“How will I begin?” That question trips up even seasoned lawyers, and it often decides whether a brief lands or falls flat. The rule isn’t new, but it’s demanding: your first sentence must grab attention. If it doesn’t, you’ve already lost ground.
Judges read fast and skeptically. Your opening can’t wander. It must frame the dispute, signal its stakes, and point toward a result. “This case involves a dispute over a contract” goes nowhere. It’s dead on arrival. But “This case turns on whether a party may escape a written promise it deliberately made” sets direction and pressure. It tells the reader what matters.
LawProse has spent decades refining this into a method many lawyers now call “Garnerizing” a document. The aim is simple. Start with a sentence that both hooks the reader and orients the analysis. Done right, it sets the path for everything that follows.
The last sentence matters nearly as much. Too many lawyers coast to the finish with something like “For the foregoing reasons, the motion should be granted.” That adds nothing. A strong closer delivers both reason and result: “Because the statute admits of no exception, the Court should enforce it as written and grant the motion.” This leaves the reader with a conclusion that feels earned.
That’s the goal. Open with force. Close with finality. Control the first line and the last, and you control how your argument will be read—and you increase your chances of prevailing.
To learn more, suggested self-paced seminars online with Professor Garner:
- The Deep Issue: Studies in a Revolutionary Idea for Issue Framing
- Better Brief-Writing