alwd

ALWD stands for the Association of Legal Writing Directors. It is a nonprofit professional organization in the United States that unites law school faculty and administrators who oversee legal writing programs. The group's mission is to improve legal writing, legal research, and advocacy by promoting high-quality pedagogy, curriculum development, and scholarly collaboration.

Founded in the late 20th century, ALWD provides a forum for law school educators to share teaching materials, assessments, and scholarly work. It sponsors conferences, committees, and working groups that develop best practices for legal writing instruction and for the citation and research skills that accompany it. The organization also publishes or endorses resources used by law schools to standardize and improve instruction.

Its flagship publication is the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation, a widely used citation manual that offers a practical system of legal citation and is commonly used as an alternative or supplement to The Bluebook. In addition to the guide, ALWD distributes teaching resources, sample syllabi, rubrics, and access to an online repository of materials for legal writing courses.

Governance is provided by a board of directors and officers elected from the membership, which primarily includes directors of legal writing programs, law professors, librarians, and legal writing professionals. Membership is open to individuals involved in legal writing education in U.S. law schools, and often includes regional chapters or affiliates.

ALWD is widely regarded as a leading voice in legal writing education, contributing to improved clarity and rigor in legal communication. By fostering collaboration among law schools, it helps standardize instructional practices and disseminate resources across programs.