In this space, you’ve seen explanations of how to prepare good point headings, which are exceedingly rare. Three of the 100 tips in The Winning Brief illustrate first-rate point headings—which should be complete sentences set down-style (not in initial caps). More than 20 tables of contents from winning briefs appear as examples of how to frame them most effectively—the majority from the U.S. Solicitor General’s Office filings.
The most recent issue of Litigation magazine has Bryan Garner’s grades for point headings in U.S. Supreme Court briefs for the 2016 term—the grades ranging from A to D. Yes, some well-known Supreme Court practitioners receive Cs and Ds in the piece. Have a look here.
To learn more about point headings, as well as innumerable other subtleties that affect persuasiveness, sign up for the summer webinar sessions of The Winning Brief. Sign up yourself, and sign up your whole team with inexpensive secondary licenses. The courses will help you become more efficient and more effective as a brief-writer. No matter how good you may think you already are, you can transcend your current practices. We think you’ll want to watch again and again.
LawProse Lesson #310: The Mastery of Point Headings.
Live seminars this year with Professor Bryan A. Garner: Advanced Legal Writing & Editing
Attend the most popular CLE seminar of all time. More than 215,000 people—including lawyers, judges, law clerks, and paralegals—have benefited since the early 1990s. You'll learn the keys to professional writing and acquire no-nonsense techniques to make your letters, memos, and briefs more powerful.
You'll also learn what doesn't work and why—know-how gathered through Professor Garner's unique experience in training lawyers at the country's top law firms, state and federal courts, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies.
Professor Garner gives you the keys to make the most of your writing aptitude—in letters, memos, briefs, and more. The seminar covers five essential skills for persuasive writing:
- framing issues that arrest the readers' attention;
- cutting wordiness that wastes readers' time;
- using transitions deftly to make your argument flow;
- quoting authority more effectively; and
- tackling your writing projects more efficiently.
He teaches dozens of techniques that make a big difference. Most important, he shows you what doesn't work—and why—and how to cultivate skillfulness.
Register to reserve your spot today.
Have you wanted to bring Professor Garner to teach your group? Contact us at info@lawprose.org for more information about in-house seminars.