What’s the biggest mistake that legal writers make? It’s a simple blunder, really: too many begin writing before truly understanding the message they’re trying to communicate. They compose prematurely, hoping they’ll figure out the message along the way. Even if they do figure it out, their writing will inevitably be longer than necessary—both because it will include extraneous information and because it will almost certainly be repetitious. It will meander, burying the lead and lacking a discernible structure. It won’t have a cogent argument, and it won’t be as persuasive as it should be. It may even provoke readers to rebel by stopping their reading.
So how do you prevent this? How can you prepare yourself to write?
That’s the subject of Part 1 of the 10-part webinar series Legal Writing in Plain English. You need a rational method for reducing your basic message to a series of propositions. Bryan Garner will show you techniques to do just that—techniques that will help you become considerably more effective.