Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Writing Blogs -> Building Rapport

Legal Writing

: Building Rapport

Keep it short and simple, silly

Decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton:

"Plaintiff has a great deal to say,
But it seems he skipped Rule 8(a).
His complaint is too long,
Which renders it wrong,
Please rewrite and refile today."
...

Lawyer?s complaint is too long
From CNN?s Bill Mears

WASHINGTON (CNN) ? Keep it short, keep it simple. That was the brief message from a federal judge, who ordered a private attorney to go back and refile his overly ?redundant? legal complaint.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton of the Western District of Washington resisted dealing with a 465-page initial statement of the claims in a civil lawsuit over alleged consumer racketeering. GMAC Mortgage, the company being sued by attorney Dean Browning Webb?s clients Presidio Group, said the epic complaint made it hard to figure out what wrongdoing was actually being alleged.

The Tacoma-based judge agreed, noting in an order that the title of Webb?s complaint alone was eight pages, that it took 18 pages to list the six defendants and included a 37-page ?pit stop? to quote e-mails. And it was not until page 30 that the real facts of the case were first alleged. Leighton called the whole document an ?odyssey? of ?useless repetition? and suggested the attorney go back and read a basic style manual read by law students.

hat tips:
Professor Rachel Croskery-Roberts
Professor Ken Chestek
and the Legal Writing Prof blog

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/07/lawyers-complaint-is-too-long/

Full post as published by Building Rapport on July 13, 2008 (boomark / email).