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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: 5.3/day

Last Entry: March 26, 2011 at 15:44:07

For Bridging the Gap participants and anyone else who?s interested

Posted on October 19, 2010
This afternoon, I?m 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 written materials a PDF copy of my PowerPoint presentationA...

Lawyer reprimanded for plagiarism

Posted on October 15, 2010
Pressed for time, a lawyer filed a 21-page brief, 17 pages of which were copied verbatim from a published article, without attribution. For this, he was publicly reprimanded by the Supreme Court of Iowa. The court found that the lawyer?s...

Today?s most entertaining legal-writing blog post ...

Posted on October 06, 2010
... comes courtesy of our friends at What About Clients/Paris?

Five golden rules for e-mail

Posted on October 02, 2010
If you?re reading this blog, then you probably write numerous e-mails every day. So do a favor for the readers of your e-mail: read and follow Marilyn Ruddick?s five golden rules for e-mail.

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What to do if your boss prefers legalese

Posted on October 01, 2010
It?s a common problem. You believe what the writing experts say about plain English being better than legalese, but you work for someone who doesn?t, someone who prefers drecky legalese. What do you do? Wayne Schiess answers this question in...

Do stories really persuade?

Posted on September 28, 2010
Many good CLE programs for litigators include panels of judges, who tell the attending lawyers the kinds of argument and behavior that judges like to see or don?t like to see. I appreciate these opportunities, since judges are the people...

Analogy: What works, what doesn?t

Posted on September 25, 2010
What makes for a good analogy, one that resonates favorably with your audience? Perhaps more importantly, what makes for a bad analogy, one that backfires? In a recent short article (just five pages, which you can download here), Prof. Bruce...

Why is this guitar beautiful? And what does that teach us about writing?

Posted on September 11, 2010
When I saw this guitar pictured in an advertisement, I knew I was going to buy it. I did. What made it so appealing? From the picture, you can seen that it?s different: it?s plain and unvarnished. When you look...

Discreet v. discrete ? an easy way to remember which is which

Posted on September 08, 2010
Daily Writing Tips has a post today about the homonyms discreet and discrete. Discreet means careful and circumspect in one?s speech. Discrete means individually separate and distinct. When using either word, I?ve always had to pull out the dictionary, because...

Two Bryan Garner seminars in one day

Posted on August 22, 2010
Bryan Garner is hitting the road, giving two seminars at each stop: a 3�-hour version of Advanced Legal Writing and Editing in the morning, and a 3-hour presentation of Making Your Case, based on the book he wrote with Justice...

Writing well: Immunity from obsolescence?

Posted on August 17, 2010
Over at Writing, Clear and Simple, Roy Jacobsen makes the case that a good writer will always be able to find a job, no matter what technological changes occur. For what it?s worth, I?ll say that working hard at writing...

Writers on Process

Posted on August 17, 2010
If you?re interested in how creative writers do their thing, then you should check out Ben Opipari?s new blog, Writers on Process. There, Ben posts the things he learns from interviewing writers in all sorts of genres. If you dream...

Your computer is not an Underwood typewriter. So stop putting two spaces after every sentence.

Posted on August 14, 2010
Sometimes I?m surprised at how tightly some otherwise clear-thinking people cling to what they learned in high-school typing class. When I took typing in high school, 37 years ago, I was taught to hit the space bar twice after each...

A deceptively ambiguous adverb

Posted on August 14, 2010
I didn?t realize that deceptively is ambiguous until I read this post on The Grammarphobia Blog.

Fall 2010 JALWD available

Posted on July 31, 2010
The Fall 2010 issue of JALWD (Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) has hit the streets. The theme is metaphor and narrative. If your job is persuading others, then metaphor and narrative (storytelling) are tools you need in...

ESL students learn how to swear

Posted on July 30, 2010
For some reason, this English-as-a-second-language class reminds me of the opening bit from the movie Stripes. Warning: not safe for work. (Hat tip to Johnson.) Speaking of the opening bit from Stripes:

Q: What?s so bad about the passive voice?

Posted on July 26, 2010
A: It removes the characters from the story. Which pretty much wrecks the story. Sometimes that?s your goal. Usually it isn?t. For a fuller explanation, visit Plot to Punctuation. (Hat tip to Jane Friedman, via Mark Allen.)

Another reason for a fresh set of eyes

Posted on July 22, 2010
Writing tics. We all have them. And we?re all oblivious to our own. Which is why every writer needs an editor or someone else to offer an objective critique. For more on this topic, visit The Subversive Copy Editor Blog.

?Refudiate??

Posted on July 19, 2010
It seems that Sarah Palin has come up with a portmanteau word: refudiate, combining refute and repudiate. I have two reactions: I won?t use the word myself, and I don?t recommend adopting it. Refute or repudiate work fine. I won?t...

Bryan Garner?s Usage Tip of the Day

Posted on July 19, 2010
If you?re reading this blog, you know who Bryan Garner is. If you?d like to receive Bryan?s Usage Tip of the Day, then click here, and look for the e-mail subscription box on the right side of the screen. (Hat...

Crafting Public Messages

Posted on July 11, 2010
Writing for the general public is different from writing for courts, colleagues, or clients. For tips on how to write effectively for the general public, read Crafting Public Messages by Gregory C. Colomb, English professor at U. Va.

Erin McKean?s collection of on-line writing guides

Posted on July 10, 2010
For a fine collection of on-line writing guides and Twitter feeds, check out this column by Erin McKean. Erin is the founder of Wordnik, which is billed as ?the most comprehensive dictionary in the known universe.?

Never mind LeBron. Here?s the 2010 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest Winners

Posted on July 09, 2010
If one of your secret pleasures is intentionally godawful prose, then you?ll want to peruse this year?s Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest Winners. The contest is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose inspired Snoopy with his famous opening, ?It was a dark...

The Economist doesn?t like all Americanisms

Posted on July 06, 2010
Americans are allowed to use ?Americanisms,? which I define as standard American usage. But it?s always good to ask whether there might be a better way to express a thought than the way we?re used to. If you agree, then...

Help Howard alphabetize his cases

Posted on July 06, 2010
Over at How Appealing, Howard Bashman raises an interesting question about alphabetizing cases in a table of authorities: How should unusual case names be alphabetized in an appellate brief?s table of authorities? For example, assume you cite the following four...

My presentation at the LWI Conference

Posted on June 30, 2010
Today I?m giving a presentation at the Legal Writing Institute?s 14th Biennial Conference. My topic is techniques for emphasizing favorable material and (sometimes more important) de-emphasizing unfavorable material. For attendees and other interested persons, here are copies of the one-page...

For LWI conference attendees: Where I'll be

Posted on June 29, 2010
If you happen to be attending the Legal Writing Institute's 14th Biennial Conference, think about catching my presentation on Wednesday, June 30, from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. It will be a practitioner-oriented session on how to emphasize good material and....

The power of priming in legal advocacy

Posted on June 26, 2010
Prof. Kathryn Stanchi has written an interesting article on priming, the process of influencing a person?s response to later information by exposure to prior information. She explains what priming is and how briefwriters can use it to influence the reader?s...

The Economist style guide

Posted on June 22, 2010
I?ve posted before about The Economist Style Guide, but that was more than four years ago, so a refresher won?t hurt. And since Johnson recently reminded me of the ESG?s existence and usefulness, now is as good a time as...

Can legal writers learn from songwriters?

Posted on June 20, 2010
Peter Jeff has an interesting item at Six Minutes: 8 speech-writing lessons you can learn from songwriters. I?m not saying that your next brief should read like Bob Dylan?s lyrics. But if some of these techniques are trying to happen...

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