LawProse Lesson #458 The best uses of AI in brief-writing

Lawyers have gotten into trouble for using AI. Why? They’ve used it to write their briefs, and judges have discovered imaginary (“hallucinated”) cases being cited. Many, many lawyers are therefore scared to try AI at all. Others continue to rely on it unduly. For the first time ever, in this season’s CLEs, Professor Bryan A. …

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LawProse Lesson #457 The Key to Effective Online Instruction

From the Staffers at LawProse Inc: People are often skeptical of online instruction. “Oh no, another Zoom call!” Dreadful as many such calls may be, the skeptics are dreadfully overgeneralizing. In fact, as our seminars with Professor Bryan A. Garner demonstrate, online instruction can be engaging—even scintillating. How does he do it? (1) While lecturing, he …

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LawProse Lesson #455: Contractual headings as topic sentences

In contracts and other types of legal drafting, a “topic sentence” for a paragraph is typically a general proposition (stating a duty or a right) that is elaborated with various specifications and exceptions over the next several sentences. As in all writing, contractual paragraphs should be cohesive. Yet because we generally inherit our contracts—at least …

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LawProse Lesson #454: Paragraphing and topic sentences

 To improve your writing, try focusing on well-structured paragraphs that guide your reader smoothly through your ideas. Solid writing divides ideas into units, each paragraph being devoted to a single main topic or point. Paragraphing in this way helps the reader follow your argument and grasp the progression of your thoughts. Starting each paragraph with …

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LawProse Lesson #453: Use action verbs

Although be-verbs—especially is, are, was, and were—remain central to our language, good writers moderate them. They’re sluggish. Action verbs, by contrast, make writing go: they kick, jolt, jump-start, halt, fly, flash, dampen, upset, soothe, hurt, and heal. You get strength from good verbs. Want to improve a draft? Try this: on your computer, search for …

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LawProse Lesson #452: Why lawyers tend to write poorly

Why do lawyers, whose profession is essentially literary, tend to write so poorly? (Don’t deny it.) It’s because even the most talented ones read only what other lawyers write. On the whole, lawyers aren’t big readers—except on the job. After a day of scrutinizing cases, briefs, demand letters, regulations, etc., the last thing most want …

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LawProse Lesson #450: The Advocate’s Two Most Important Words

As an advocate, what are your two most important words? Can you even identify their part of speech? Verbs? Nouns? Remember: we’re asking about two particular words, not types of words. Do you give up? They’re conjunctions—and subordinating conjunctions at that. The words are because and although. These words occur often in first-rate persuasive writing. Clunky writers, naturally enough, use …

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LawProse Lesson #448: A new perspective on persuasion

Everyone is constantly bombarded by persuasive messaging—only some of which works. It’s not just advertisers who want us to buy or politicians who want us to vote or donate. It’s also friends and colleagues who want us to support their ideas. Persuaders today have found more and more sophisticated ways of reaching us, even if …

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LawProse Lesson #446: Become a strong reader

Step one in becoming a strong writer is to become a strong reader. We recommend that you undertake a concerted effort to read the best expository writing of our day. You might well start with the nonfiction pieces in Harper’s, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. It’s a matter of upgrading your understanding of how effective exposition works—especially …

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LawProse Lesson #445: Increasing your productivity as a writer

People who write regularly tend to write well and to enjoy it; people who write infrequently tend to write poorly and to dread it. So how can you enhance your (ahem) regularity? We recommend seven steps: With an inward emotional commitment to write—even if it’s just personal letters—you’ll find that all your writing will improve.     …

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LawProse Lesson #443: Don’t expect others to clean up your mess

We’ve noticed a trend. Some junior lawyers get frustrated by having a boss rework everything they write. Instead of analyzing and learning from the changes and then redoubling their efforts with each new writing project, they detach themselves and begin turning in half-baked work. If asked why, they say something like this: “Harold’s just going …

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LawProse Lesson #442: Guidelines for Legal Definitions

Lawyers constantly define terms, often poorly. For detailed guidance on defining effectively, together with lots of before-and-after examples, see pp. 357–79 of Garner’s Coursebook on Drafting and Editing Contracts (2020). In the short space we have here, we’ll give you seven brief pointers: That’s our definitive word on the subject.

LawProse Lesson #441: Style as Invisible

Invisible Style: At LawProse, we tend to think that the best style is invisible to an experienced reader: the words disappear into the thought. They shouldn’t be so ostentatious that they draw attention to themselves. They shouldn’t be pretentious or eccentric, and they shouldn’t be semiliterate—or worse. Writing should be like an absolutely clean windowpane …

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LawProse Lesson #440: One or two spaces after a period?

Should you put one forward space or two after a period? It all depends on whether you’re adept at typography—and whether you’re willing to move on from something you might have learned years ago in a typewriting class. Here’s what you’ll find in The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (5th ed. 2023): “Although it’s true that …

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LawProse Lesson #439: What’s a good writing style?

What’s a good writing style? Over the millennia, there have been four basic theories about good style.           First, there’s the idea that it’s simply good character reflected in writing. As George-Louis Leclerc Buffon (the French naturalist) declared in the 18th century: “Style is the man himself.” More recently, the novelist Norman Mailer made a similar …

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LawProse Lesson #438: What’s the goal of a research memo?

The obvious goal is to provide an answer to a research problem—preferably in a way that solves a client’s problem—and to do it efficiently. Let’s assume you understand what the issue is. In finding an answer, you need to identify a rule that supports your conclusion. You’ll find that rule, one hopes, in both a …

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