Legal Research

Persuasive Writing and Advocacy

By Diane Murley

An important part of persuasion is knowing your audience. You can be more persuasive if you know how your audience expects you to write and speak. Two recently released resources reveal what U.S. Supreme Court Justices expect in court briefs and oral arguments.

Bryan Garner, one of the foremost authorities on legal writing and advocacy, interviewed U.S. Supreme Court Justices about legal writing and advocacy. Videos of the interviews are available at LawProse, Inc. See Tony Mauro, In Series of Videos, Supreme Court Justices Make Their Case, Legal Times, March 11, 2008, available at Law.com.

Professor Garner and Justice Antonin Scalia also co-authored a book, Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Read excerpts at the ABA Journal website. To read or listen to an interview with the authors, see Richard Brust, A Voice for the Write, ABA Journal, May 2008. The WSJ.com Law Blog highlighted three bits of advice from the book:

• ‘Yield Indefensible Terrain ? Ostentatiously’ (4/29/08)
• Improve Your Writing by Improving Your Reading (4/30/08); and
• You Are What You Wear (5/1/08).

The law library has ordered Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges. Check the library catalog for availability or ask a librarian.

Full post as published by Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog on May 08, 2008 (boomark / email).