Topics in this law school text include a section on writing law school and bar examinations, amplified material on sentence structure and organization, and drafting principles. The book is equally suited for use in courses that concentrate on brief-writing, emphasize formal legal documents, or concentrate on the writing of memoranda or papers similar to law review comments. Also includes chapters on forcefulness, arranging words for emphasis, Opinions, and The Jurisdictional statement.
Helps law students gain essential skills needed to advance from acceptable to exceptional writing, focusing on organization, sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formatting. Includes exercises and reviews for self or group testing. This second edition includes a new chapter on formattin
Focusing on the argumentative, narrative, and descriptive style found in legal briefs and judicial opinions, this text should be a thought provoking examination of effective argumentation in law.
In the second edition of this highly regarded text, the authors show how and why traditional legal language has developed the peculiar characteristics that make legal documents inaccessible to the end users. Incorporating recent research and case law, the book provides a critical examination of case law and the rules of interpretation. Detailed case studies illustrate how obtuse or outdated words, phrases and concepts can be rewritten, reworked or removed altogether. Particularly useful is the step-by-step guide to drafting in the modern style, using examples from four types of common legal documents: leases, company constitutions, wills and conveyances. Readers will gain an appreciation of the historical influences on drafting practice and the use of legal terminology. They will learn about the current moves to reform legal language, and receive clear instruction on how to make their writing clearer and their legal documents more useful.
With a practical focus on persuasive writing strategies, Advanced Legal Writing: Theory and Strategies in Persuasive Writing explores three classical techniques: logos, pathos, and ethos, and provides students with a thorough introduction to the elements of rhetorical style. Unlike many other advanced legal writing texts, which tend to focus on a document-specific approach, this unique coursebook focuses on classical writing strategies that students can apply to a wide range of settings. The depth and scope of this text make it appropriate for upper-level legal writing courses. The Third Edition has been expanded to include the use of movies and other popular culture media in chapters dealing with literary references. There have also been substantial revisions to the chapter on policy. Features: Comprehensive coverage of the technical aspects of rhetorical style: metaphor, literary allusion, and figures of speech. Emphasizes theory as well as practice, building on three basic strategies of persuasive legal writing: Logos: Logic and rational argument. o Pathos: Value-based argument. Ethos: Establishing credibility. Highlights interdisciplinary contributions to persuasive writing from diverse fields, including cognitive psychology, classical rhetoric, and morality theory. Presents effective strategies that extend beyond the trial or appellate brief to a broad range of documents and settings. Covers new developments in cognitive psychology, pathos, persuasion, and the role of metaphor in persuasive legal writing. Depth and scope appropriate for upper-level legal writing classes. Thoroughly updated, the revised Third Edition offers: Substantial revisions to the chapter on policy. Expanded chapters on literary references now include other media, e.g., movies and other pop culture platforms.
“This easy-to-follow guide is useful both as a general course of instruction and as a targeted aid in solving particular legal writing problems.” —Harvard Law Review Clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful—all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. For more than twenty years, Bryan A. Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English has helped address this problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. The leading guide to clear writing in the field, this indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process that will appeal to other professionals: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills. Accessible and witty, Legal Writing in Plain English draws on real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through decades of teaching. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting, and the book’s principles are reinforced by sets of basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises in each section. In this new edition, Garner preserves the successful structure of the original while adjusting the content to make it even more classroom-friendly. He includes case examples from the past decade and addresses the widespread use of legal documents in electronic formats. His book remains the standard guide for producing the jargon-free language that clients demand and courts reward. “Those who are willing to approach the book systematically and to complete the exercises will see dramatic improvements in their writing.” —Law Library Journal
In Point Made, Ross Guberman uses the work of great advocates as the basis of a valuable, step-by-step brief-writing and motion-writing strategy for practitioners. The author takes an empirical approach, drawing heavily on the writings of the nation's 50 most influential lawyers.
