legal writing – The Bar Association of San Francisco

Male lawyer sitting at workplace in office

Favor the Simple, Declarative Sentence

Resisting the urge to pack your sentences with numerous thoughts and details will make your writing easier to understand and thus, more effective. Use of sprawling, convoluted sentences—in legal memoranda, briefs to the court, judicial opinions, statutes, and transactional documents—is…

When to Stay Away From Him, Her, and Them

In legal and other formal writing, when you don’t know the gender identity of a specific human individual and are not in a position to inquire, it’s best to avoid using any of the singular personal pronouns to refer to…

Artful Arguments

Minor usage error aside, U.S. Rep Adam Schiff wended his way in Trump’s impeachment trial from one stirring statement to the next. U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff’s remarks to the United States Senate during the impeachment trial were replete…

Legal Writing Tip: Mind the Gaps Between Subject, Verb, and Object

To craft an easy-to-understand sentence, make sure the subject, verb, and object do not stray too far from each other. The subject is the actor in the sentence, while the object is the entity that is acted upon, or…

Legal Writing Tip: Heed the Bench’s Preferences

Ross Guberman, the acclaimed legal writing consultant and author of Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates and Point Taken: How to Write Like the World’s Greatest Judges, surveyed thousands of judges—ranging from those serving at…

Legal Writing Tip: Include a Summary of Argument

Under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, opening briefs must include a summary of argument that appears after the statement of the issues and the statement of the case, and before the arguments section. (Fed. Rules App. Proc., rule 28(a)(5-7),…

Legal Writing Tip: Don’t Distract Readers or Ruin Your Writing with Citations

Despite the efforts of legal writing guru Bryan Garner to promote use of “citational” footnotes, placing citations in the main body of the brief or memo remains the dominant method. And so, for the most part, or at least when…

Legal Writing Tip: Keep Deleting the Unnecessary

Eliminating verbiage is so essential to writing effectively, the task warrants further attention. Legal writing guru Bryan Garner is fond of quoting the late Judge David Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on…

Legal Writing Tip: Get Active in Your Editing; Eliminate Passive Voice

One of my chief editing tips is to read your document repeatedly, each time scanning for only one thing – excessive commas, unnecessary capitalization, throat-clearing, etc. The first scan should probably be devoted to eliminating passive voice. Passive voice: The ball was thrown by Cathy. Active voice:…

Legal Writing Tip: Using a Second Pair Eyes to Proof Your Work

I’ve long recommended that lawyers get a second pair of eyes on important documents, either a professional editor or a trusted colleague. Ideally, within the bounds of attorney-client privilege, the editor should know little about the subject matter so as…

Legal Writing Tip: Boost the Drama; Keep Sentences Short

To boost drama or emotion in briefs, client letters and other writing, pepper your narrative with short sentences. Easy to read, short sentences focus readers’ attention, helping them retain information. Part style, part literary technique, short sentences control your reader’s…

Legal Writing Tip: Keep Your Writing Fresh; Ditch Lazy Words

We all have words and phrases we use repeatedly. Sometimes, they’re good – specifically and as a result are two of my regulars. But others are crutch phrases or lazy words that dilute the power of writing. While you might…