Legal Writing

Attorney Hates His Web Site

Posted on May 27, 2009
This post is really about another (”I Hate My Website,” written by New York personal injury attorney Eric Turkewitz). But, first . . .  ____________ It’s the better part of a year ago, and I’m in a courtroom. (Not to worry; I’m sitting in the gallery...

Janet Ellen Raasch — Ghostwriter for Attorneys

Posted on May 21, 2009
Would you like to write an op-ed for The National Law Journal, or an article for Corporate Counsel magazine? Wouldn?t that be good? Of course it would. Getting an article published in a well known, well respected, and widely circulated periodical is a wonderful thing to do if you want others to know who you are and what [...

Fixing Errors after Publication

Posted on May 19, 2009
I just learned my name is attached to something flawed.  My goal is to change that. ____________ Here’s the story: Six months ago, I sent this article to Law Practice Magazine, a popular ABA periodical about law practice management. The article was set to run in the January issue, which focused on marketing tactics for attorneys...

Escape from Big Law

Posted on May 14, 2009
You’re a small associate in the IP department of a great big law firm. While you’re so thankful that, unlike some other associates, you still have a job, you’re not satisfied. You’re not doing the work you really want to be doing, and some of the partners are just ...

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An Expanding Market for Editors?

Posted on May 12, 2009
Only a few large firms have dedicated editors on staff.  That’s likely to change. Why? Because of the growing importance of the written word, motivated by the growing use of social networking tools to attract clients. That’s why. Don’t take my word for it...

Less is More

Posted on May 07, 2009
. . . especially when it comes to the number of words you require your readers to read. Consider this opening line to a recently published client alert: On April 17, 2009, the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (?EPA?) issued two proposed findings regarding the following greenhouse gases (?GHGs?): carbon dioxide; methane; nitrous oxide; hydrofluorocarbons; perfluorocarbons; and [...

They Is?

Posted on May 06, 2009
An associate advises me to read an article titled “10 STEPS TO EFFECTIVE WRITING.” OK. But, I wonder, who would use numeral ten in place of word ten – especially at the start a title? Definitely not Kosher. I favor this line in the article’s intro: At one extreme, there?s a ?give-it-to-the-intern? attitude that leads to costly and embarrassing [...

The Supreme Court Corrects the Government’s Grammar

Posted on May 05, 2009
Yesterday, the Supreme Court published its opinion in Flores-Figueroa v. United States, a case in which the government held that you shouldn’t rigidly apply the rules of English grammar to federal statutes. At issue was this provision (18 U. S. C...

The Past Need Not Be Perfect — Part II

Posted on April 30, 2009
  Sometimes, it’s better to be simple than perfect. The past is one of those times.   You’re preparing a brief. Given the rules, you’re allowed 9,000 words (e.g., Supreme Court rule 37.3), or 30 pages, where the average page contains 300 words...

On Legible Briefs ? The Court’s Advice

Posted on April 25, 2009
REQUIREMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TYPOGRAPHY IN BRIEFS AND OTHER PAPERS ? a guide published by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ? is required reading for anyone following Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32. The advice it contains isn’t just for those involved in “the production of briefs, motions, appendices, and other papers” for a federal appeals [...

On Looking for a Lawyer

Posted on April 24, 2009
It’s 7:35 AM*. I’ve got a cup coffee and I’m watching one of those morning news programs. Actually, it’s a semi-news program that leads with the fires in South Carolina and the Taliban in Pakistan, but ends up offering advice on how to choose a butcher or a mechanic or some such...

Some Light Reading

Posted on April 23, 2009
If you want to Look Sharp Online, read the article, which appears in the ABA’s Law Practice Today. It describes what you can do to make sure your publications (client alerts, blogs, Web sites) have a professional appearance. If you’re thinking about going solo, then you’re likely thinking of starting a blog...

Is Anyone There?

Posted on April 13, 2009
You’re looking for a law firm to handle some “complex commercial litigation.” Someone mentions Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP. You review the firm’s Web site and you like what (little) you see. You send an e-mail message asking for someone at the firm to contact you, and you send your message to the address posted [...

Today’s Quote

Posted on April 09, 2009
?I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.? – A. J. Liebling

Regarding RFPs ? How Is Your Firm Different?

Posted on April 08, 2009
If you read or write RFPs, then you might want to consider this article which discusses how you can differentiate your firm from others. Here’s an excerpt which dismisses the notion that people are too busy to read: The real truth is that people do read ? and they read a lot...

Cynthia Rowland ? “Love What You Do”

Posted on April 06, 2009
It?s big news ? big, it is, around all those parts of the world that have TVs and high-speed Internet hook-ups. Michelle Obama is addressing some of the girls who attend the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School, ?a large inner-city girls school,? in London, and the world is watching...

Change & Resistance

Posted on April 05, 2009

Polishing Before Publishing ? An Example

Posted on March 31, 2009
Kevin O’Keefe, the founder and driving force behind LexBlog ? a firm that offers lawyers a “turn-key, professional blog service” ? and a pioneer in making the Internet useful for marketing legal servicecs, recently wrote an article titled“Law firm websites : Do all lawyers need them?” The article says a Web site is essential, but you [...

Another Interesting Intro

Posted on March 25, 2009
Check out the heading to this article published by a law firm in Phoenix, Arizona: It’s a small firm, run by one attorney ? a solo prone to errors in grammar and spelling and punctuation and formatting, etc. Her writing is probably doing her more harm than good: after all, who wants an attorney who can’t do [...

Doug Stern ? Be Natural

Posted on March 25, 2009
If you’re an attorney, and you just finished writing something that includes a bunch of hefty phrases like “including without limitation X, and Y, and Z, and so forth, and so on,” and now you’re getting ready to write a client alert (or a letter to a client or a prospective client or someone who [...

Blog Posts with Volition

Posted on March 24, 2009
The U.S. Immigrants Blog published by Azulay Seiden has something few blogs do ? a page of instructions advising all that: Anyone can comment on blog posts, regardless of whether they are registered or signed in. It’s a singular/plural disagreement that yields an absurdity.

The Difference Between a Journalist and a Lawyer

Posted on March 24, 2009
It looks like this week’s focus is on intros (i.e., introductions to articles, blog posts, client alerts, and the like). Consider the following intro to a story written by a journalist: A North Andover man, who owns a pizza shop in Tyngsborough, is accused of beating an employee with a bat and sticking a gun in his [...

Intros & Errors

Posted on March 24, 2009
Here’s the intro to a post at a new blog that just doesn’t bother to do some of the things that professional publishers do: Under California Law numerous exceptions exist to the traditional ?American Rule? wherein each party is required to pay their own attorneys? fees in litigation...

Introducing the Bar Association of Evil Attorneys

Posted on March 23, 2009
Consider the following intro, published by The Bar Association of Evil Attorneys: On this date, in the Garden State, the Supreme Court of New Jersey suspended Terrence P. Tormey for unethically representing a 79-year old native of Portugal who had difficulty in speaking and understanding the English language in the sale of his home to another of [...

Stay Tuned

Posted on March 18, 2009
My apologies ? I’ve been so danged busy I haven’t had the time to devote to this blog. And I still don’t. But if you’re just hankering for some word from yours truly, check this out: Look Sharp Online. It’s about the things you need to do to make your blog look like a serious, professional endeavor...

Advice to Attorney Bloggers (from Gyi Tsakalakis)

Posted on March 13, 2009
Some sound advice from Gyi Tsakalakis on what attorneys can do to make sure their blogs are effective (i.e., attract potential clients). Here’s an excerpt from an article he wrote advising attorneys on how they can promote their practices: 4. Blog- (60 mins...

Why Do Attorneys Need Editors?

Posted on March 10, 2009
Here’s a good example of why attorney-authors need editors: POSTED ON MARCH 6, 2009 BY STEPHEN KLEINMAN The Supreme Court Decides Wyeth v. Levine On March 4, 2009, in Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249, the United States Supreme Court upheld, by a 6-3 vote, the Vermont Supreme Court’s holding in favor of a patient who argued that the [...

Troubled Type

Posted on March 09, 2009
Consider the following copy from this article published by Jackson Walker: Now, compare that to the same copy after it’s been reset by a skilled typesetter: Take a look at the right side of both. Notice that in the original, none of the lines ends with hyphens...

Keeping Clients In — And Competitors Out

Posted on March 04, 2009

Hayman & Kirshenbaum ? Serial Offenders

Posted on March 03, 2009

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