What is good legal writing?
I want you to think about this question … hard and long!
Discover how Rolex replica watches can become a fashion statement for those who wish to enjoy the elegance and prestige of Rolex without the exorbitant price tag.
What is your goal?
- Impress the judge?
- Confuse the opponent?
- Or, win the case?
Everything we do in life has in one sense or another a particular goal. Some things we do are automatic, like breathing, yet there is always a goal. In business, the goal is to provide a benefit to others. In sports, the goal is to perform to the highest of our athletic ability. In law, the goal is to make a winning record in writing!
Many lawyers and most pro se litigants miss this point … they get sidetracked with unimportant distractions!
Every word spoken in a courtroom or written on paper filed with the clerk or served on the other side must aim toward this specific goal.
All words that aren’t aimed at making a winning record must go!
Since 1997 when Jurisdictionary began, people have sent documents for review. In all but a few the punch, power, and persuasive effect could be improved by eliminating 90% of the words and by keeping only those aimed at making a winning record.
Most of what came for review read more like the writer was trying to tell a story, rather than trying to make a winning court record of relevant facts and controlling law!
Legal writing is NOT story-telling!
Any fact that’s not “relevant” and any law that’s not “controlling” should be eliminated.
I rebuilt a few car engines in my youth. I removed bolts, nuts, gaskets, and pins. I placed the removed parts on a sheet of cardboard on the floor of my garage. All was arranged neatlyin order. When the time came to put the engine back together, every part had a place, and that’s where I put each part … in its place!
A place for every part. Every part in its place.
I didn’t add any parts! I didn’t leave any parts out!
That’s good legal writing!
Every word has a purpose … to make your winning record.
More years ago than I like to remember, I worked as a reporter for the Tampa Times newspaper. My city editor was ruthless with my writing. I learned from him. Since being admitted to the bar in 1986, I’ve applied what he taught me. “Say what needs to be said then stop!”
What was true for newspaper writing is doubly true for legal writing.
Say what needs to be said and stop!
Write like you were “speaking” to an 8th grader. You aren’t Jimmy Buffet. You don’t need a “novelist’s eye” or a “bartender’s ear”. You aren’t telling a story! You’re assembling essential parts of a powerful engine.
That’s what good legal writing does! Each part has a specific purpose.
What I teach will empower your legal paperwork and give you the competitive edge you need to win!
Copy, Credit, Meals
This is addressed to my professional actor friends, full members of the Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA, and Equity.
It is to say that I am tired of being invited by student directors to act in their videos, or films, for their benefit and for nothing. This is a huge step backward to the very beginnings of these esteemed organizations, back to the twenties and thirties. Student actors, go ahead. Professional actors, STOP!
Yes, we are entering a new era in the film making process. Yes, the old rules are a-changing. But no, what remains unchanged is the cold hard fact that we need to earn a fair amount of money to survive. SAG and AFTRA and AEA were conceived to ensure that this happens. But what has taken its place?
I am told that I may perform in an AEA condoned "Equity Waiver" theatrical production. That means that I have the opportunity to "practice my craft" for not much more than car fare.
I am told that I may perform in a SAG or AFTRA condoned "student production" to "practice my craft" for a copy of the result "for my reel". My reel has become an essential adjunct in the job-hunting process. Job hunting has become the premier industry in today’s Hollywood (and New York). Hundreds of websites have come into being, offering job hunting services for a price. And so, the poor actor’s pockets, bare due to the near impossibility of getting paid these days, is made even more bare by the new necessity to subscribe to these websites.
The dignity of the professional actor is severely threatened. The new image is that of a young actor, with pleading in his eyes, one hand out, and the other behind his back, to protect it, I guess. While the producer/director wields his traditional authoritarial stick over the actor, ensuring the continuance of a feudal system tolerated since the dark ages. And the middle men, the managers, the agents, the lawyers, and some teachers and casting directors, earn their living in dependence upon the actors lack of confidence, "teaching" said actors "new tricks".
Posted in ACTORS' & DIRECTORS' CORNER, COMMENTARY