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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

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...

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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...

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