Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

Legal Writing 102: Lessons From Songwriters

By Bruce Carton

ADVERTISEMENTS

I've posted here several times recently to pass along the blogosphere's ongoing tips for better legal writing. I'd characterize most of those tips as Legal Writing 101 -- tips for avoiding truly "bad briefs," tips from brief-writing rockstar Justice John Roberts, and so on. Now let's move on to Legal Writing 102. The (new) legal writer blog asks here whether lawyers can learn from songwriters, and links to an interesting post on the Six Minutes blog entitled, "8 Speechwriting Lessons You Can Learn from Songwriters." In the Six Minutes post, Peter Jeff writes that there are eight very effective songwriting techniques that can also be used in speeches. As the (new) legal writer suggests, I think some of these can work well well in legal briefs and arguments. Here are a few of the eight techniques that seem most applicable to legal writing: #2. Refrain Jeff explains that a refrain is "a short phrase used in a series of (at least) three sentences. This short repetitive phrase is more strategic to the message and more memorable to the audience than repetition." For example: Arnold Schwarzenegger at the 2004 Republican Convention: "America is back. Back from the attack on our homeland....

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).