director of Business Strategy for WordRake. “It’s a great fit with Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology Institute’s broader work on technology competence.”
WordRake was created so lawyers could focus on their legal analysis without using unnecessary verbiage. While teaching over 1,000 legal writing programs, WordRake founder Gary Kinder identified a set of signals that would indicate wordiness and muddled writing. Those signals became the foundation for WordRake editing software.
About WordRake
Launched in 2012, WordRake is editing software designed by writing expert and New York Times bestselling author Gary Kinder. WordRake runs in Microsoft Word and Outlook, and its suggestions appear in the familiar track-changes style. It uses complex, patented algorithms to find and improve weak lead-ins, confusing language, and high-level grammar and usage slips.
