Register for Our Live Online Seminars
Advanced Legal Writing & Editing (Live Online)
Live with Professor Bryan A. Garner
Regular registration closes 8 business days before seminar date.
Register Online
Course: $899
America’s #1 Legal-Writing Seminar
Advanced Legal Writing & Editing
- 9:00 a.m.– 3:00 p.m. Central Time
- (Ethics credit in some states.)
2024 Live Online Sessions
Attend the most popular CLE seminar of all time. More than 225,000 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 will teach you how to shake bad habits that readers—especially judges—detest. Learn how to entice and persuade instead.
2024 seminar dates post in November 2023.
Advanced Legal Writing & Editing
About Advanced Legal Writing & Editing
Bryan 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 arguments flow;
- quoting authority more effectively; and
- tackling your writing projects more efficiently.
Garner teaches dozens of techniques that make a big difference. Most important, he shows you what doesn’t work—and why—and how to cultivate true skill.
Praise for Professor Bryan A. Garner
“ Bryan Garner’s seminars are the most valuable things I know of to help a lawyer communicate effectively. Lawyers who strive to be effective never stop learning. I’d go again and again and again.”
Ted Olson, former Solicitor General of the United States and a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, says:
Praise for Professor Bryan A. Garner
“This seminar I rate at the top. We get our investment back in spades”
Bradley J. Butwin, managing partner at O’Melvaney & Meyers. says:
About Bryan A. Garner
Professor Bryan A. Garner is the entrepreneurial scholar behind LawProse. Respected by judges, his writings have been cited by appellate courts in all 50 states.
The United States Judicial Conference has relied on him to take the lead in revising five complete sets of federal rules—civil, appellate, criminal, bankruptcy, and judicial discipline.
He is the coauthor with Justice Antonin Scalia of both Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges and Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts.
Editor in chief of Black’s Law Dictionary since 1995, Professor Garner is a prolific and award-winning author. His books include The Winning Brief, The Law of Judicial Precedent, and Garner’s Modern English Usage.
He is the most sought after legal-writing professor in the world. His clients have included 25 state supreme courts, a dozen federal courts, the United Nations, and hundreds of law firms and corporate legal departments.
Professor Garner is often called on to serve as an expert witness in cases of linguistic and grammatical interpretation. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Harper’s Magazine, as well as on CNN, the Tonight Show, NPR, and 60 Minutes.
Seminar Schedule
(All times are Central Time.)
- 8:00–9:00
- Log into WebEx classroom
- 9:00–9:20
- The difference between writing and good writing (with exercise)
- 9:20–10:00
- 3 prerequisites to becoming a good writer (with exercises)
- 10:00–10:30
- 4 fundamental tenets of good writing (with exercises)
- 10:30–10:45
- Break
- 10:45–Noon
- The key to opening memos, reports, motions, and briefs (with exercise)
- Noon–12:30
- Lunch
- 12:30–1:45
- 8 principles for maintaining a lucid train of thought (with exercises)
- 1:45–2:00
- Break
- 2:00–2:15
- Potent conclusions
- 2:15–2:30
- Tone and document design
- 2:30–3:00
- Managing your writing process (with exercise)
CLE Credits by State
| Arizona | 5.0 hours |
| California | 5.0 hours |
| Florida | 6.0 hours |
| Georgia | 5.0 hours |
| Illinois | 5.0 hours |
| Indiana | 5.0 hours |
| Kansas | 6.0 hours |
| Louisiana | 5.0 hours |
| Minnesota | 5.0 hours |
| Missouri | 6.0 hours |
| New Jersey | 6.0 hours |
| New York* | 6.0 hours |
| Ohio | 5.0 hours |
| Oklahoma | 6.0 hours |
| Pennsylvania | 5.5 hours |
| Tennessee | 5.0 hours |
| Texas | 5.5 hours+0.5 ethics |
| Virginia | 5.0 hours |
| Washington | 5.0 hours |
*Credit available under NY CLE Approved Jurisdiction Policy (you’ll receive a packet for your self-reporting files).
Policies & FAQs
For more details and FAQs: https://lawprose.org/faq/live-online-seminars/.
Are there course materials?
Yes. The coursebook is included in the tuition. Coursebooks are mailed out seven working days before your scheduled seminar date via FedEx.
Does this seminar qualify for CLE in my state? How will I get credit?
It has already been approved for credits in Texas and California. Approval in several other states is pending. Please check with us for more information for your particular state.
If we don’t have CLE credit available for your state, you can still apply to your Bar for credit. At the end of the seminar, you’ll receive an e-mail with:
- seminar description with time agenda;
- seminar brochure;
- Professor Bryan A. Garner’s CV; and
- LawProse Certificate of Completion.
You can take these attachments and use them to apply to your state Bar for credit.
Do I need to pay my tuition before the seminar date?
Yes. Because we’re sending out hard copies of the coursebooks, we need to ensure that you will be attending the seminar. If your organization cannot pay before the seminar date, please contact our general counsel, Karolyne Cheng (kcheng@lawprose.org), to discuss options.
I just registered for the seminar. What happens now?
You’ll receive a confirmation from our office with a detailed attachment of the seminar’s information, including steps for logging in to the seminar, CLE-credit information, seminar schedule, and other helpful guidance.
What do I need to participate in the seminar?
- A computer with an internet connection suitable for viewing streaming video.
- Speakers so that you can hear the lecture.
- The coursebook, which you’ll receive in the mail about 1 week before the seminar.
- A pen or pencil.
- A writing surface.
- A notepad for your writing exercises.
Strongly Encouraged:
A couple of memos, motions, or briefs to look at when Professor Garner prompts you. You don’t have any of these? What about an essay you’ve written? An article? Those might work as well.
LawProse Team’s Suggestions:
- Highlighter.
- Sticky notes and tabs.
- Drinks and snacks.
- Your sense of humor.
Is this going to be any fun?
Yes! Oh, we get it. It sounds awful—a day of legal writing. But don’t be fooled by the topic. There’s a reason that Professor Garner is the preeminent lecturer on legal writing. He’s inspiring and practical at the same time. His tongue-in-cheek humor adds some sass to the topic, and he strongly encourages you to bring your own humor to your learning. Not only will you learn important how-tos for good writing and persuasive writing, but you’ll feel more empowered to produce effective work every day.
Don’t believe us? Check out what people said about their time with Professor Garner in the comments section on the Advanced Legal Writing & Editing page.
Still not convinced? Take a peek at David Foster Wallace’s write-up on Professor Garner in Consider the Lobster on American usage. It’s a playful review of the man himself as much as his book.
I need to cancel my registration. How can I do this? What is your refund policy?
Please contact us directly at info@lawprose.org for a refund based on the conditions below.
Cancellations made more than 30 business days before your original scheduled seminar date.
→
Tuition minus 15% of tuition (processing fee).
Cancellations made at least 15 business days before your original scheduled seminar date.
→
Tuition minus 50% of tuition.
Cancellations made 10 business days before your original scheduled seminar date.
→
No refund. No transfer to self-paced seminars.
I can’t make my selected date. Can I move my tuition to a self-paced seminar?
Yes. We’ll be happy to help you start up your self-paced account and get you started on that path. To calculate your available credit:
Transfers to self-paced seminars made more than 30 business days before your original scheduled seminar date.
→
Tuition minus $150 processing fee. The remaining tuition is applied to your self-paced seminar selections.
Transfers to self-paced seminars made more than 15 business days before your original scheduled seminar date.
→
Tuition minus 50% of tuition minus $150 processing fee. The remaining tuition is applied to your self-paced seminar selections.
May I record the seminar?
No. This is a proprietary seminar. We ask that you follow a basic rule at LawProse: Don’t lie and don’t steal.