Legal Research

"Judge Aldisert on Opinion Writing and Opinion Readers"

Posted by Joe Hodnicki: "Opinion Writing and Opinion Readers (SSRN) was inspired in large part by the work done by Judge Aldisert, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and two of his law clerks, Meehan Rasch and Matthew P. Bartlett, in editing and preparing the second edition of Judge Aldisert's classic book Opinion Writing (forthcoming), an updated, comprehensive guide intended to be of wide practical use to members of the judiciary, judicial staff attorneys and law clerks, state and federal administrative judges, hearing officers, commissioners and private arbitrators, law librarians, scholars and students.

The article draws from and complements topics addressed in Opinion Writing, 2d ed., while specifically highlighting the relationship between opinion writing and opinion readers. From the abstract:

In Part I, we survey some of the considerations facing opinion writers as they decide whether to write an opinion at all, examine the decision-making process engaged in by courts prior to writing an opinion, and summarize the various types of written "opinions" that may be produced, such as per curiams, judgment orders, precedential and non-precedential opinions. In Part II, we identify primary and secondary "readership markets" for judicial opinions and discuss how the purpose of writing opinions is affected by the intended audience. In Part III, we dissect the ideal structure of an opinion, offer basic mechanics of draftsmanship and address some of the criticisms of judicial opinions lodged by readers. In Part IV, we briefly touch on opinion writing style and editing. In conclusion, we reaffirm the need for wider understanding of the judicial process and for increased clarity of communication between opinion writers and readers. To this end, we hope this Article will serve as a useful resource for all opinion readers and writers, including scholars, practitioners and judges, students and aspiring law clerks.

Highly recommended."

The active link is available at the source site listed below.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on July 10, 2009 (boomark / email).