Legal Writing

Was the Obama Born? If So, Where?

Posted on October 27, 2008
Those are the sorts of questions raised in a suit filed by Philip J. Berg, an attorney and host of Obama Crimes. Barack Obama claims he was born in Hawaii, but Berg says that ain’t so — he was born in Kenya, so he’s not a natural born citizen and he can’t become president...

Environmental Attorney Says Wood is a Fossil Fuel!

Posted on October 25, 2008
Christopher G. Foster, an attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck — a firm that boasts “you can rest assured that you’re being represented by a team of seasoned attorneys with the knowledge, relationships and legal skills to help you mitigate even the most complex environmental risk” — claims wood is a fossil fuel! Here’s the [...

Attorney Advertising — The Weirdest Kind

Posted on October 25, 2008
Rutledge & Yaghmai — a small law firm in Anniston, Alabama — is doing something weird: it’s hosting a blog — FORT MCCLELLAN LITIGATION – to promote a lawsuit: The City of Annitson Alabama et al v. Honarable Joel E. Laird...

On Getting Noticed — Part IV

Posted on October 22, 2008
So, what’s the relationship between the North Texas Family Law Blog, the Greater Houston Criminal Defense Law Blog, and Sheppard & Mullins’ China Law Update? Odd as it is, the family and defense law blogs link to Sheppard & Mullins’ blog...

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On Getting Noticed — Part III

Posted on October 21, 2008
This discussion began with this question — what’s the relationship between the North Texas Family Law Blog, the Greater Houston Criminal Defense Law Blog, and Shepphard & Mullins’ China Law Update? I’m getting to that. But, first, I want you to consider another blog of sorts...

On Getting Noticed — Part II

Posted on October 17, 2008
In yesterday’s post, I discussed two rating services — Alexa (for Web sites) and Technorati (for blogs). Let’s consider how they come up with those numbers (rankings) that tell us how popular is a blog or a Web site. Alexa rankings are based on how many people visit a Web site, and how many pages they [...

On Getting Noticed

Posted on October 16, 2008
Nielsen ranks TV shows. Arbitron ranks radio shows. Alexa ranks Web sites. Technorati purports to rank blogs, but it can be fooled. And some have turned fooling Technorati into a high-tech art form. With both Alexa and Technorati, the lower your rank, the more popular you are...

Joshua Stein — Attorney & Author

Posted on October 14, 2008
About Joshua Stein If you?re involved in New York?s commercial real estate market, then you?ve likely heard of Joshua Stein, a partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins LLP. And if you practice commercial real estate law, especially in New York, you?ve probably read some of what he?s written — four books on [...

Why Lawyers Need Editors — Sum Waye Moore Then Otters

Posted on October 10, 2008
Once again, attorney Brian Puricelli is in the news — The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Examiner, and ABC News. Now, how does an attorney who’s so obscure that he’s not even listed by Martindale-Hubbell get such press? Because he inspires fascinating judicial opinions, like this recent opinion written by U...

Dingle, Dangle

Posted on October 09, 2008
There’s a terrible thing, and it’s called the dangling participle. It’s a terrible thing because — if you have one and you show it to others — they might think you’re an idiot; they might point to it and laugh at you...

Barry Landsberg — On the Road to Success

Posted on October 09, 2008
Barry Landsberg, senior partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP in Los Angeles, is the sort of lawyer that so many young associates at Great Big Law Firms aspire to be — Quintessential & Successful. But few of those young associates have lawyering in their essential acids the way Landsberg does...

Law Firm Advertises the Wrong Number

Posted on October 07, 2008
Let’s just suppose you’re trying to attract new clients. Great! Now, let’s suppose you’re handing out business cards that look sharp, but have the wrong phone number. And not just any wrong number, but a number that’s been disconnected...

Principle v. Principal

Posted on October 05, 2008
Kimberly Kralowec has this interesting post about courts confusing a pair of homonyms. She offers three examples from three opinions issued in three days.

Don’t Overload an Intro

Posted on October 05, 2008
Here’s the first line of a client alert: At this point, it is hard to assess the significance of the July 21 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that vacated the FCC?s fine against CBS for the notorious Janet Jackson 2004 Super Bowl incident...

Womble Carlyle Takes Advantage of the News

Posted on October 03, 2008
I’d say that Womble Carlyle is smart for publishing this sort of information about an outfit that’s much in the news of late — the FDIC. It’s informative*, it’s geared to a broad audience, it answers questions that many are asking right now,and it’s likely to bring visitors to the firm’s Web site...

Pop Quiz

Posted on October 03, 2008
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for a pop quiz. Are we ready?  Over at the UCL Practitioner blog, Kimberly Kralowec informs us of the following: In Freedom Communications, Inc. v. Superior Court, ___ Cal.App.4th ___ (Sept. 30, 2008), the Court of Appeal reversed an order prohibiting the Orange County Register from reporting on the trial of a wage [...

Getting Noticed

Posted on October 02, 2008
The October issue of the ABA Journal has a list of tips to help attorneys “stand out in today’s stagnant economy.” Here’s Tip #1: 1. Get published. Opportunity-makers use writing as a chance to enhance their business development potential...

Write What You Know

Posted on October 02, 2008
Forbes has this interesting article by Rick Eid, who used to write for the ever-so-popular TV series, “Law & Order.” Eid began his career as an associate at Skadden Arps. A few years later, he joined Manatt Phelps. Eight years after becoming a lawyer, he quit the profession and became an unemployed writer...

The Worm Is in the Heart . . . .

Posted on September 30, 2008
The corner liquor store is a financial institution covered by EESA, and so is the dry cleaners, the deli, the bakery, and the grammar school. Here’s the definition of financial institutions covered by EESA, according to the Congress (w/o an editor): FINANCIAL INSTITUTION...

Caution — Pseudo-editors at Work!

Posted on September 24, 2008
Here’s the opening to this alert published by Farella Braun + Martel, a firm that claims it is “known for our imaginative legal solutions and the dynamism and intellectual creativity of our lawyers.” It’s a good read — far better than the usual “on Date, some Court ruled that such-and-such is prohibited by this-or-that...

On the Value of Being Timely

Posted on September 19, 2008
Yesterday, I wrote about the value of publishing a client alert promptly — while the subject of the alert is still news. While I was writing, CFO.com was publishing this article about the risks of credit-default swaps. And guess what? That article discussed and quoted this client alert about risks and opportunities in the credit-default swap market...

Target the Right Audience

Posted on September 18, 2008
What happens is this — most attorneys write most client alerts for an audience of other attorneys (esp. corporate counselors). Fine — so long as their alerts are well written, informative, and published promptly. (As I mentioned in a recent post, a survey of GCs shows that — when they’re really interested in something, they [...

Sieze the Moment

Posted on September 18, 2008
News isn’t usually news for all that long. One week, it’s Sarah Palin. The next, it’s a huge storm. After that, it’s the woes on Wall Street. Next week, it’ll be something else. Who knows what? News organizations move fast...

David Beats Goliath (Again)

Posted on September 17, 2008
For some companies (think Amazon), Web site rankings are absolutely critical. For others (think a Great Big Law Firm), they don’t matter at all (they say). So, why wonder why a site run by an artist at an ad agency — Puppies and Flowers — gets more traffic* than Weil Gotshal, a firm that claims it’s [...

The Attorney Who Represents Himself . . . .

Posted on September 12, 2008
You know the old saying — the attorney who represents himself has got a fool for a client. Ditto for the attorney who serves as his own editor (or figures he’s such a terrific writer, he doesn’t need one).

Has Anyone Seen Brian Kennan?

Posted on September 10, 2008
      Consider this post from Davis Wright Tremaine’s Digital Media Law Blog, or this post from the firm’s Privacy and Security Law Blog. Now, suppose a prospective client reads either post and decides to contact the author. He clicks the link to Brian Kennan, but, rather than Kennan’s contact info, the prospective client sees this: OK...

RE Dysfuntional Drafting

Posted on September 09, 2008
Contract drafting guru Kenneth Adams has this interesting piece in The National Law Journal about dysfunctional drafting. Once again, he bemoans the use of legalese. Here’s a snippet: [L]egalese renders a contract a chore to read, negotiate, interpret and use as a model...

What Can an Editor Do for an Attorney?

Posted on September 09, 2008
Once again, why should an attorney consult an editor when writing a white paper, or a client alert, or an article for the Daily Journal? Here’s a good example. It’s from a white paper written by two lawyers — both heavy hitters, one the former general counsel of a large federal agency...

The Web — According to Thrope

Posted on September 08, 2008
Here’ s an interesting article by Jonathan Thrope, aspiring writer for The American Lawyer. Titled “Still Loading: Law Firms Lag Behind the Rest of Corporate America on the Web,” the article compares the sites of the Fortune 500 to those of the Am Law 200 (which is a bit like comparing bowling balls to golf balls)...

First, or Not at All

Posted on September 04, 2008
The Internet Marketing Attorney surveys general counsel, and one of the results is this: GCs expressed no consistent preference for the method of receiving newsletters or client alerts through e-mail or hardcopy. Some prefer the ability to take the hard copy home with them...

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