Helps law students gain essential skills needed to advance from acceptable to exceptional writing, focusing on organization, sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formatting. Includes exercises and reviews for self or group testing. This second edition includes a new chapter on formattin

This concise paperback focuses on the nuances of legal writing style and provides novice legal writers with the skills they need to polish their writing. Guide to Legal Writing Style, Fourth Edition, intended as an ancillary to any basic legal

Topics in this law school text include a section on writing law school and bar examinations, amplified material on sentence structure and organization, and drafting principles. The book is equally suited for use in courses that concentrate on brief-writing, emphasize formal legal documents, or concentrate on the writing of memoranda or papers similar to law review comments. Also includes chapters on forcefulness, arranging words for emphasis, Opinions, and The Jurisdictional statement.

This concise paperback focuses on the nuances of legal writing style and provides novice legal writers with the skills they need to polish their writing. Guide to Legal Writing Style, Fourth Edition, intended as an ancillary to any basic legal writing text, expands what students learn in their first-year courses by providing additional techniques and style tips that will help make their writing more precise, readable and elegant. This highly regarded paperback, specifically directed at legal writers, offers crisp, pointed advice written in a personal and humorous style lucid organization that helps students find the information they need most, including practice with basic skills and helpful advice on organization, sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formatting an emphasis on legal ethics throughout, with most of the examples and exercises focusing on ethical issues a chapter on organization that compares and contrasts undergraduate terms and goals with those expected by a legal audience a guide that helps students guard against plagiarism short, end-of-chapter exercises, with the answers at the back of the book, that strengthen skills and provide opportunities for self-testing Special features in the Fourth Edition include: an updated interactive CD-ROM with multiple exercises to reinforce the materials in the book, which includes updated and expanded tests of basic skills and click-on answers and explanations a new chapter testing common errors in professional writing, with explanations as well as succinct answers new checklists that reinforce essential advice of each chapter

In the second edition of this highly regarded text, the authors show how and why traditional legal language has developed the peculiar characteristics that make legal documents inaccessible to the end users. Incorporating recent research and case law, the book provides a critical examination of case law and the rules of interpretation. Detailed case studies illustrate how obtuse or outdated words, phrases and concepts can be rewritten, reworked or removed altogether. Particularly useful is the step-by-step guide to drafting in the modern style, using examples from four types of common legal documents: leases, company constitutions, wills and conveyances. Readers will gain an appreciation of the historical influences on drafting practice and the use of legal terminology. They will learn about the current moves to reform legal language, and receive clear instruction on how to make their writing clearer and their legal documents more useful.

The Lawyer's Essential Guide to Writing is a readable, concrete guide to contemporary legal writing. Based on Marie Buckley's years of experience coaching lawyers, this book provides a systematic approach to all forms of written communication, from memoranda and briefs to e-mail and blogs. The book sets forth three principles for powerful writing and shows how to apply those principles to develop a clean and confident style.