Legal Writing

New blog URL

Posted on August 15, 2008
This blog has moved. Point your browser or syndicator/reader tohttp://blog.legalwriting.net/Thanks.

This blog is moving

Posted on August 11, 2008
Wayne Schiess's legal writing blog @ Legalwriting.net is moving to a new URL:http://blog.legalwriting.net/Please point your browser to the new location or update your syndicator.Thank you.

A blog of note

Posted on August 05, 2008
You might enjoy this blog:Contract Lawyering Made EasyIn particular, check out the posts on legal writing.

Wayne Schiess's blog is moving

Posted on August 05, 2008
Wayne Schiess's legal writing blog @ Legalwriting.net is moving to a new URL:http://blog.legalwriting.net/Please point your browser to the new location or update your syndicator. Thank you.Sorry for the inconvenience. This new blog has more features and is no longer hosted on the University's server.

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Teaching Fellows as legal-writing teachers

Posted on July 31, 2008
At the (new) legal writer, Raymond Ward posted about law schools that use aspiring young legal scholars to teach legal writing. I posted the following comment.Yes, a few law schools still do this. It is not so much an initiation for the fellows to pass through...

Citation percolation

Posted on July 30, 2008
The citation discussion has percolated nicely, with lots of good comments. Before I chime in with my take, I'd like to ask a question:In judicial opinions, the citation form is almost always wrong. Why?Because judges often have their own idiosyncratic preferences that do not match the current Bluebook?Because judges and their clerks are only human and are no better than the practicing bar at citation form?Because the publishers of judicial opinions alter the form before we see it?Why? Send your answers to me or post a comment.

Role of citations in legal writing--responses

Posted on July 24, 2008
The student essay about citations and their importance or lack of importance prompted three thoughtful responses:Commenter #1:This is a great essay and it perfectly illustrates what you've called the "tyranny of the inconsequential." But looking at the other side of the issue, though, the lesson here is that legal employers have high standards for substance and form...

The best legal-writing sources--a series #3

Posted on July 24, 2008
Your indoctrination into the movement for plain legal writing could begin here:Lifting the Fog of Legalese: Essays on Plain Language by Joseph KimbleProfessor Kimble is the foremost expert on plain legal writing in the United States, and this book collects his best writing...

Student essay--role of citations in legal writing

Posted on July 24, 2008
?I don't even know where my Bluebook is,? the young associate told me as she looked over the sea of red ink on the motion she had asked me to ?proofread.? ?Really?? I asked, quite perplexed as I tried to cover up my carefully tabbed and slightly tattered Bluebook...

Guest blogger--Cheryl Stephens

Posted on July 24, 2008
Cheryl Stephens, of Building Rapport, the plain language blog, is a leader in the field of plain language communication, and provides training and workshops to clients all over North America. She is making a guest appearance today promoting her new book, Plain Language Legal Writing...

All comments will be moderated

Posted on July 23, 2008
As some of you are realizing, I have changed the settings for this blog so that all comments must be moderated before they can be posted. I had to do this because of the high volume of "comment spam" I was getting. This site is hosted on a university server, and the computer people insisted that I find a way to cut down the spam...

Underlining: a postscript

Posted on July 23, 2008
A reader adds:One thing to consider (and I find this reason compelling) is that a lot of text is being published on the Internet. Underlining text on Web pages is always a no-no since underlining signifies a hyperlink. When documents are published on the Internet (which they almost always are these days), existing underlined words will only cause confusion since they are not hyperlinks...

In favor of the serial comma

Posted on July 23, 2008
I favor using a full complement of serial commas:The flag is red, white, and blue.I put a comma before the conjunction in a series of three or more items. I haven't found any legal-writing source that says you can omit that comma. And I haven't yet been persuaded that including that comma ever causes a problem, though some have tried to persuade me...

In defense of underlining

Posted on July 23, 2008
A reader writes:Regarding the emphasis of words as a matter of document design, what?s so bad about underlining? Surely the fact that underlining happened to be possible with a typewriter does not by itself warrant exile to realm of ?witnesseth? and all caps...

Response: problems with collaboration in law school

Posted on July 22, 2008
A practicing lawyer has responded to the student essay about collaboration:My worst experiences in law school and in college involved group projects. There is always someone who does not pull their weight. Or worse, someone who drops a class rather than pull their weight for the group...

The best sources on legal writing--a series #2

Posted on July 22, 2008
I recommend A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage by Bryan A. Garner.Garner needs no introduction to those who read this blog. But this book, one of his first, may still not be on your shelf. It should be. I state it rather categorically: if you are serious about legal writing, you must have this book...

Student essay--law school should simulate law-practice collaboration

Posted on July 22, 2008
In this essay, one of my students writes about a truth we all know but that is hard to accommodate in an academic setting:In this essay I will argue that the final graded assignments in the first-year legal writing courses should be group projects, rather than individual assignments...

The best sources on legal writing--a series

Posted on July 21, 2008
This is, if not the best, certainly one of the best books on legal writing:The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well by Goldstein and LiebermanIt changed the way I think about lawyers as writers. It made me realize that lawyers are professional writers and that as a professional writer, I should take the craft of writing more seriously...

More on document design

Posted on July 21, 2008
You can read more on document design in chapter 3 of my book, Better Legal Writing, and in this excellent article:Ruth Anne Robbins, Painting with Print: Incorporating Concepts of Typographic and Layout Design into the Text of Legal Writing Documents, 2 J...

Schiess's basic document design for lawyers

Posted on July 18, 2008
Schiess's basic document design for lawyersMain textUse a serifed font for the main text of your document. Serifed fonts look more professional and are easier to read when printed on paper. I like Constantia, Georgia, and Century Schoolbook. This blog is in Georgia...

What first-year LRLW can do

Posted on July 16, 2008
The first-year legal-writing course on objective legal analysis (memos) can teach students--How to determine the issue raised in a legal problem and express that issue effectively in writing. How to determine the legally and contextually relevant facts of a legal problem and express them effectively in writing...

What the first-year LRLW course can can't do

Posted on July 16, 2008
Every lawyer, law professor, and legal-writing teacher should read Douglas Laycock's article:Douglas Laycock, Why the First-year Legal-writing Course Cannot Do Much about Bad Legal Writing, 1 Scribes J. of Legal Writing 83 (1990).His point: when lawyers complain about poor writing by young lawyers, they are usually referring to style, rhetorical force, and essentials of grammar and punctuation; but the first-year legal-writing course does not teach those things at all or very much--and can't...

Another new book

Posted on July 02, 2008
I'm pleased to announce that my fourth book will be out this fall:Preparing Legal Documents Nonlawyers Can Read and Understand (ABA 2008)is my attempt to explain how to convert legalese into plain English and why you should do it.

My new book: The Legal Memo

Posted on July 01, 2008
I'm pleased to announce that my latest book will be out this summer and available for my students this fall:The Legal Memo: A Basic Guide (Kendall Hunt 2008)is my attempt to put into a readable and practical text everything I know about basic legal memos...

Hyphenate phrasal adjectives

Posted on June 18, 2008
This needs a hyphen:excessive fee litigationDoes this mean that fee litigation is excessive? Or does it mean that the litigation is about excessive fees? As written, it means the first, but the writer intended it to mean the second. Here's how it should have been punctuated:excessive-fee litigationLawyers don't hyphenate their phrasal adjectives enough...

My mom was an English teacher

Posted on June 13, 2008
"My mom [or dad] was an English teacher, so . . ."If you are a lawyer, especially a lawyer who is serious about legal writing, and especially a lawyer who teaches legal writing, this is a cool thing to be able to say. You don't even need to complete the thought...

"I'm a real nitpicker"

Posted on June 10, 2008
The senior partner asked me to have the agreed order retyped, verbatim, in our firm's preferred format. Opposing counsel had sent over an agreed order, and we were fine with its wording. But the senior partner wanted it to look like our document. "Have it retyped and then take it over to opposing counsel for his signature," he told me...

No typos? Ever?

Posted on June 09, 2008
A former student sent me this comment, carried in a major newspaper, from a senior partner at a law firm:Do not ever for the second time give your senior a piece of writing with a typo or a grammatical mistake. I will take it once and I will tell the junior my set speech...

Is the up-front conclusion always best?

Posted on June 05, 2008
At a recent seminar, I was preaching, as usual, about beginning legal documents with some kind of up-front conclusion. I mentioned legal advice and legal opinions in particular. Don't start with background, I said, and then build up to the conclusion--the answer...

Ten legal words and phrases we can do without

Posted on June 02, 2008
Ten legal words and phrases we can do withoutAustin Lawyer, May 2008Part of becoming a lawyer is mastering legal vocabulary, be it archaic, fancy, or Latin. It's an important part of what law students and novice legal writers have to learn. But part of becoming an expert legal writer is shedding the archaic, the fancy, and the Latin...

Scalia & Garner on writing

Posted on May 26, 2008
Flor lawyers who write for judges, and for all lawyers who want to improve, I recommend a new book by Bryan Garner and Justice Scalia:Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading JudgesLots of great advice.

Fear as a factor in nominalizations

Posted on May 15, 2008
An excellent post from a commenter acknowledges fear as a force in legal writing:I think much of the problem (to the extent it is one) with legal writing is that it is based upon fear.Young lawyers fear being wrong. They fear error as though to err is fatal (maybe fatal to your career, but not life-threatening)...

Verbs that want to become nouns--why?

Posted on May 12, 2008
One commenter has noticed that lawyers often use nominalizations when another form would sound more natural or be easier to read:Where do you think they pick up the habit?he asks.I don't know, but I have some guesses:From judicial opinions. But that just begs the question because we must now ask where the judges--who are legal writers, after all--pick up the habit...

More on nouns that want to be verbs

Posted on May 12, 2008
An able commenter has pointed out that converting to a verb form is not the only way to avoid nominalizations:Sometimes the best alternative to an abstract noun isn't a verb but an adjective. For example, is liable instead of has liability.And an additional drawback to buried verbs is that like the passive voice, they allow the writer to omit the actor...

When verbs become nouns

Posted on May 09, 2008
Lots of legal writing contains nouns that could have been verbs. These nouns wanted to be verbs--they really did. But lawyerly habits and the default patterns of legal writing made these verbs into nouns, and only you can put them back.Nouns that wanted to be verbs go by many names: nominalizations, hidden verbs, buried verbs...

Roy Mersky has died

Posted on May 07, 2008
Roy Mersky, or "RMM" to many of us, died yesterday. He was the director of the law library here at the University of Texas School of Law. He was a giant in the field of law libraries. He was also my friend.When I wrote an article or a book, Roy would send me a note of congratulations...

What clients will pay for

Posted on May 02, 2008
Oops. I meant the title of this post to say: "For what clients will pay."Yesterday a commenter reminded me that most lawyers are too busy to polish their work as much as they should. I agreed. Today, a commenter pointed out another reason lawyers don't polish their writing as they should:Clients aren't willing to pay to have perfect work product...

The busy-ness of law practice

Posted on May 01, 2008
A commenter writes:The problem is that, ironically, legal practice discourages good writing. . . . [One] reason is that most lawyers take on more work than they can do well. It may be their own fault, but they don?t have enough time to edit and proofread their writing...

Reasons legal writing doesn't improve

Posted on April 18, 2008
A commenter writes:Writing is a fundamental skill. Law schools should put much greater emphasis on this fundamental. Those students who didn't develop good writing skills before they got to law school should take more than one or two legal writing courses...

Expectations of what I teach

Posted on April 17, 2008
Recently, a tenured professor walked into my office, holding a student-written paper. The professor was teaching an advanced course in which students had to write a scholarly paper. "I'm very upset that our students can't write," he said. "Look at this...

U.S. House passes plain-language law

Posted on April 16, 2008
The House has passed the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2008.It requires agencies to rely on the Federal Plain Language Guidelines or the SEC's Plain English Handbook.Yay.Hat tip to Mister Thorne of Set in Style.

Writing to Win: Plain Language Jury Instructions

Posted on April 10, 2008
I attended and spoke at Writing to Win: Plain Language Jury Instructions, sponsored by Washburn University School of Law. It was a great conference, very professionally run. Prof. Lyn Goering there was in charge, and she was superb.More and more states are thinking about plainifying their jury instructions and, of course, change has to come from, or with the approval of, the judiciary...

Legal words you'd like to banish?

Posted on March 28, 2008
What legal words or phrases would you like to banish? They can be archaic, offensive, baffling, weasel-like, or hyperlegal.I have a few, but I'll post mine later in a longer piece.

More on questions presented

Posted on March 27, 2008
In a thoughtful comment, don has raised some valuable points about writing questions presented. My post, where you can also read don's entire comment, is here.I want to address two topics he raised.First, he called my approach dogmatic. I dislike being perceived as dogmatic--on most writing issues, I'm actually quite flexible...

Defending the single-sentence question presented

Posted on March 25, 2008
A reader defends the single-sentence question presented:Focus is my #1 reason: Limiting the Question Presented to one sentence forces the writer to focus on the overall issue that is addressed in the memorandum and the key facts that determine its outcome...

I'm asking: what are the most misused legal words?

Posted on March 25, 2008
What are the most commonly misused words in legal writing?infer/imply?affect/effect?compliment/complement?counsel/council?discrete/discreet?Tell me your pet peeves or the one you see the most.

Defending the single-sentence question presented

Posted on March 20, 2008
I can't.I teach my students to use multiple sentences and construct the question as a type of syllogism, and I've been doing it for 10 years.If you teach or use the single-sentence question presented, what are its strengths? Let me cut off two before you reply...

It doesn't all transfer that easily

Posted on March 20, 2008
I read something today that made me realize that lots of folks think that if you're a good writer--if you have a strong knowledge of written English or proven success in some type of writing--then you'll make a strong legal writer.No.Even a superb grounding in writing English does not mean you'll be a good legal writer...

Summaries in legal writing, part 2

Posted on March 12, 2008
17 Austin Lawyer 6 (Mar. 2008).Every legal document should begin with a summary of some kind. In part 2 on this subject I highlight the importance of up-front summaries by quoting the experts and then offering advice based on three before-and-after examples...

Teaching Drafting conference

Posted on March 05, 2008
I will attend and participate on a panel at this conference:Teaching Drafting and Transactional Skills: The Basics and BeyondThe conference is sponsored by Emory Law School.

Jury Instructions conference

Posted on March 05, 2008
I'll be speaking at this conference, individually and on a panel:Writing to Win: Plain Language Jury InstructionsThe conference is sponsored by Washburn University School of Law.

Professor Joseph Williams has died

Posted on March 04, 2008
Joseph M. Williams, 1944-2008. Details here.I recommend his book, one of the best on writing:Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (9th ed.)

Text beneath point headings

Posted on February 20, 2008
A reader asks--In a brief with numbered point headings, should the text immediately after each point heading summarize the point made in that section of the brief, even if it is just a restatement of the point heading in slightly different form? Or should you start the text following a numbered point heading as if the heading itself is the topic sentence of the next paragraph?I consulted my colleagues, who are experienced teachers of legal writing and who include two former federal judicial clerks, and they all said the same thing, with which I agree:Make the first sentence beneath a point heading an appropriate topic sentence; do not rely on the point heading itself as a sort of topic sentence...

Summaries in legal writing, part 1

Posted on February 13, 2008
16 Austin Lawyer 9 (Feb. 2008)Every legal document should begin with a summary of some kind. This post highlights the importance of up-front summaries by quoting the experts and then offers advice in three before-and-after examples.All legal writing should be front loaded...

Plain-English advocate picks on lawyers. Ouch.

Posted on February 05, 2008
Why do lawyers write so that no one can understand them? They say it is because they need to be precise, and that their language has been honed by centuries of litigation. But this is baloney. The real reason is that, although they are paid for their skill with words, most lawyers are dull and clumsy writers who have not broken the bad habits they learned as students...

Choosing topics for sentences

Posted on February 04, 2008
16 Austin Lawyer 13 (Dec. 2007 & Jan. 2008) (updated from a post on Nov. 2, 2007)This piece is about dates, witnesses, and cases and their frequent appearances in topic sentences.Dates are not topicsIn reading several briefs recently, I noticed that the facts often had a series of three, four, or even five consecutive paragraphs beginning with a date...

Writing for nonlawyers

Posted on February 04, 2008
16 Austin Lawyer 13 (Nov. 2007)When writing for nonlawyers, some of us maintain a misguided sense of professionalism, which can lead to an unnecessarily formal writing style that ignores audience needs.Young lawyers, I forgive. They don't always know which legal words and constructions are necessary and which are fluff...

Mind your prepositions

Posted on February 04, 2008
16 Austin Lawyer 13 (Oct. 2007)We should write sentences that convey our meaning and keep the reader engaged. We should write sentences that flow. That can be hard in legal writing, but we can learn. This article discusses two preposition problems that can spoil engaging, flowing sentences...

All-capitals not necessarily conspicuous

Posted on February 04, 2008
?Lawyers who think their caps lock keys are instant ?make conspicuous? buttons are deluded.?In re Bassett, 285 F.3d 882, 886 (9th Cir. 2002).Hat tip to Ken Adams.

Doubling spacing?

Posted on January 30, 2008
"Double-spacing facilitates the reading and comprehension of large numbers of legal documents." State v. Riley, 605 S.E.2d 212, 214 (N.C. App. 2004).This reader of legal documents disagrees. To me, double-spacinguses twice as much paperforces me to turn the page twice as oftenmakes it hard to skim the documenttakes twice as long to scroll through on the screenSo there.

Topic & transition sentences in case explanations part 4

Posted on January 28, 2008
In place of the transition words and phrases, the writer has now used a transition that captures how the case relates to the previous one in somewhat substantive terms. Notice how the boldface language ties the current case back to the previous with repeated words and phrases...

Topic & transition sentences in case explanations part 3

Posted on January 28, 2008
We can make the topic sentences into fair transition sentences by adding transition phrases (boldface added):Using several strong formatting techniques will generally make a disclaimer conspicuous. Gravely v. Kirkland, 1999 WL 498201 *2 (Tex. App.--Beaumont July 15, 1999, pet...

Topic & transition sentences in case explanations part 2

Posted on January 28, 2008
Now each paragraph has a topic sentence: something that tells what this case is about and how it relates to the general rule (boldface added).Using several strong formatting techniques will generally make a disclaimer conspicuous. Gravely v. Kirkland, 1999 WL 498201 *2 (Tex...

Topic & transition sentences in case explanations part 1

Posted on January 28, 2008
After a paragraph setting up the rule of law on this topic and citing the relevant statute, these three paragraphs appear, explaining how courts have handled the issue. The goal of these paragraphs is to set up the analysis of the writer's own case. Please pay attention to the first sentences in each paragraph (boldface added)...

Citation form as a sign of excellence

Posted on January 25, 2008
In the follow quotation, Professor Ian Gallacher may be right, but is that a good thing?[A]n ability to generate accurate citations is viewed as a proxy for a lawyer's attention to detail. [5] Some argue that . . . ?[a]ttention to citation form . . . will improve the reader's sense of reliability, credibility, and integrity when evaluating the worth of the document and the writer's professionalism...

Elegant variation

Posted on January 14, 2008
Note the highlighted words:The license agreement does not include or reference a noncompete agreement. If the license agreement did include a covenant prohibiting competition, special attention would need to be paid to the drafting of that provision ...

Seminar teaches the opposite of what you learned in law school

Posted on January 02, 2008
The ad for a legal-writing CLE seminar makes this claim:In this seminar, appellate attorney [instructor] advocates brevity,simplicity and clarity - the opposite of what lawyers learn in law school.This is offensive--deeply and painfully offensive. Just kidding...

Predictions for Bluebook

Posted on January 02, 2008
1. The Bluebook will eventually abandon the dual typeface conventions for law-review style and practitioner style. It's just a matter of time.2. The Bluebook publishers (students) will increasingly rely on professionals to help them. They are already using real lawyers and law professors as consultants...

Citation form as a social norm

Posted on January 02, 2008
Ray Ward of the (new) legal writer posted a wise blog entry here. He says he will try to pursue excellence in his writing without overemphasizing the trivial. I agree with him.He cited my post on the "tyranny of the inconsequential"--my term for the trivial aspects of citation form: spaces, abbreviations, commas...

Answer to legal-writing quiz 20

Posted on December 13, 2007
20. In 2002, University of Houston law professor David Crump wrote a law-review article and sent it to every legal-writing teacher in the United States. What was the name of the article?Answer: Against Plain EnglishI responded to Crump's article with my own article, What Plain English Really IsCongratulations to Bobbie

Legal-writing quiz 20

Posted on December 13, 2007
19. Legal-writing teachers generally agree that writers should not present authority to readers in a piece-meal fashion. Instead, writers should group related authorities together, reconcile them as much as possible, and draw from them principles, themes, or general rules...

Legal-writing quiz 19

Posted on December 13, 2007
18. This person is the foremost expert on the language of transactional legal drafting today and is the author of two books on the subject. Name this person.Answer: Kenneth Adams (congratulations to Ray Ward). Adams is the author ofA Manual of Style for Contract Drafting andLegal Usage in Drafting Corporate Agreements19...

Legal-writing quiz 18

Posted on December 13, 2007
17. Published by the ABA, this book, now in its second edition, describes the content, structure, and staffing of legal writing courses and makes recommendations for creating effective legal-writing programs. Name it.Answer: Sourcebook on Legal Writing Programs (congratulations to Bobbie)18...

Legal-writing quiz 17

Posted on December 13, 2007
16. Who is the current editor-in-chief of the Scribes Journal of Legal Writing?Answer: Joseph Kimble17. Published by the ABA, this book, now in its second edition, describes the content, structure, and staffing of legal writing courses and makes recommendations for creating effective legal-writing programs...

Legal-writing quiz 16

Posted on December 13, 2007
15. This citation manual, published by the University of Chicago Law Review in 1989, has never caught on outside that school. What is it usually called?Answer: Maroonbook (Congratulations to Bryan)16. Who is the current editor-in-chief of the Scribes Journal of Legal Writing?

Legal-writing quiz 15

Posted on December 12, 2007
14. There are at least four books that claim to be comprehensive style references (not just style guides?references) for legal writing. Name them.Answer:The Redbook: A Manual on Legal StyleJust Writing: Grammar, Punctuation, and Style For The Legal WriterLegal Writing: Getting It Right and Getting It WrittenAspen Handbook For Legal Writers15...

Legal-writing quiz 14

Posted on December 12, 2007
13. Name a book that focuses exclusively on litigation writing?not just on persuasion, appellate advocacy, or briefing.Answer: Plain and Accurate Style in Court Papers by Irwin Alterman (Congratulations to SAM)14. There are at least four books that claim to be comprehensive style references (not just style guides?references) for legal writing...

Legal-writing quiz 13

Posted on December 12, 2007
12. In 1992, the ABA published Legal Education and Professional Development?An Educational Continuum. Half of this report covered ?A Vision of the Skills and Values New Lawyers Should Seek to Acquire,? which emphasized, among other things, the importance of legal analysis and written communication in law practice...

Legal-writing quiz 12

Posted on December 12, 2007
11. The ALWD Citation Manual was introduced in 2000 as a competitor to The Bluebook. It uses a system of citation very similar to The Bluebook, with one major difference. What is the difference?Answer: In ALWD, the typeface conventions for scholarly writing and practitioner writing are the same...

Legal-writing quiz 11

Posted on December 12, 2007
10. To conclude an affidavit, which is better?a. Further Affiant Saith Naughtb. Further Affiant Sayeth Notc. SignedAnswer: Signed (Congratulations to SAM)See Nuts to Further Affiant Sayeth Naught11. The ALWD Citation Manual was introduced in 2000 as a competitor to The Bluebook...

Legal-writing quiz 10

Posted on December 11, 2007
9. What expert on clear writing created a 100-point readability scale and wrote Why Johnny Can't Read?Answer: Rudolf Flesch (Congratulations to Bobbie)10. To conclude an affidavit, which is better?a. Further Affiant Saith Naughtb. Further Affiant Sayeth Notc...

Legal-writing quiz 9

Posted on December 11, 2007
8. In 1963, a UCLA law professor published what is widely considered the finest and most exhaustive scholarly work on legal language. Name the book and author.Answer: The Language of the Law by David Mellinkoff (congratulations to SAM)9. What expert on clear writing created a 100-point readability scale and wrote Why Johnny Can't Read?

Legal-writing quiz 8

Posted on December 11, 2007
7. Name the colorful phrase that describes the legal-writing field?s high percentage of women and low status.Answer: Pink Ghetto (congratulations to Paul, who also provided this link)8. In 1963, a UCLA law professor published what is widely considered the finest and most exhaustive scholarly work on legal language...

Legal-writing quiz 7

Posted on December 11, 2007
6. Law professor James White offered this critique of the plain-English movement in his book, Heracles' Bow:The success of any movement to translate legal speech into Plain English will be severely limited. For if one replaces a Legal Word with an Ordinary English Word, the sense of increased normalcy will be momentary at best: the legal culture will go immediately to work, and the Ordinary Word will begin to lose its shape, its resiliency, and its familiarity, and become, despite all the efforts of the writer, a Legal Word after all...

Legal-writing quiz 6

Posted on December 11, 2007
5. The Legal Writing Institute, a national organization for legal writing, analysis, and research, was founded in 1984. Until 2002, the same group of legal-writing faculty served as hosts for the Institute?even though they moved from one law school to another...

Legal-writing quiz 5

Posted on December 10, 2007
4. In the summer of 2001, Richard Posner and Bryan Garner debated a legal-writing issue in a magazine for judges. Garner's position was also featured in a New York Times article and has caused considerable discussion among judges and brief writers. What is the issue?Answer: Putting all citations in footnotes...

Legal-writing quiz 4

Posted on December 10, 2007
3. According to modern readability standards, which of these is the best way to emphasize text?ALL CAPITALSBoldUnderlineAnswer: Bold (Congratulations to SAM). All-caps and underlining are vestiges of the typewriter and impair readability. See The PC is Not a Typewriter...

Legal-writing quiz 3

Posted on December 10, 2007
2. Who is the current editor-in-chief of Black's Law Dictionary?Answer: Bryan A. Garner (Congratulations to divine angst)3. According to modern readability standards, which of these is the best way to emphasize text?ALL CAPITALSBoldUnderline

Legal-writing quiz 2

Posted on December 10, 2007
1. Originally published as a law review article in 1978, this book, now in its fifth edition, has sold many thousands of copies and is probably the most successful legal-writing book ever. Name it.Answer: Plain English for Lawyers by Richard Wydick (Congratulations to Scott)2...

Legal-writing quiz 1

Posted on December 10, 2007
20 questions to test your knowledge of the field of legal writing.1. Originally published as a law review article in 1978, this book, now in its fifth edition, has sold many thousands of copies and is probably the most successful legal-writing book ever...