These are the most notable legal terms of 2023, legal writing coach says
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“Exploding offer” and “Texas two-step” are among the most notable terms of 2023, according to legal writing consultant Ken Bresler.
Bresler has set three criteria for the year’s top phrases. They must be fairly new, in the news and not in Black’s Law Dictionary, he said in a Virginia Lawyers Weekly article republished at his Clear Writing Co. website.
Bresler’s top five are:
5.) “Texas two-step,” in which a legal entity splits in two, with assets assigned to one of the entities and liabilities to the other. The liability entity then files for bankruptcy.
4.) “Tag jurisdiction,” in which a court exercises personal jurisdiction over a person who is served—or tagged—while present in the forum.
3.) “Nuclear verdict,” in which excessive damages are awarded. Some define the term as a jury award higher than $10 million.
2.) “Exploding offer,” in which a contract offer is withdrawn if there is no response by a short deadline.
1.) “Artificial intelligence” and “generative artificial intelligence.” The first term, according to Merriam-Webster, means the ability of computer systems to imitate intelligent human behavior. The second means artificial intelligence that is able to generate new content in response to a prompt.
Generative AI has led to other terms, including “hallucinations,” in which AI makes up supposed facts, and “mutant citation,” in which more than one case citation is blended together.
See also:
“‘Complicit bias’ and ‘lawfare’ among top new legal terms in 2022”
