LawProse Lesson 357: Have something to say.

LawProse Lesson 357: Have something to say.

What’s the great secret of writing style? Having something to say—and saying it clearly.

You don’t say something because you want to write. That’s backward. You write because you want to say something. You have something to declare.

Legal writers would do better work if they worried much more in the first instance about what they’re going to say, not how they’re going to say it. Figure out the substance, then simplify, simplify, and simplify further—but never so much that you oversimplify.

If lawyers would realize that words serve ideas, not vice versa, they could spare themselves and their clients much misery.

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.

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Have you wanted to bring Professor Garner to teach your group? Contact us at info@lawprose.org for more information about in-house seminars.

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