hlr-writing-style
Use when shaping the prose and structure of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece for a generalist, student-edited audience — clear introductions, disciplined Parts, and the heavy-footnote register of legal scholarship. Polishes how it reads; it does not forge the claim (hlr-thesis-and-contribution) or format citations (hlr-sources-and-bluebook).
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-writing-style --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Writing Style (hlr-writing-style) HLR prose must persuade a **generalist, student-edited** audience: the editors who screen and the readers across every legal field. The register is distinctive — long, formal, **heavily footnoted** Articles in which the text carries the argument and the footnotes carry the support and qualifications. This skill makes the piece readable, front-loaded, and legible past any one specialty. ## When to trigger - Drafting or revising the introduction, Part headings, or transitions - A reader says the piece is "hard to follow" or "buries the point" - The text-vs-footnote division of labor feels wrong (argument in footnotes, throat-clearing in text) - Polishing before placement (after the argument and citations are sound) ## The HLR introduction bar By the end of the introduction the reader should know the **problem, the claim, the stakes, and the roadmap** — in that order, and early. Build the funnel: 1. **Hook with the live problem** — the case, split, or development, stated concretely. 2. **State the claim** — your thesis, in a declarative sentence, on page one or two. 3. **Stake the contribution** — what prior law/scholarship gets wrong and what you a
- When to trigger
- The HLR introduction bar
- Register: text vs. footnotes (the distinctive law-review division)
- Prose discipline
- Checklist
- Anti-patterns
- Output format
- Supplementary resources
What does the hlr-writing-style skill do?
Use when shaping the prose and structure of a Harvard Law Review (HLR) piece for a generalist, student-edited audience — clear introductions, disciplined Parts, and the heavy-footnote register of legal scholarship. Polishes how it reads; it does not forge the claim (hlr-thesis-and-contribution) or format citations (hlr-sources-and-bluebook).
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill hlr-writing-style --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.