Whereas clear authorized writing is necessary whatever the doc, it’s important in state and federal appellate instances. Hardly ever do the events argue the case earlier than the court docket. They need to depend on their briefs and the document to win.
This humorous instance from the Appellate Advocacy Weblog reveals, amongst different issues, the way to write your truth statements clearly and concisely. When judges learn briefs, they admire the author who will get to the purpose and helps the info with a transparent and convincing argument of related statutes and case legislation.
That is why enhancing your writing is so necessary. Get your ideas down in writing. Arrange it in order that the reader is led by a logical move of the info and the argument. In appellate briefs, the format for citations to the document and all different citations format all the time is all the time set by court docket guidelines.
Return by your doc. Take away all pointless phrases and hyperbole. For instance, “so as” can all the time be deleted. Some repetition is suitable. Fixed repetition just isn’t. The court docket will “get it.” Good authorized writing can also be good story telling.
Probably the greatest writing workout routines I can suggest is to rewrite one thing that’s poorly written. It may be something. In case you can’t discover one thing, go to the Inner Income Code. You must discover loads of fodder there. Observe the rule of brief – brief sentences and brief paragraphs. Delete all pointless phrases and legalese. Sensitize your self to verbosity.
Now, a phrase of warning. In case you are the one writer of the doc that can bear your identify, you might have full management over how it’s written. If, nonetheless, you might be writing to your boss, right here is the place it is advisable to use common sense. You could hate legalese, however your boss has sure archaic phrases that she or he use in each doc as a result of it simply makes it “sound correct.” I might not suggest enhancing another person’s writing with out permission and a transparent understanding that your boss reads and approves all modifications you might have made.
I hope you get pleasure from Ms. Williams’ “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” instance and discover it useful as a authorized writing information. -CCE
