the (new) legal writer: Miscellaneous

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Miscellaneous

the (new) legal writer

A collection of resources for lawyers, who write. From Raymond Ward, an appellate lawyer with Adams and Reese LLP in New Orleans.

Post Frequency: 1.1/day

Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 21:33:13

Prevision

Posted on November 20, 2009
Writing guru Roy Peter Clark has come up with a great word for the mental work done before putting fingers to keyboard: prevision. It?s the first of three stages in the writing process: prevision, vision, revision. Prevision is ?[w]hat to...

Of headnotes and issue statements

Posted on November 19, 2009
Ernie the Attorney had an interesting post yesterday asking how the headnotes in West digests encourage lawyers to write long-winded sentences. The answer: the headnote authors follow the senseless convention of trying to cram all the pertinent information into one...

Sure, you can split an infinitive, but this is ridiculous.

Posted on October 29, 2009
This blog?s official position on split infinitives is that they?re okay. The Star Trek catch phrase ? ?to boldly go? ? is A-okay with us. But please, please don?t use your freedom from the no-split-infinitives superstition to write a sentence...

Two things wrong with this headline

Posted on October 24, 2009
New Orleans CityBusiness features this headline: N.O. area shed 1,800 jobs over the year. I see two things wrong with this headline. The subject, ?area,? is singular, and should therefore take a singular verb. (The story talks about jobs being...

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Great legal-writing advice from a non-lawyer: What are you trying to accomplish?

Posted on October 22, 2009
What Ken Davis said.

Send a message to the bookstores about usage guides

Posted on October 22, 2009
SPOGG (Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) reports receiving this e-mail from Bryan Garner: I have a favor to ask of you as a loyal reader: In the next few hours or days, would you please go to http://www.amazon.com/...

Appellate-practice materials from my ?Bridging the Gap? presentation

Posted on October 20, 2009
This afternoon, I?m joining Justice Harry T. Lemmon (retired) in presenting the appellate-practice hour of the Louisiana State Bar Association?s Bridging the Gap seminar for newly minted lawyers. For those participants and others who may be interested: My heavily annotated...

Drunk and Tight

Posted on October 15, 2009
I often blog with a tumbler of Dewar?s nearby. So I should pay particular attention to John McIntyre?s A Sot?s Guide to the Elements of Style.

Plagiarism: An issue for every lawyer

Posted on October 14, 2009
Law professors, judges, and practicing lawyers have one thing in common besides a law degree: All of us write. And in writing, we often borrow from the writings of others. Indeed, a certain amount of borrowing is permissible?even expected. At...

Conserving the canvas: Increasing legibility while decreasing tree mortality

Posted on October 12, 2009
If you have some influence in creating or amending court rules governing the form of pleadings and briefs, this post is for you. In the process of churning out vast quantities of paper, lawyers really do kill a lot of...

Defining terms of art

Posted on October 10, 2009
Legal writers often must use terms of art?technical words or phrases unique to a profession. Sometimes these terms come from the legal profession; sometimes they come from other professions, such as medical or engineering. But they all have one thing...

Farewell to Robust Writing

Posted on October 03, 2009
After a 16-month run, Jesse Hines is retiring his excellent blog, Robust Writing. Jesse, congratulations on an excellent run, and thanks for the free help you?ve given the rest of us.

Jan Freeman, the columnist that defends ?looking to?

Posted on October 03, 2009
?Looking to? may be overused these days, but it?s neither new nor incorrect. Jan Freeman explains. She also explains that it?s okay to use the pronoun that to refer to a person.

How to make your summary-judgment motion more effective

Posted on September 30, 2009
In my early years practicing law, I knew lawyers who would file motions for summary judgment not with the idea of winning the motion, but with the goal of ?educating the judge? about the entire case. I doubt that the...

Two great appellate seminars in November

Posted on September 28, 2009
If you?re an appellate lawyer, or if you?re a litigator who does any appreciable amount of appellate work, then listen up. There are two great appellate CLE programs coming up in November. On November 5?6, DRI will hold its eights...

One way to make your bills more palatable to clients

Posted on September 26, 2009
Billing clients may seem a bit off topic for this blog. Then again, there?s no denying that bills are important written communications from lawyers to clients. With that in mind, here?s a tip from Jim McElhaney on how to write...

How to get your cert petition granted

Posted on September 26, 2009
There?s no one article that you can read to transform yourself from a run-of-the-mill briefwriter into a writer of killer cert petitions. But this article by Erin Coe provides some insights from appellate lawyers who have succeeded in that area.

If only his ideas weren?t considered rebellious

Posted on September 20, 2009
The ABA Journal has recognized contract-drafting expert Ken Adams as a ?Legal Rebel,? a lawyer dedicated to remaking the profession. Ken?s mission is to reform the way lawyers draft contracts. He?d like to see useless words, phrases, and clauses eliminated,...

Foreshadowing and the science of persuasion

Posted on September 17, 2009
If your job involves persuading people through the written word, then you should read Something Judicious This Way Comes by Prof. Michael J. Higdon. In this paper, Prof. Higdon explores the use of foreshadowing in narrative, its effect on people?s...

For Louisiana lawyers: How to go to the front of the line

Posted on September 08, 2009
Many courts, especially appellate courts, process cases in numerical order according to docket number. This means that when you take a case there, you take a number and wait your turn. That is the general rule. There are exceptions. In...

Telling the law?s story

Posted on September 05, 2009
All advocates should know that good storytelling is powerfully persuasive. Certainly our clients have stories that we should search for and tell. But what we may not realize is that the law itself has its own stories. And when our...

Collection of resources at Daily Writing Tips

Posted on September 01, 2009
At Daily Writing Tips, Maeve Maddox has assembled a fine collection of free on-line style guides. So now you too can write like someone from, say, the BBC or the National Geographic. Just go there, browse around, and bookmark your...

Some thoughts about ?FYYFF? inspired by Rising Tide 4 (#rt4 for Twitter)

Posted on August 24, 2009
A few days ago, I attended Rising Tide 4, a wonderful conclave of New Orleans bloggers and others interested in the future of our beautiful and complex city. Near the end of the day, the organizers bestowed the Ashley Morris...

Plain-language quotation of the day

Posted on August 21, 2009
?It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.? ?James...

Graffiti

Posted on August 16, 2009
Mark Liberman at Language Log spotted this gem. It?s from The Rut, where you?ll find many more wonderful cartoons.

Tip of the day

Posted on August 12, 2009
Today?s writing tip, spotted by Evan Schaeffer, comes from a letter by Raymond Carver to his daughter: When something feels complex or complicated to you, write it out carefully and thoughtfully, several different times if necessary, until it flows smoothly...

Bryan Garner hits the road

Posted on August 10, 2009
In September and October, Bryan Garner is hitting the road with three CLE seminars: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing, Ethical Communications for Lawyers, and Advanced Legal Drafting. Bryan knows his stuff, and he presents it as well as anyone I?ve...

Make it flow

Posted on August 08, 2009
What?s the secret to making your writing flow? Actually it?s no secret at all. Taylor explains at Men With Pens. (Hat tip to the [non]billable hour.)

Cover yours

Posted on August 04, 2009
If you write for law-review publication, then there?s one piece of ancillary writing you need to get right: your cover letter to the articles editor. For some advice on that topic, read this post by Lawrence Cunningham at Concurring Opinions....

If you hate Van Morrison or like

Posted on July 28, 2009
If you hate Van Morrison or like diagramming sentences, then you?ll love this Language Log post, parsing something Van said to a fan: ?Fucking shut the fuck up.?

The Fall 2009 issue of JALWD has hit the streets

Posted on July 27, 2009
I haven?t had a chance to read it yet, but I?ve just learned that the latest issue of JALWD (Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) has been released. For those unfamiliar with this publication, I think it?s academia?s...

Pronoun problem

Posted on July 25, 2009
For a long time, people have been searching for gender-neutral singular pronouns. How long? Consider this scene from Monty Python?s Life of Brian: Judith: Any Anti-Imperialist group like ours must *reflect* such a divergence of interests within its power-base...

Reuters Style Guide on line

Posted on July 11, 2009
Reuters has posted its general style guide on line. Access is free . (Hat tip to Word Wise.)

More clich�s than the law allows

Posted on July 09, 2009
So these 26th Century archaeologists unearthed some 500-year-old C-Span videos, listened to the debates, took them literally, and used them as the basis for reconstructing the U.S. Capitol. If you?d like to take the tour, William Ecenbarger will be your...

Benjamin Button on proximate cause

Posted on July 06, 2009
Over the weekend, I became probably the last person in New Orleans to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It moved me in ways I?m still trying to understand. One part that sticks in my head appeals to my...

?Well, let me retort.?1

Posted on July 05, 2009
A reader sent me this e-mail request: I?m wondering if ? in the future ? you could comment in your blog on the process of preparing a reply brief in an appellate action. As a young attorney, I have been...

On prototypes and craftsmen

Posted on July 01, 2009
A few weeks ago, Ken Davis wrote an interesting post on Manage Your Writing, comparing the writing of a first draft to the building of a prototype. Ken says that, like a prototype, a first draft doesn?t have to be...

It was a hot summer night ...

Posted on June 30, 2009
They call people like me ?tall building lawyers,? not because I?m especially tall, but because the building I work in has 50 floors,1 which makes me think I should have put a hyphen between ?tall? and ?building.? In any event,...

Lessons in style

Posted on June 21, 2009
If you know and follow the rules of grammar and usage?good. If you?ve ditched legalese and strive to write in plain English?good. If you know who Bryan Garner is and try to do most of what he teaches?good. You?re ready...

DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar

Posted on June 13, 2009
If you?re a lawyer looking for first-rate appellate CLE, then please consider registering for the DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar, to be held November 5?6, 2009 in La Jolla, California (near San Diego), at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines. Here?s...

Recuse whom?

Posted on June 11, 2009
At Set in Style, you?ll find an interesting discussion between Mister Thorne (author of Set in Style) and Ben Opipari (editor of Literary Legs) over the verb recuse. The question being discussed: Is recuse necessarily transitive, or can it be...

Beyond memos and briefs: An annotated bibliography

Posted on June 04, 2009
There?s much more to real-world legal writing than memos and briefs?for example, affidavits, contracts, e-mail, jury instructions and verdict forms, letters, motions, and pleadings. Professor Carrie W. Teitcher (Brooklyn Law School) has compiled an impressive list of resources to help...

Survey says, . . .

Posted on June 04, 2009
What do law firms want to see in new hires? Among other things, better writing skills, says a survey by the New York Law Journal. Law.com has the story.

For writers and readers of judicial opinions

Posted on May 31, 2009
If you either write or read judicial opinions, then you should read Opinion Writing and Opinion Readers, by Judge Ruggero Aldisert and two of his law clerks, Meehan Rasch and Matthew P. Bartlett. In this paper, Aldisert & Co. examine...

Perversion of language

Posted on May 30, 2009
Please read Ben Opipari?s analysis of blurbs on cereal boxes. It?s an education on how language can be used to mislead while stopping short of lying. Don?t do the tricks that Ben points out?that would be dishonest. But do watch...

?Now back away slowly from the caps-lock key.?

Posted on May 28, 2009
Today?s installment of Courtoons illustrates why lawyers should never touch the caps-lock key (except to turn caps-lock off). See also my Minor Wisdom post of 9 Feb. 2006. (Hat tip to my south Texas compadre, Roger Hughes.)

?Will it go round in circles?? ? Billy Preston

Posted on May 27, 2009
Right now I?m reading a long list of definitions in a bankruptcy plan of reorganization, and I just came across this one: SpiritBank means SpiritBank.

Document Design by Gerry Lebovits

Posted on May 14, 2009
If you?re looking for a short article full of good advice on typography, then check out Document Design: Pretty in Print, Part I, by Judge Gerry Lebovits. Gerry is kind enough to cite yours truly, but he also cites reputable...

How to avoid alienating the judge

Posted on May 12, 2009
Courtesy of Evan Schaeffer, here is something every briefwriter needs to know?or to be reminded of: Judges don?t like to see lawyers belittling the other side. That is the lesson of this post by Maxwell Kennerly at Litigation and Trial....

Songwriting

Posted on May 10, 2009
Learning how to write in one genre may improve your writing in another. If you think that idea merits consideration, then you may want to examine Songwriting for Beginners, courtesy of Guitar Noise.

15 books

Posted on May 09, 2009
(Cross-posted on Minor Wisdom) John McIntyre inspired this post. John was recently let go as a copy editor by the Baltimore Sun due to the newspaper?s financial death spiral. Anyway, the idea is to list 15 books important to you....

How to revise e-mail

Posted on May 08, 2009
Ernest Hemingway once said or wrote, ?The first draft of everything is shit.? This truth applies to the genre of writing that most of us probably do most often: e-mail. For tips on improving your own e-mail, read David Silverman?s...

Save these dates

Posted on May 07, 2009
Those who like to plan way ahead will want to block out June 27?30, 2010. That?s when the Legal Writing Institute will hold its 14th Biennial Conference. Though most of the doings will interest mainly legal-writing teachers, this edition of...

Almost as old as I

Posted on April 21, 2009
It seems that Strunk & White?s little book just turned 50. That makes it almost as old as I am. Some people love S others don?t. Me, I think the little book just needs to be placed in proper perspective....

Literary Legs

Posted on April 15, 2009
There?s a new item on my legal-writing blogroll: Literary Legs, by Ben Opipari. The tagline is ?The intersection of running and writing.? What does running have to do with writing? Ben explains that ?both require the same elements: patience, good...

Effective quotations and shorter briefs

Posted on April 13, 2009
The current issue of Headnotes, the Dallas Bar Association?s newsletter, has an appellate theme. If you?re an appellate lawyer, check it out. Among its articles are two good ones on legal writing. In Questions on Quotations, Justice Jim Moseley gives...

All trial judges and trial lawyers should read this article.

Posted on April 05, 2009
Peter M. Tiersma has written an excellent article on the impossible things we ask jurors to do, and what trial judges and trial lawyers can do to make their job more doable. Much of the difficulty arises from jury instructions,...

Words to make you sound insecure

Posted on April 04, 2009
For those who don?t believe in what I?m trying to do here, I suggest The Words You Should Know to Sound Smart. Here?s the blurb: This book is a tongue-in-cheek guide to words that any well-educated, witty person should be...

The Killer BEs

Posted on March 25, 2009
Here are three short videos of Doug Stern presenting his three killer BEs for effective writing: be thematic, be engaging, be whole-brained. The most interesting tip comes in the third video: read junk mail. (Hat tip: Set in Style.)

How the exception proves the rule

Posted on March 25, 2009
What does the phrase ?the exception proves the rule? really mean? Snopes has an enlightening explanation.

Counting Each Shot ? seminar materials

Posted on March 20, 2009
This morning I gave a one-hour presentation at a legal-writing seminar sponsored by the Louisiana State Bar Association. The presentation was based on Counting Each Shot, an article I wrote last year and posted here. I?m most grateful to seminar...

Gratuitous contract not enforceable, even when written in blood

Posted on March 11, 2009
Does a gratuitous promise become legally enforceable when written in blood? No, says a California appellate court, in the latest chapter of Kim v. Son. (Hat tip: Howard Bashman.)Long-time readers of this blog may remember my July 2007 or August...

Reminder: LSBA legal-writing seminar

Posted on March 04, 2009

Beautiful words

Posted on March 03, 2009

Judge John Brown on the importance (or lack thereof) of oral argument

Posted on February 27, 2009

The music of language

Posted on February 24, 2009
From page 65 of Roy Blount Jr.?s Alphabet Juice: In song, vowels carry the melody, the air. Consonants?separated in time to some extent by the vowels but also taking various amounts of time themselves?are the rhythm section; they provide the...

Grammar Nazis

Posted on February 22, 2009
When you?re a grammar Nazi, you?d better not mix up your and you?re; otherwise something like this may happen. (Hat tip trail: GrammarBlog, via You Don?t Say.)

Owning your downloaded legal authorities

Posted on February 20, 2009
A few years ago on my other blog, I advised legal researchers to own their downloaded legal authorities. For those who missed that post, here?s the skinny version.First, when you download cases from Lexis, Westlaw, Fastcase, or whatever, download in....

The lawyer?s moral obligation to write well

Posted on February 19, 2009
Do lawyers have a moral obligation to write well? Jack Lee Sammons thinks so. In an essay you can download here, he explains his position. By ?writing well,? he does not mean elevating rules of usage to moral status. Rather,...

First Arrow

Posted on February 15, 2009
Roy Jacobsen was kind enough to tag me with the Premio Dardo Award, which ?acknowledges the effort of a particular blogger to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values in his or her writing.? The rules require me to pass...

A word on jury instructions

Posted on February 09, 2009
While researching jury instructions today, I came across this passage:The fact that the language was borrowed from the reasoning of a written opinion does not uphold the charge. Isolated from its context, or sought to be translated from mere discussion...

Put some rapping in your brief / And from the judgment get relief

Posted on January 26, 2009
A pro-se litigant appealing an attorney-fee award submitted a reply brief ?utilizing rap/rhyme in the argument topics to better emphasize strong concept points.? It worked. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the appellate court reversed the attorney-fee award...

The vampires of legal writing

Posted on January 24, 2009
I?ve been known to preach against over-reliance on forms, because the practice tends to perpetuate bad legal writing. The following article (PDF version here) is my latest word on the topic. The Vampires of Legal Writing 1?The world changes. We...

Satire

Posted on January 17, 2009
?satire 1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly.? Merriam Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary 1035 (10th ed. 2002).?I am always excited...

For Louisiana practitioners

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal has made a welcome change to its rules, effective January 1, 2009, to cut down the volume of paper filed with the clerk. Here are the changes: In civil appeals, a party must...

Top 30 blogs on writing

Posted on January 12, 2009
Molly DiBianca has collected her list of 30 best blogs on writing. She was kind enough to include this one, for which I?m grateful. But please peruse her list and check out the other 29.

Not in your Bluebook or ALWD

Posted on January 12, 2009
How do you cite restroom graffiti? Or a tattoo? Here?s how. (Hat tip: Southern Appeal.)

Word

Posted on January 11, 2009
The American Dialect Society has released 2008?s Words of the Year. The overall champ is bailout, defined as ?the rescue by the government of companies on the brink of failure, including large players in the banking industry.? Finalists in various...

One more CLE opportunity

Posted on January 07, 2009
In composing my last post, I neglected to mention Writing Techniques for Winning Cases, to be presented by Gary Kinder in Chicago, IL (Mar. 6), Washington, DC (Mar. 27), Los Angeles, CA (Apr. 17), and Houston, TX (June 19). I...

CLE opportunities

Posted on January 07, 2009
If you?re looking for some good legal-writing CLE, then check these out: Between February 3 and April 1, Bryan Garner will hit the road with his Advanced Legal Writing & Editing seminar. Tour stops are in Detroit, MI (Feb. 3),...

Odds and ends

Posted on January 07, 2009
Here are a few things I spotted yesterday that are worth a look: The origins of error, by John McIntyre. The errors John speaks of are ?rules? that don?t exist?things like split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions (both okay,...

Banished words

Posted on December 31, 2008
It???s that time of year again. The good folks at Lake Superior State University have just released the 2009 list of banished words. If you like to play buzz-word bingo, then peruse the list and update your game cards. (Hat...

My New Year's resolutions

Posted on December 31, 2008
I???ve never made New Year???s resolutions before. Now is a good time to start, because there are some good books that I want to read???or finish reading. So for 2009, I resolve to do the following: Finish Thinking Like a...

Perspectives on legal research and writing

Posted on December 28, 2008
The Fall 2008 issue of Perspectives is now available. For those who don?t already know, Perspectives is a periodical for teachers of legal research and writing, published three times a year by West. The second-best thing about Perspectives (after its...

Louisiana legal-writing seminar

Posted on December 23, 2008
For those who like to plan their CLE way ahead of time: the Louisiana State Bar Association is holding a legal-writing seminar in New Orleans on March 20, 2009. The seminar will be held at the Sheraton, 500 Canal Street....

Write like a human being

Posted on December 19, 2008
The January 2009 issue of the ABA Journal includes a column by Jim McElhaney on direct examination. The column includes this tidbit for legal writers:Legalese is a poisonous set of verbal habits that we unconsciously turn on or off, depending...

Quotation of the day

Posted on December 15, 2008
?Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.??Francis BaconHat tip to the Free Dictionary.

Briefwriting tip of the day

Posted on December 12, 2008
Today?s briefwriting tip comes from Judge Posner, via Avitia v. Metropolitan Club of Chicago, Inc., 49 F.3d 1219, 1224 (7th Cir. 1995):As a reminder to future appellants, we point out that a statement of facts which, as the Club?s does,...

Overstatement

Posted on December 11, 2008
At Robust Writing, Jesse Hines has written an excellent post on Overstatements: An Enemy of Honest and Accurate Writing. I would add that overstatement is an enemy of persuasion, as it?s highly likely to set off the judge?s bullshit detector.

10 keyboard shortcuts you should know

Posted on December 09, 2008
If you work with a keyboard, then you should know Dan Pinnington?s 10 skills to make your typing faster and easier. I?ve been working with computers since 1982?virtually my entire adult life?and I learned three new things by readings Dan?s...

Our Christmas newsletter

Posted on December 07, 2008
I?ve uploaded our annual Christmas newsletter. If you?re interested in reading it, click here.

What not to write in an e-mail

Posted on December 05, 2008
Death by Email has a top 10 list of phrases to never write in an e-mail. The author, Roger Matus, advises, ?If you find yourself typing one of these phrases, perhaps you should delete the entire email.?Hat tip to the...

An idle thought

Posted on December 03, 2008
I figure there?s nothing like gross over-generalization to stir up some comment and debate. So here goes.There are two things that most litigators should know how to do: fight and persuade.Fighting is not the same as persuading. In fact, some...

Counting Each Shot: The FTD Version

Posted on December 02, 2008
Here is an article of mine, recently published in the November 2008 issue of For the Defense. The title is Counting Each Shot: Techniques for Emphasis and De-emphasis. The lesson is how to use the structure of a written piece...

The elephant in the room

Posted on November 29, 2008
Here is an excellent essay by Linda Morkan on confronting bad facts: No Room for Elephants. Linda compares bad facts or adverse law to ?the gray elephant in the corner buffing her nails,? which the lawyer pretends not to notice....

Issue statements in the real world

Posted on November 28, 2008
How do practicing lawyers write issue statements in appellate briefs? Professor Judith Fischer set out to answer that question by analyzing samples of 50 sets of briefs from each of six states. The results are in her new article, Got...

Miscellaneous links

Posted on November 27, 2008
Stop Sounding Like a Lawyer, in which Jim McElhaney offers lawyers tips to avoid their unnatural inclination to speak in legalese, and to instead tell a story in plain English. (Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.) The New Cicero,...

Rap duel translated into legal language

Posted on November 25, 2008
Courtesy of Feddie, here is a rap duel translated into Legal English.

CLE opportunities

Posted on November 19, 2008
If you?re a procrastinator still in need of some 2008 CLE hours, then consider signing up for Persuasive Legal Writing, a two-hour webcast seminar scheduled for December 10, 2008 from noon to 2 p.m. EST. The speaker is Prof. Timothy...

How to draft a judgment

Posted on November 13, 2008
In Louisiana, the winner at a hearing or trial usually gets to draft the judgment. But most lawyers have little to no training in that task. Filling that void is Gail Stephenson?s new article in the Louisiana Bar Journal, Drafting...

Eight tricks you can do with Word

Posted on November 10, 2008
PC Magazine carries this article, Eight Handy Tools in Microsoft Word You Probably Don?t Know About. If you find just one you can actually use, the article will be worth you while.

The purpose of legal writing

Posted on November 09, 2008
Visit Law is Cool to see Calvin explain to Hobbes the purpose of legal writing.

Why Johnny can?t write

Posted on November 02, 2008
Many have opined that the writing skills of law-school graduates are deteriorating. Why is that? Here are three theoretical answers: No one learns how to do old-school legal research anymore?the kind of research that begins in treatises, legal encyclopedias, and...

Quotation of the day

Posted on November 01, 2008
Spotted on Mark Terry?s blog, This Writing Life:A burro is an ass. A burrow is a hole in the ground. As a journalist you are expected to know the difference.? United Press International Stylebook, cited by Bill Walsh in The...

For ?Bridging the Gap? participants

Posted on October 21, 2008
This afternoon, I gave a one-hour presentation on Louisiana appellate practice at the Louisiana State Bar Association?s ?Bridging the Gap? seminar for newly sworn-in lawyers. For them and other interested persons, here are some things from that presentation, plus a...

Use plain English, appear smarter (and more persuasive)

Posted on October 20, 2008
I just finished reading Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive (hat tip to the [non]billable hour). One of the 50 ways confirms something Bryan Garner says in The Winning Brief (p. 177, 2d ed.): people who use plain...

The Chief channels Mickey Spillane

Posted on October 16, 2008
Pennsylvania v. Dunlap. The Supremes deny cert. The Chief dissents:North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three-dollar steak. Devlin knew...

A checklist for drafting good contracts

Posted on October 11, 2008
If your work involves drafting contracts, then you should read A Checklist for Drafting Good Contracts, by M.H. Sam Jacobson. Why a checklist? Jacobson explains:For all drafters, a checklist can ensure that the contract will contain the necessary substantive provisions...

Sex language

Posted on October 07, 2008
Patricia O?Conner has written an interesting post on the Grammarphobia Blog debunking myths about the history of English words used to refer to the sexes. For instance: The use of masculine pronouns (he, him, his) to refer to both sexes...

Applied Storytelling Conference

Posted on October 05, 2008
If you?re interested in applying storytelling to the practice of law, and if you like to plan your CLE ahead, then block out July 22?24, 2009 on your calendar. That?s when a conference on applied storytelling in law will be...

Defusing negative facts or law

Posted on October 04, 2008
Every advocate confronts the problem of handling bad facts or adverse authority. Do you ignore it? Do you wait for the other side to raise it and then rebut it? Or do you confront it head-on, hoping to defuse it?...

?Sorry? seems to be the hardest word

Posted on October 01, 2008
Sometimes we lawyers have trouble saying we?re sorry. We should try to overcome that inhibition. Saying you?re sorry can be cathartic. For instance, here?s a letter1 by a lawyer saying he?s sorry about having to reschedule a deposition. I?m sure...

Collaboration through wikis

Posted on September 28, 2008
Today, most lawyers who collaborate on writing a document probably swap numerous drafts by e-mail. But an interesting post on Legal Writing Prof Blog suggests a possibly better way to collaborate: wikis. The post includes a short video explaining what...

Making weight

Posted on September 27, 2008
Sooner or later, every briefwriter is faced with the task of editing a 15,000-word draft to make it fit under the court?s 14,000-word limit for briefs. How do you do that without sacrificing substance? Write to Done provides some editing...

Thomas Jefferson?s editorial board

Posted on September 25, 2008
If you?ve ever bristled at editors who mangled your draft, then you have some famous company: Thomas Jefferson. In America?s Founding Editors, University of Missouri law professor Douglas E. Abrams tells the story of how a group of 65 editors?the...

Effective critique

Posted on September 23, 2008
If you?re a lawyer who reviews and critiques other lawyers? writing, then you will want to read A Methodology for Mentoring Writing in Law Practice, by Jane Kent Gionfriddo, Daniel L. Barnett, and Joan Blum. In their article, the authors...

The Dark-Blue Book: A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, by Kenneth A. Adams

Posted on September 22, 2008
If your work involves drafting business contracts, then you need the second edition of Ken Adams?s book, A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. It is to drafting what Bryan Garner?s Redbook is to legal writing in general. Ken is...

A Shot Across the Bow

Posted on September 21, 2008
John Grisham never wrote a book called The Demand Letter. But if he had, then perhaps the main character would be Bret Rappaport. Bret has written a fine article on how to write an effective demand letter, titled A Shot...

Typography for Lawyers

Posted on September 15, 2008
Who better to advise lawyers about document design than a lawyer trained in typography and graphic design, one whose pre-law career included typeface design? Meet Matthew Butterick, proprietor of Typography for Lawyers. And if you agree that presentation matters, bookmark...

Like the camel with his nose under the tent

Posted on September 12, 2008
Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner has been known to use contractions (gasp!) in his opinions. Well, just as marijuana leads to meth (right?), contractions lead to smiley faces. (Hat tip to Howard Bashman.)

Bulwer-Lytton, move over.

Posted on September 07, 2008
Maybe you?ve seen the viral e-mail titled ?Twenty-Eight Reasons Why English Teachers Die Young.? It purports to list 28 similes found in high-school essays. The e-mail has taken in many bloggers, including this one. Actually the content of the e-mail...

Ken Adams on dysfunctional drafting

Posted on September 06, 2008
In an opinion piece for the National Law Journal, Ken Adams examines what?s wrong with the usual process of drafting contracts, and he suggests some paths to improvement.

Dilbert encounters legal drafting

Posted on August 28, 2008
Ken Adams should enjoy this. (Hat tip to Future Lawyer.)

Quotation of the day

Posted on August 26, 2008
?If any bill, answers, replication, or rejoinder, shall be found of an immoderate length, both the party and the counsel under whose hand it passeth shall be fined.?? Sir Francis Bacon Source: Tom Goldstein and Jethro K. Lieberman, The Lawyer?s...

Advice for 1L?s

Posted on August 24, 2008
Prof. Paul Horwitz offers new 1L?s some advice worth of consideration. I like what he says about legal writing:Legal Writing is Not a Course. Well, OK, it is a course. But it?s not just a course. Don?t make the mistake...

How not to write a bill

Posted on August 23, 2008
If you bill by the hour, then the most important writing you do for your own career are your time entries. A time entry can inform the client about what you?re doing and how it?s helping to accomplish your client?s...

Quotation of the day (or yesterday, actually)

Posted on August 21, 2008
Yesterday?s installment of Garner?s Usage Tip of the Day carried this quotation. As I read it, I couldn?t help but think of people whose ?primary business? is practicing law:The writing of literate Americans whose primary business is not writing but....

Legal-writing blogs and resources

Posted on August 21, 2008
The good folks at Legal Writing Prof Blog have collected a list of their favorite blogs. And one of the contributors to LWPB, Coleen Barger, has her own list of legal-writing blogs and web sites at Barger on Legal Writing,...

Rock-star writing

Posted on August 18, 2008
In this item, Australian High Court Judge Michael Kirby shares the secret of his success with some university students: ?I know the real reason you love me,? he said, before pausing for effect. ?Headings. Headings. Sub-headings. Sub-sub-headings. Indent dot points...

Wretched writing

Posted on August 14, 2008
While athletes of all shapes, sizes, and colors strive to go higher, faster, and farther in the city that gave its name to Peking Duck (before they changed the name to Beijing), the English scholars at San Jose State University...

The blood brief

Posted on August 12, 2008
Last year I wrote a post about a promise literally written in blood. The synopsis: Mr. Kim invested $140,000 in companies run by Mr. Son. When the companies went belly-up, Messrs. Kim and Son met over drinks to discuss the...

?I do not believe that legal writing exists.? Antonin Scalia

Posted on August 10, 2008
The ABA Journal quotes Justice Scalia?s remarks yesterday on accepting the Scribes lifetime-achievement award: I do not believe that legal writing exists. That is to say, I do not believe it exists as a separate genre of writing. Rather, I...

Bryan Garner?s Road Show

Posted on August 09, 2008
Bryan Garner is hitting the road this fall with two seminars: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing and Advanced Legal Drafting. Here?s the schedule: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing Sept. 5: New Orleans, La. Sept. 8: Sacramento, Cal. Sept. 9: San...

?Well then, allow me to retort.?1

Posted on August 06, 2008
What do appellate judges think of reply briefs? This article by Mike McKee provides an answer from California?s appellate judges, who also offer tips on what to do and not to do. (Hat tip to The Appellate Practitioner, via The...

???Well then, allow me to retort.???1

Posted on August 06, 2008
What do appellate judges think of reply briefs? This article by Mike McKee provides an answer from California???s appellate judges, who also offer tips on what to do and not to do. (Hat tip to The Appellate Practitioner, via The...

Et tu, Brute?

Posted on August 04, 2008
Merriam-Webster Online asked readers to submit their favorite mondegreens. A mondegreen is the result of mis-hearing song lyrics. For example: ?The girl with kaleidescope eyes.? Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.) But this post isn?t about mondegreens. It?s about this...

More effective e-mail

Posted on August 03, 2008
Here is an article I wrote for the DRI magazine, For the Defense, on writing more effective e-mail. As you?ll see from reading it, Lynn Gaertner-Johnston deserves credit for some of its ideas. Lynn writes a blog called Business Writing,...

John Brown on the manifest-error standard of review

Posted on August 02, 2008
Appellate lawyers will appreciate this discourse on the manifest-error standard of review: [A]s so often, the briefs on the part of the respondent?appellants cannot resist the natural temptation to reargue the facts from a point of view favorable to (each...

Why Johnny can?t write

Posted on July 29, 2008
I had occasion today to peruse the web sites of two law schools, just to see what their legal-writing programs look like and who teaches them. At both, it appears that 100 percent of the teaching is done by fellows....

Why Johnny can???t write

Cheryl Stephens, Plain Language Legal Writing

Posted on July 27, 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,...

Transparency can be beautiful

Posted on July 24, 2008
There?s a lesson for legal writers in these photos of glasswing butterflies: Transparency can be beautiful. Transparency in writing means that nothing in the writing obstructs the message, as a clean picture window does not obstruct the view. Writing that...

Cast of characters

Posted on July 22, 2008
If you?re telling a story involving many players, how do you help the reader keep the players straight? You might do what Judge John R. Brown did in Grigsby v. Coastal Marine Service of Texas, Inc., 412 F.2d 1011 (5th...

Wayne?s document-design cheat sheet

Posted on July 19, 2008
Wayne Schiess has posted an excellent summary of basic document-design principles for lawyers and other writers. If you?re interested in the scientific research supporting Wayne?s principles, read Painting With Print by Ruth Anne Robbins. If you just want a one-minute...

Wayne???s document-design cheat sheet

Posted on July 19, 2008
Wayne Schiess has posted an excellent summary of basic document-design principles for lawyers and other writers. If you???re interested in the scientific research supporting Wayne???s principles, read Painting With Print by Ruth Anne Robbins. If you just want a one-minute...

Tip of the day: Proofread appendices

Posted on July 09, 2008
Today?s West Headnote of the Day carries a useful lesson: Conduct of Department of Justice attorney in scribbling in the margin of district judge?s opinion, submitted as appendix to Department?s brief, the word ?WRONG? beside several findings of district judge...

Prolixity is the soul of witlessness.

Posted on July 08, 2008
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) requires a complaint to set forth ?a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief ....? So what happens when you file a complaint that is 465...

Another lesson in hyphenating phrasal adjectives

Posted on July 04, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, a headline in a law-oriented magazine prompted me to write on the importance of hyphenating phrasal adjectives. Today a different headline teaches the same lesson more vividly, and this time, the headline writer gets it...

The dumbass defense

Posted on July 04, 2008
Here?s an interesting pleading filed by a member of the Texas State Bar, asserting the dumbass defense. I quote: Defendants assert that Plaintiff?s damages were caused in whole or in part by his own contributory negligence. Specifically, the plaintiff is...

Of ostriches? heads

Posted on July 02, 2008
Over the last few days, Howard Bashman and Judge Richard Posner have debated a singular-versus-plural question. It started with this sentence in a Posner opinion: The reference of course is to the legend that ostriches when frightened bury their head...

Richard A. Posner, How Judges Think

Posted on July 02, 2008
A better title for this book might have been What Makes Judges Tick. In it, Judge Posner explores not only the various non-legalistic ways that judges decide cases, but also the things that motivate the behavior of Article III judges,...

Stylistic imitation

Posted on June 24, 2008
Today?s installment of Garner?s Usage Tip of the Day included this quotation. This is why I preach against over-reliance on form files and encourage writers to nurture their own individual style. ?Much bad writing today comes not from the conventional...

Remembering George Carlin

Posted on June 23, 2008
The passing of George Carlin is a loss to those who love direct, concise writing, devoid of bullshit. As a remembrance, here is a little piece I wrote about the writing lessons contained in his book Brain Droppings. (If you...

Orwell, Carlin, and the abuse of the English Language

Posted on June 23, 2008
Watching this video of George Carlin reminded me of another George: Orwell. Read Politics and the English Language, then watch this video; you?ll see the connection. If Carlin were making this video today, he?d probably have something to say about...

Point first, details after

Posted on June 21, 2008
Briefwriters are told to state the issue first, before the statement of facts. Why? Because knowing the issue the issue enables the reader to give meaning to the facts. This isn?t a legal-writing thing; it?s a writing-for-humans thing. For elaboration,...

Cert. petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on June 18, 2008
If you have a case poised for a shot at the U.S. Supreme Court, then you?ll want to read Tips on Petitioning for and Opposing Certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, by Mayer Brown appellate lawyers Timothy Bishop, Jeffrey Sarles,...

Why we should hyphenate our phrasal adjectives

Posted on June 17, 2008
A magazine I?m looking at now has a story with this headline: 401(k) Excessive Fee Litigation This leaves me to wonder what is excessive: the fee or the litigation? The story reveals that it?s about litigation over excessive fees. A...

The editor is the writer?s best friend.

Posted on June 16, 2008
Every good writer needs a good editor. We know that?s true for all writers?except for the one we see in the mirror. If that sounds like you, and if you?d like your writing to be better than just okay, then...

If you write for publication

Posted on June 15, 2008
If you write for publication (law reviews, bar journals, magazines), then you?ll benefit from Framing Academic Articles, by Gregory G. Colomb and the late Joseph M. Williams. It describes how to write an introduction that grabs readers? attention?how to make...

McElhaney on briefwriting

Posted on June 13, 2008
Here are some tips for more lively briefs, courtesy of Jim McElhaney. The advice is sound, though I?d treat his rules as general rather than absolute.

Storytelling symposium

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Legal Writing Institute has uploaded volume 14 of its journal, featuring symposium on storytelling. I haven?t had a chance to read any of the articles yet, but many of them look intriguing. (Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.)

Candor toward the tribunal

Posted on June 11, 2008
Spotted on Legal Antics: ?Comes now the Appellant, by counsel, and moves the Court to reschedule the Oral Argument currently scheduled for August 1, 2007. The grounds for this motion are that undersigned counsel will be out of town in...

Next up on my reading list

Posted on June 10, 2008
My copy of Making Your Case, by Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner, finally arrived today. Judging by the first 16 pages (all I?ve read so far), it?s easy to read and hard to put down. I look forward to...

Some enjoyable reading (for me, anyway)

Posted on June 07, 2008
Because I practice law in Louisiana, I rarely need to read decisions from the U.S. First Circuit, which means that I rarely get to read decisions written by Judge Bruce M. Selya. But I came across one a few days...

Good advice for summer associates

Posted on June 05, 2008
If you?re a summer associate, then Ross Guberman has a 12-step program for you to improve your writing and impress the firm. (Hat tip to Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog.)

A short history of written advocacy

Posted on June 03, 2008
In The Art of Written Persuasion: The Rise of Written Persuasion, Troy Simpson traces the rise of written advocacy in England and Wales, Australia, and America. This article is the first of a series. In future installments, Simpson will examine...

Coyote v. Acme

Posted on June 01, 2008
What would happen if Wile E. Coyote, after suffering the 85th malfunction of an Acme product, found a lawyer who (a) was fluent in legalese, and (b) was willing to file suit against Acme? Ian Frazier, author of Coyote v....

Words, by Kenneth P. Nolan

Posted on May 25, 2008
Like rappers and shock-jocks, lawyers are guilty of cheapening language, and in the process we have made our profession less civil. So says Kenneth P. Nolan in this article from the Summer 2007 issue of Litigation. Take a few minutes...

On the importance of proofreading everything

Posted on May 21, 2008
Holden Oliver at What About Clients? exhorts us to proofread our invoices and everything else that our clients read. Why? Because the reader is the client. He also reminds us that ?invoices, if done correctly, are a great way to...

Ideas, anyone?

Posted on May 19, 2008
The DRI magazine, For the Defense, runs a regular feature called ?Writer?s Corner,? a one-page column on legal writing, written by a different contributor every month. I?ve written several of them over the last few years,1 and I?m scheduled to...

Emphasis through structure

Posted on May 18, 2008
To emphasize something in writing, many lawyers resort to typographical gimmicks: italics, bold, underlining, all capital letters, or some combination of these. To de-emphasize something, many lawyers either bury it in a footnote or, worse, omit it completely, hoping that...

Sometimes we don?t notice transposed letters.

Posted on May 16, 2008
Daily Writing Tips has an interesting post titled ?Cna Yuo Raed Tihs?? The idea is that, if the first and last letter of the word are in the right place (or just the first letter of a three-letter word), then...

Sometimes we don???t notice transposed letters.

Posted on May 16, 2008
Daily Writing Tips has an interesting post titled ???Cna Yuo Raed Tihs???? The idea is that, if the first and last letter of the word are in the right place (or just the first letter of a three-letter word), then...

A reminder about the 5th Circuit?s ?Practitioner?s Guide?

Posted on May 13, 2008
Like other circuit courts? web sites, the U.S. Fifth Circuit?s web site has an on-line copy of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Fifth Circuit?s local rules, and its internal operating procedures. Another valuable document on the Fifth Circuit?s...

Scalia and Garner together on stage

Posted on May 13, 2008
If you?re going to be near D.C. on July 25, and you have $600 to spend on CLE, then you may want to register for Making Your Case, a five-hour seminar to be presented at the Kennedy Center by Bryan...

A reminder about the 5th Circuit???s ???Practitioner???s Guide???

Posted on May 13, 2008
Like other circuit courts??? web sites, the U.S. Fifth Circuit???s web site has an on-line copy of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Fifth Circuit???s local rules, and its internal operating procedures. Another valuable document on the Fifth Circuit???s...

Euphemisms and other sources of amusement

Posted on May 12, 2008
God bless Word Sell for posting George Carlin?s take on airline euphemisms. Enjoy.

Grammar: Something white people like

Posted on May 12, 2008
If you read this blog, then you may be more Caucasian than you care to admit. It seems that number 99 on the list of stuff white people like is grammar. Why? White people love rules. It explains why so...

Trying out a new design

Posted on May 10, 2008
Presentation matters. With that thought in mind, I?ve redesigned The (New) Legal Writer. Or more accurately, I?ve installed one of TypePad?s prefabricated designs, one called ?Minimalist Red.? If you don?t see the new design, you may need to hit the....

Distractions

Posted on May 10, 2008
Here?s an interesting article by Leigh Jones in the National Law Journal about the current state of legal writing (not good) and one possible contributing cause (electronic distraction).1 I can relate. This past week I was working on a reply...

Q&A with Justice Scalia

Posted on May 08, 2008
C-Span Q&A has posted the transcript of an interview with Justice Antonin Scalia by Brian Lamb. It includes some of Justice Scalia?s thoughts about legal writing and oral argument. (Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog.)

Two propositions

Posted on May 07, 2008
Here are two propositions to ponder. One day I will write an essay on one or the other or both. But ?one day? has been a long time coming, and may yet be a long time coming. So I?ve decided...

The glamour of grammar

Posted on May 06, 2008
Roy Peter Clark, author of Writing Tools, is beginning The Glamour of Grammar, a twice-weekly series of blog posts to eventually be transformed into a book. Writing Tools started out the same way, so TGOG has the burden of living...

Plain language: It takes an act of Congress

Posted on May 04, 2008
Congress is moving toward making plain language ?the standard style for Government documents issued to the public, and for other purposes.? H.R. 3548 passed in the House on April 14 by a vote 0f 376 to 1. Its companion, S....

Free samples

Posted on April 28, 2008
My guess is that just about everyone reading this blog knows that Bryan Garner and Justice Antonin Scalia have collaborated on a new book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. If you haven?t decided whether to buy the...

JALWD on-line

Posted on April 20, 2008
Thanks to Legal Writing Prof Blog, I learned that the entire Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors is on-line?every issue, every article, in both HTML and PDF. If you?ve never read the JALWD, do yourself a favor and...

A different way to begin a motion

Posted on April 18, 2008
The other day I was writing a motion to exclude an expert?s opinions on grounds that the other side failed to disclose them timely. Most motions like this would begin in this ho-hum fashion: Now comes XYZ Corp., defendant, who...

Metaphor: Theory and practice

Posted on April 17, 2008
Prof. Michael R. Smith, legal-writing director at the University of Wyoming College of Law, has written an interesting article analyzing the ways metaphors are used in legal writing and offering practical suggestions for advocates to develop rhetorical strategies around them...

Contraction reaction

Posted on April 14, 2008
Over at California Blog of Appeal, Greg May asked readers for their views on using contractions in legal writing, and received a variety of responses. I have my own opinion on that topic, which I left in a comment on...

Unless, of course, you like powdered wigs

Posted on April 14, 2008
Ken Davis has some business-writing advice particularly appropriate for legal writers. The headline: Lose the powdered wig. Go have a look; it won?t take long.

More is not always better

Posted on April 13, 2008
Sometimes in the heat of battle, litigators can lose perspective. That seems to have been the court?s impression in TK-7 v. Estate of Barbouti, 993 F.2d 722 (10th Cir. 1993), an apparently hard-fought civil conspiracy case. The defendants prevailed, but...

Proofreading tips

Posted on April 10, 2008
John Paschetto, a Delaware lawyer, has written an excellent article on proofreading. In it, he explains the difference between editing and proofreading, advocates proofreading in stages, and offers valuable tips to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your proofreading...

Here come da judge

Posted on April 05, 2008
For a long time, I?ve been a fan of Judge Mark Painter, who, unlike Sammy Davis Jr., is neither too old nor too bold. So I?m happy to announce a legal-writing seminar he is bringing to Louisiana later this month:...

Tactical choices in briefwriting

Posted on April 03, 2008
Mark Herrmann has an interesting post at Drug and Device Law about tactical choices in briefwriting. His point: Every choice has its potential benefits and potential risks. Reasonable tacticians may disagree on the best choice. Sometimes the best choice doesn?t...

A lesson for editing

Posted on April 02, 2008
A few days ago, I posted this video on my other blog. Today it occurred to me that the video contains a lesson for legal writers. Watch the video, then read the lesson below. If you?re like me, then you...

Which explains my aptitude

Posted on March 26, 2008
Today???s installment of Garner???s Usage Tip of the Day carried this quotable quote: ???It cannot be emphasized too strongly that balanced, well-adjusted, stable and secure people do not, on the whole, make good writers ....??? ???Paul Johnson, The Quotable Paul...

Which explains my aptitude

Posted on March 25, 2008
Today?s installment of Garner?s Usage Tip of the Day carried this quotable quote: ?It cannot be emphasized too strongly that balanced, well-adjusted, stable and secure people do not, on the whole, make good writers ....? ?Paul Johnson, The Quotable Paul...

Louisiana appellate seminar this Friday

Posted on March 24, 2008
The Louisiana State Bar Association is presenting an appellate seminar this Friday, March 28, in New Orleans, at the Sheraton on Canal Street. The theme of the seminar is ?Views From the Inside.? The people providing the insider?s view will...

The most beautiful sentence I?ve ever read

Posted on March 21, 2008
On Good Friday last year, I posted this on my other blog. I thought I?d run it here this year. ?There is still something to me almost incredible in the idea of a young Galilean peasant imagining that he could...

The most beautiful sentence I???ve ever read

Posted on March 21, 2008
On Good Friday last year, I posted this on my other blog. I thought I???d run it here this year. ???There is still something to me almost incredible in the idea of a young Galilean peasant imagining that he could...

Persuasion in 2,500 easy steps

Posted on March 20, 2008
ChangingMinds.org is a web site covering ?all aspects of how we change what others think, believe, feel and do.? Go there and wander around a bit; you?ll probably learn something you didn?t know. (Hat tip: Visual Thesaurus.)

The world?s hardest English vocabulary test

Posted on March 12, 2008
If you?d like to succeed William F. Buckley Jr., find out whether you?re up to the task by taking Brad Schorr?s World?s Hardest Vocabulary Test. Brad lists 57 words and will give you an A+ if you know 20 of...

The world???s hardest English vocabulary test

Posted on March 12, 2008
If you???d like to succeed William F. Buckley Jr., find out whether you???re up to the task by taking Brad Schorr???s World???s Hardest Vocabulary Test. Brad lists 57 words and will give you an A+ if you know 20 of...

A glitch in the feed

Posted on March 07, 2008
Today I noticed a glitch in this blog?s RSS feed: my Bloglines reader was picking up somebody else?s blog. The problem cleared up when I unsubscribed and resubscribed to this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/raymondpward/newlegalwriter If you noticed the same problem, please send...

Hurray for me

Posted on March 05, 2008
You?re looking at the TypePad Featured Blog du jour.

Footnotes in drafts

Posted on March 05, 2008
Evan Schaeffer provides an interesting suggestion for recording notes to himself in a draft: Drop a footnote, ?to add a note to [your]self about questions or revisions, or as a placeholder for a digression that can later be moved to...

Back to school

Posted on March 05, 2008
Here are some excellent tips on revision by the SAGES Peer Writing Crew, a group of undergraduate writing tutors at Case Western Reserve University. Though these tips were written for undergrads, they work equally well for lawyers and others who...

The right tool for the job

Posted on March 04, 2008
Here is an article I wrote for the Winter 2008 issue of Certworthy about selecting the right font for a writing project. The skinny version: For text in briefs, use a book-like font such as Book Antiqua, Bookman Old Style,...

Your brain will explode

Posted on March 03, 2008
The JALWD, the world?s best English-language journal of legal writing (Sorry, Scribes), is now available on line, courtesy of ALWD. Browse the current issues and the archives, but try not to cut yourself on those cutting edges. (Hat tip to...

Orwell on ethos (or lack thereof)

Posted on March 02, 2008
?The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one?s real and one?s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.?? George Orwell, Politics and the English Language...

Watch this

Posted on March 01, 2008
Bryan Garner has interviewed eight of the current U.S. Supreme Court justices, seeking their views on legal writing. Now LawProse has uploaded videos of those interviews on one web page. Watch and learn. (Hat-tip trail: Simple Justice, via Underdog.)

Snap judgments

Posted on February 23, 2008
The ABA Journal reports on a psychological study suggesting that judges often base their decisions on intuition rather than deliberate analysis. For lawyers, this phenomenon is either a problem or an opportunity. For writing tips on making it the latter, by influencing those judicial snap judgments to go your way, read John Bursch?s excellent article, Appealing to Judicial Snap Judgments...

The Conan brief

Posted on February 21, 2008
What part does emotion play in briefwriting? This question is debated in a pair of blog posts. The first, on MoneyLaw, decries what it terms the ?Conan brief,? one that demands an emotional reaction from the judge:Many lawyers mistakenly structure their arguments so that they demand an emotional investment from judges...

Dialectic

Posted on February 21, 2008
This morning?s post about the Conan brief prompted me to remember Hegel?s theory of dialectic, something I learned in seminary philosophy courses back in the 1970s. Professor Eric Steinhart sums up the process of hegelian dialectic this way:?Hegel stresses the paradoxical nature of consciousness; he knows that the mind wants to know the whole truth, but that it cannot think without drawing a distinction...

Two lessons

Posted on February 20, 2008
Alaska Employment Law calls our attention to a recent minute entry teaching two lessons about proper record citation: If the court has a local rule for citing something, follow the rule. If you don?t follow # 1 above, the court may not consider the material lacking a proper citation...

How to write for the client.

Posted on February 17, 2008
The good folks at What About Clients? care about good legal writing. By eliminating the legalese and communicating like a human being, a lawyer can produce client-centered writing: something primarily for the client; something the client can readily understand...

Impurity is sometimes good.

Posted on February 16, 2008
Most connoisseurs of good legal writing know that two of its finest artisans are Seventh Circuit Judges Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner. What is it about their writing that we like so much? It?s their impure writing, which Posner himself describes as ?impure...

Watch this.

Posted on February 14, 2008
Here is a one-hour video lecture on persuasive legal writing, given by Illinois lawyer Helen Gunnarsson. Everyone can watch it for free, while Illinois lawyers can get one hour?s CLE credit for $19.95. (Hat tip to Evan Schaeffer.)

SPOGG

Posted on February 08, 2008
A recent addition to the legal-writing blogroll is the SPOGG blog. SPOGG stands for the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, which promotes National Grammar Day and urges you to ?grab a red pen and join the party.? I guess they?ll party like it?s as if it were 1999.

When passive voice should be used

Posted on February 06, 2008
Generally you should prefer the active voice to passive voice. A sentence in active voice is more direct and less verbose than one expressing the same thought in passive voice. But this is a general rule, not an absolute rule. Sometimes the passive voice enables you to put the most important words where they will be most noticed: the end of the sentence or its beginning...

A writer of plays is a ...

Posted on February 02, 2008
Until a minute ago, I thought that the writer of a play was a playwrite. But as Daily Writing Tips explains, the correct spelling is playwright. The suffix comes not from the verb write, but from the noun wright, meaning one who constructs or repairs something, such as a shipwright or wheelwright.

A public thank-you and another plug for the DRI Appellate Seminar

Posted on January 26, 2008
Last month I plugged the DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar, to be held February 28-29 in Orlando. Since then, the calendar has changed from 2007 to 2008, which means that some of you have a new CLE budget to work with. So if you refrained from registering in 2007 because your CLE budget was tapped out, now is your chance to spend 2008 dollars on a first-rate seminar...

A new sidebar feature

Posted on January 26, 2008
I?ve added an appellate blogroll to this blog?s sidebar, for two reasons. First, many appellate blogs have blogrolled The (New) Legal Writer, so I wanted a means of returning the favor. Second, many readers of this blog are appellate lawyers, and I thought they would appreciate this feature.

You can never be too careful.

Posted on January 23, 2008
The past several days, I?ve been working on a U.S. Fifth Circuit brief. It?s a moderately sized brief: 45 pages of substance (double-spaced, 14-point typeface), about 9,650 words. Today was the filing deadline. I had read, re-read, and re-re-read this brief, so I thought it was in pretty good shape...

Buy low, sell high, and write well.

Posted on January 19, 2008
In this paper, Mark Sellers tells a roomful of Harvard MBA students the seven traits of outstanding investors. Number six is to engage both sides of the brain. A left-brained person, Sellers points out, can ?do things such as judging a management team from subtle cues they give off,? and can ?step back and take a big picture view of certain situations rather than analyzing them to death...

Why legal-writing teachers sometimes feel like Rodney Dangerfield

Posted on January 16, 2008
It???s nice that LSU???s English Department offers a course in legal writing. Unfortunately for the students who signed up for the course this semester, the department forgot to assign a teacher.

Well, that narrows it down.

Posted on January 10, 2008
Yesterday I received an e-mail from TypePad telling me that The (New) Legal Writer will be featured on TypePad?s home page. When will this happen? According to the e-mail:Your featured blog will be seen by all who visit our homepage on or about the early/mid/latter part of February...

Black?s Law Dictionary Digital

Posted on January 05, 2008
Here?s an interesting product available on Amazon.com: a digital version of Black?s Law Dictionary. Besides providing easy desktop access to BLD, it integrates with both Corel WordPerfect and Microsoft Word, including incorporation of the correct spellings of legal terms into the WordPerfect and Word spell-checkers...

Black???s Law Dictionary Digital

Posted on January 05, 2008
Here???s an interesting product available on Amazon.com: a digital version of Black???s Law Dictionary. Besides providing easy desktop access to BLD, it integrates with both Corel WordPerfect and Microsoft Word, including incorporation of the correct spellings of legal terms into the WordPerfect and Word spell-checkers...

A nice use of the stress position

Posted on January 04, 2008
Roy Peter Clark has observed that children who write sometimes intuitively know how to use the stress position: the end of a sentence or paragraph. Case in point, spotted on Matthew Stibbe?s Bad Language:

A suggested New Year?s resolution

Posted on January 01, 2008
A little over a year ago, Wayne Schiess posted an essay against placing too much importance on the form of citations: something Wayne referred to as ?the tyranny of the inconsequential.? Wayne?s essay is the inspiration for my own New Year?s resolution: to escape the tyranny of the trivial...

A suggested New Year???s resolution

Posted on January 01, 2008
A little over a year ago, Wayne Schiess posted an essay against placing too much importance on the form of citations: something Wayne referred to as ???the tyranny of the inconsequential.??? Wayne???s essay is the inspiration for my own New Year???s resolution: to escape the tyranny of the trivial...

How to type a non-breaking space

Posted on December 31, 2007
Let?s say your memorandum cites 28 U.S.C. � 1331. Let?s say the citation occurs near the end of a line, so that the � is at the end of one line and the 1331 is at the beginning of the next. How do you keep the two together on the same line with a space in between? Answer: You type a non-breaking space, also known as a hard space or a fixed space...

A word I learned today that I should have already known

Posted on December 26, 2007
In reading a reported decision today, I came across the verb ramify. For years I?ve known its nominalization, ramification. And I?ve known for some time that any word with the suffix ?tion is probably based on a verb. But I never figured out until today that ramification has a verb root, which is ramify...

What he said.

Posted on December 25, 2007
Matthew Stibbe wishes one and all ?an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive gender-neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday ...,? politically correct, with an unhealthy batch of disclaimers. Me too.

Write well; impress clients.

Posted on December 23, 2007
The Association of Corporate Counsel?s web site features a monthly Top Ten column. This month?s installment is Top Ten Ways to Achieve Good Legal Writing, by Professor Paula Colby-Clements of the Massachusetts School of Law. It?s a good article. Practicing lawyers should heed not only its content, but it?s publication by the ACC ? a sign that corporate counsel value good legal writing...

More choices in fonts designed for on-screen reading

Posted on December 22, 2007
A few days ago, I thought there were only two typefaces designed for on-screen reading: Georgia (with serifs) and Verdana (sans serif). But if you?re running Microsoft Office 2007 or Microsoft Vista, you have more choices: six new fonts forming Microsoft?s ClearType collection...

A terrific seminar

Posted on December 16, 2007
If you?re an appellate lawyer or a general litigator who sometimes handles appeals, then you should consider attending the DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar, to be held in Orlando, Florida on February 28?29, 2008. I have been fortunate enough to attend every DRI Appellate Advocacy Seminar ever held, from the first one in 1999 in Washington, D...