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Great new book
The (Not Too Serious) Grammar, Punctuation, and Style Guide to Legal Writing by Diana Simon Professor Diana Simon of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law has written an...
View ArticleWhat I Did Last Summer
Gathering opinions on new legal writers In summer 2022, I had lunch meetings with five local attorneys. My goal was to gather input from practicing lawyers about ways I could improve my teaching of...
View ArticleShould You Use “Shall”?
In legal drafting, should you worry about using shall? Consider three examples: Subcontractor shall comply with all Contractor safety rules. “Seller” as used in this contract shall mean Oaker Services....
View ArticleDeveloping Editorial Judgment
It’s more than “read a lot” and “have a good ear.” At a recent CLE talk, I said that implementing a certain technique would require “exercising editorial judgment.” A lawyer asked, “How do you develop...
View ArticleConnecting Legal Writing
Research and recommendations for transitions In a recent article, Professor Diana J. Simon of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law gathered results from some empirical studies on...
View ArticleWriting in Threes
The power, the magic, and the charm of three Anecdotal evidence suggests that when trying to persuade, presenting three concepts is better than presenting two. Or four. Or more. We see examples of...
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Use Word’s Navigation Pane to Improve Organization
I like to use the Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word to help me with large-scale organization. Here’s a step-by-step guide and then an example. First, you need to be using Styles in Word. Here’s my...
View ArticleGrammar in Real Cases
Passives, apostrophes, and commas Legal writers should always aim for grammatically correct prose. Why? To me, the key reason is to establish and maintain credibility: When readers see that you know...
View ArticleReadability of Briefs
Two empirical studies This post discusses two studies of appellate-brief writing that reached different conclusions and call for different explanations. The first study scored nearly every merits brief...
View ArticlePlagiarism in Law School and in Law Practice
Some examples and a new view This column summarizes two kinds of legal-writing plagiarism and then presents a recent article that proposes a new view of plagiarism in law practice. Law school...
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