WordRake Holdings, LLC, a software company focused on clear and concise editing for professionals, is partnering with Suffolk University Law School for the 2020-21 academic year. This is the second year of the collaboration. Last year, Suffolk and WordRake sought to elevate the importance of editing as a critical part of the legal writing process. This year, student exposure to WordRake will extend beyond first year writing courses, so the entire Suffolk law student population will have access to legal writing technology tools they can expect to use in practice.
“Deciding to collaborate again with WordRake is all about our students,” said Dyane O’Leary, Associate Professor of Legal Writing and Director of Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology Concentration. “It’s a priority to expose them to new tools that impact modern legal practice, and students who used WordRake with their legal writing projects last year provided positive feedback.”
Suffolk’s Legal Practice Skills program is nationally recognized for its high-quality instruction in legal writing. Suffolk’s faculty believe the newest edition of WordRake’s software launched in August 2020 will continue to reinforce classroom instruction and support students in the editing process. “Editing tools don’t replace a law student’s own careful work,” said Professor Kathleen Elliott Vinson, Director of Legal Writing, Research, and Written Advocacy at Suffolk Law. “They reinforce and highlight the importance of being attentive to your own writing habits, flaws, and strengths.”
“Legal writing and document creation are integral parts of legal practice. Efficiently creating effective, accurate, and compelling legal documents is key to how we serve our clients,” said Ivy B. Grey, Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for WordRake. “That makes WordRake a great fit for Suffolk’s legal writing classes as well as classes within Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology academic concentration. I’m excited to reach more students.”
All 360 first-year law students in Suffolk’s Legal Practice Skills Program had access to WordRake last academic year. This year, nearly 400 incoming 1L Suffolk students will receive a one-year WordRake license to use the software if they so choose on their personal computers for writing assignments. Upper-class students will also have access to WordRake, including students first introduced to the tool through last year’s collaboration. All Suffolk faculty will also receive WordRake licenses to aid with their writing and research projects.
“Now that faculty and students have had the chance to work with WordRake for a year, we believe adoption will increase and Suffolk will see even greater benefits in the second year,” said Scott Johns, President of WordRake. “By continuing the program, our two organizations demonstrate commitment to the importance of consistent legal editing.”
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.
