The (New) Legal Writer
"A collection of resources for lawyers and other writers."
Author: Raymond Ward is an appellate lawyer at Adams and Reese in New Orleans. He also authors Minor Wisdom and contributes to Appellate Law & Practice.
Blawg Related Categories: Law Practice Management • Legal Technology • Legal Research and Writing
Recent Posts from The (New) Legal Writer
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A checklist for drafting good contracts
If your work involves drafting contracts, then you should read A Checklist for Drafting Good Contracts, by M.H. Sam Jacobson. Why a checklist? Jacobson explains:For all drafters, a checklist can ensure that the contract will…
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Sex language
Patricia O’Conner has written an interesting post on the Grammarphobia Blog debunking myths about the history of English words used to refer to the sexes. For instance: The use of masculine pronouns (he, him, his)…
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Applied Storytelling Conference
If you’re interested in applying storytelling to the practice of law, and if you like to plan your CLE ahead, then block out July 22–24, 2009 on your calendar. That’s when a conference on applied…
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Defusing negative facts or law
Every advocate confronts the problem of handling bad facts or adverse authority. Do you ignore it? Do you wait for the other side to raise it and then rebut it? Or do you confront it…
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“Sorry” seems to be the hardest word
Sometimes we lawyers have trouble saying we’re sorry. We should try to overcome that inhibition. Saying you’re sorry can be cathartic. For instance, here’s a letter1 by a lawyer saying he’s sorry about having to…
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Collaboration through wikis
Today, most lawyers who collaborate on writing a document probably swap numerous drafts by e-mail. But an interesting post on Legal Writing Prof Blog suggests a possibly better way to collaborate: wikis. The post includes…
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Making weight
Sooner or later, every briefwriter is faced with the task of editing a 15,000-word draft to make it fit under the court’s 14,000-word limit for briefs. How do you do that without sacrificing substance? Write…
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Thomas Jefferson’s editorial board
If you’ve ever bristled at editors who mangled your draft, then you have some famous company: Thomas Jefferson. In America’s Founding Editors, University of Missouri law professor Douglas E. Abrams tells the story of how…
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Effective critique
If you’re a lawyer who reviews and critiques other lawyers’ writing, then you will want to read A Methodology for Mentoring Writing in Law Practice, by Jane Kent Gionfriddo, Daniel L. Barnett, and Joan Blum.…
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The Dark-Blue Book: A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, by Kenneth A. Adams
If your work involves drafting business contracts, then you need the second edition of Ken Adams’s book, A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. It is to drafting what Bryan Garner’s Redbook is to legal…