Legal Research

"Less is More -- Example #1"

This post was written by Mister Thorne: "This post is the second in a series about proposals to provide legal services.

Consider a proposal to handle IP matters for some new company planning to do business around the world.

The proposal describes the firm's trademark practice. Here's a snippet of it:

By virtue of the breadth and depth of the firm's trademark practice, we have garnered excellent relationships with leading trademark prosecution practitioners in virtually every commercially significant country.

That's 28 words; let's see what we get when we abbreviate that for busy readers.

First, a few observations:

1. Note the dramatic shift in point of view. The firm's trademark practice is third-person, but what follows is in first-person. Readers prefer a steady point of view; dramatic or frequent shifts in point of view disrupt continuity..."

Continue reading this interesting post by clicking on the author's name.

Source: Set in Style, 26 April 2010, reproduced with permission of the author

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on April 27, 2010 (boomark / email).