Legal Writing

A Cautionary Tale

Posted on July 21, 2008
Here’s an interesting story of what can happen when attorneys fail to follow a time-honored principle of publishing.

Are Leaders Born or Formed?

Posted on July 21, 2008
The good folks behind Mission Critical Litigation® claim that their leaders were formed — and they were formed in just one day. Here’s the claim: Formed on March 1, 1980, our leaders built a firm with ambitious and smart lawyers who demonstrate passion and zeal in their representation of the firm?s clients...

The Supreme Court Needs an Editor?

Posted on July 09, 2008
Ross Guberman has this interesting post about the grammatical errors he found in the opinion and dissents in District of Columbia vs. Heller.

A Day in History

Posted on July 05, 2008

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Contest — The Parts Comprise the Whole?

Posted on July 03, 2008
Each of the following contains some grammatical error(s). Can you identify the error(s)? McKee Nelson has one of the most prominent teams of tax attorneys in the country, comprised of accomplished business lawyers with tax expertise who represent a diverse range of clients...

Law Ferms and Daredevils

Posted on July 01, 2008
Professional publishers do this: before they publish copy, they prove proof it. This is a pretty straightforward task. It’s the sort of thing most concientious conscientious sots sorts learned in middle school (i.e., before you submit a paper, review it)...

Relying On Precedent

Posted on June 28, 2008
From “DEFYING PRECEDENT: THE ARMY WRITING STYLE” authored by Major Thomas Keith Emswiler:   Why can?t lawyers, who are among the best educated in any community, write well? Why can?t law professors, who are among the best educated in the legal community, write well? The answer is reliance on precedent — the lawyer?s bread and butter...

The Myth of the Split Verb

Posted on June 25, 2008
In our last post, we considered the order of verbs and the adverbs used to modify them. And we considered an easy and reliable way of calculating the colloquial quotient of the order of verbs and adverbs. Here, we consider something closely related — the myth of the split verb...

The Present Need Not Be Perfect

Posted on June 18, 2008
A common error many attorneys make when writing client alerts is this: they use exactly the same style of writing that they use in their daily work. But that doesn’t work very well. When you write a brief, someone else has to read it. But when you write a client alert, no one has to read [...

Get a Second Opinion First

Posted on June 11, 2008
You’ve got a deadline. You’re reviewing your work, and then you realize an important section begins with this*: A California Court of Appeal recently interpreted the state’s Song-Beverly Credit Act to allow merchants to require extra personal identifying information from customers to be recorded on credit card slips when giving a customer credit for returned merchandise...

Lawyers as Managing Editors

Posted on June 05, 2008
In the past few years, a number of large law firms have named a few partners as editors of practice-area newsletters (as well as other pubs, like practice-area blogs). And that makes perfect sense because the authors of those newsletters need what all authors need — editors to review their work...

Scrunched!

Posted on May 30, 2008
The following description of a firm’s practice appears on the inside front cover of this brochure. That’s the actual size of the printed copy. Can you read it (without a magnifying glass)? OK. Suppose you use a magnifying glass so the copy appears like so: The copy’s much easier to read, but no matter how much you magnify [...

Cutting Your Own Hair

Posted on May 29, 2008
This anonymously authored Note in the Harvard Law Review has gotten lots of attention recently. Here’s a bit of it:   Now, suppose Ms. Anonymous engaged Mr. Wordsmith to edit that article? Then it might have turned out like so: Less wordy; less convoluted; more pleasing to readers, and the author seems like a fairly good writer (as opposed to [...

Some Great Advice for Legal Writers

Posted on May 27, 2008
Thinking of submitting something to a law review? Then check this out. Better yet, take a look at this. And rely on those resources (Out of the Jungle, by Betsy McKenzie, et al. and Academic Legal Writing by Eugene Volokh) if you plan to write a magazine article...

Once Again — Why Do Lawyers Need Editors?

Posted on May 27, 2008
So they don’t write stuff as awkward as this: “The inclusion of a party’s trademark in website metatags does not give rise to initial interest confusion that would support a finding of likelihood of confusion that consumers would perceive the defendant as an authorized retailer of the plaintiff’s products...

Discovering Valiulis

Posted on May 22, 2008
If you’re an attorney at some great big law firm, and you’ve just been asked to write a client alert, and it has to be done in two days (after all, it’s called an alert), and you’ve never written such a thing before, and you’re wondering where to begin, here’s where — read what others [...

Adapting to Change (or Being Forgotten)

Posted on May 22, 2008
If you’re an attorney, if you’re no longer as young as you used to be, and you write stuff beyond legal matter (e.g., you write law review articles, or client alerts, or magazine articles), then you might want to read this article in the Wisconsin Law Journal...

Let’s See — Why Do Lawyers Need Editors?

Posted on May 20, 2008
Well . . . to tell you the truth, not all lawyers need editors. The ones who don’t are the ones who aren’t read, except by those (law clerks, judges, opposing counsel) who really have no choice (because they’re involved in a certain matter)...

A Great Tip (for Legal Writers)

Posted on May 20, 2008
I highly recommend this advice by Wayne Schiess (director of legal writing at the University of Texas law school). It’s a great tip on how lawyers can improve their writing. It recommend it, especially, for those lawyers who feel as if they need no help at all with their writing (while others can see they certainly do)...

Making Some Good First Impressions — Lots of Them

Posted on May 18, 2008
You’re an associate at a big law firm. You’ve been asked to help a partner write a client alert. When the alert is published, your name will be on it, right next to the partner’s. That client alert could become a great calling card for you...

Do You Know Your Type?

Posted on May 17, 2008
The Font Game decides.

An Interesting Quote

Posted on May 13, 2008
From this article (titled “Lawyers’ writing skills still bad”) in the National Law Journal: “Most of us would be far better writers if we’d never gone to law school.” That’s the word from Douglas Winter, writing instructor at Bryan Cave.

Shifting Gears (from Briefs to Alerts)

Posted on May 11, 2008
It's one thing to write a brief that MUST be read by a few others. It's quite another to write a client alert that no one has to read.

Not Your Average, Run-of-the-Mill Law Firm

Posted on May 04, 2008
The Valorem Law Group knows a thing or two about marketing legal services. It knows that standing out from competitors is a key goal of marketing the firm. And it’s Web site demonstrates that very well. Take a look at the site’s disclaimer...

Touched by an Editor

Posted on May 04, 2008
Yet another answer to our perpetual question: what can an editor do for you? Consider the following copy, the first line in a client alert: The Ninth Circuit ruled earlier this month in Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com that a website that specializes in matching renters with those with rooms to rent violated the Fair Housing Act [...

Garner and Scalia Interviewed

Posted on April 27, 2008
The May 2008 edition of the ABA Journal has this interview with Bryan Garner and Antonin Scalia discussing topics from Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.

This and That Is Measured at Thelen Reid

Posted on April 26, 2008
I don’t know about you, but I find it a mite odd when a law firm — especially a great big one — bothers to list each and every time someone at the firm was quoted in a newspaper or magazine. I find it especially odd when the list includes a quote that appeared in [...

Standards of the Standards of Review at the Ninth

Posted on April 24, 2008
Review the Standards of Review published by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. From a production standpoint, this is pretty scary stuff. And if you wonder why, just compare them (those published standards) to these published standards.

Wizardry at Winstead

Posted on April 21, 2008
Winstead PC — one of the largest law firms in Texas — does what so many other large law firms do. It advertises that it uses technology — including its “unique data and software applications” — to increase efficiency and to provide “[u]nsurpassed access to critical business and legal information...

Law Firm Claims Wood is a Fossil Fuel!

Posted on April 21, 2008
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck — a firm that claims “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” — says  wood is a fossil fuel...

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