Bryan Garner on Words

Make motions more powerful by writing openers that focus on ‘deep issues’

An effective opener involves stating the problem to be solved. After all, what is a motion? It’s a request to resolve a specific problem by entering a specific order.

Apr 1, 2017 2:30 AM CDT

Going Deep

What’s the most important part of a motion or brief? The judges I’ve interviewed over the years give various responses to the question, but what I most often hear is this: a precise description of the questions presented in the case or the statement of the issues.

Mar 1, 2017 3:20 AM CST

How life lessons from a legendary golf instructor can improve lawyers’ litigation scores

Years ago when I was playing competitive golf in junior tournaments throughout Texas and Oklahoma, my coach was the great Harvey Penick of Austin, Texas. He was the gentlest imaginable coach, always saying, “Why don’t you try this?” or “Why don’t you try that?”

Feb 1, 2017 2:00 AM CST

Bryan Garner mourns the lost art of reviewing books

Once upon a time, bar journals and law reviews typically devoted many pages to book reviews. Now they’re a rarity for three primary reasons.

Jan 1, 2017 2:00 AM CST

The Question of Voice: How to bring a more conversational style to your writing

When editing most lawyers’ work, I have little regard for the writer’s voice because most lawyers haven’t cultivated a discernible voice. What all legal writers should strive for is to be the voice of reason.

Dec 1, 2016 2:20 AM CST

Parenthetical Habits: On the use and overuse of parentheses and brackets

In 1680, an anonymous “well-wisher to the attainments of children” wrote A Treatise of Stops, Points, or Pauses. At only 19 pages, this punctuation guide is a slight affair.

Nov 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT

Celebrating the powerful eloquence of Justice Robert Jackson

This year marks two important anniversaries concerning the great Justice Robert H. Jackson.

Oct 1, 2016 2:50 AM CDT

How using checklists can improve your writing

Have you ever noticed that you tend to make mistakes when you depart from a routine? You have a normal way of doing things, but then something unforeseen happens and you change your routine slightly.

Sep 1, 2016 2:30 AM CDT

How to incorporate big data into your day-to-day toolkit

When in 2004 Google announced its ambitious project of scanning all books ever printed and amassing the information into a huge database, perhaps nobody understood the full ramifications of the endeavor. But lawyers may have sensed as well as any group some of the implications. After all, lawyers had been…

May 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT

Bryan Garner’s tribute to his friend and co-author Antonin Scalia

"Originalism," so called, is perhaps the single issue for which Justice Antonin Scalia, my co-author on two books, was most controversial. I'll never forget his ire—it was full-blown anger—when I suggested, while we were working on Reading Law, that we change the term "originalism" to "historicism." A scholar in England…

Apr 1, 2016 2:50 AM CDT

A ‘conversation’ with the late, great lexicographer Samuel Johnson

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the great Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)—or rather with his books—to see what he had to say about lawyers, their profession and their writing. I essentially interviewed him through his known sayings.

Mar 1, 2016 2:30 AM CST

30 more words to test your pronunciation skills

If you took the pronunciation quiz in last month's issue, you may well have had any of several reactions, some negative. (1) Denial: That can't be right! I've never heard it that way. (2) Dismissiveness: This is trivial. This stuff doesn't really matter! (3) Defiance: Who the heck is Charles…

Dec 1, 2015 2:50 AM CST

Is your pronunciation on point? Take this quiz to find out

Every so often a news item appears about how a particular legal term is most properly pronounced. Certiorari, for example, surfaces from time to time. Last year an article on this very point by James J. Duane, appearing in The Green Bag, went viral. Duane documented six different pronunciations of…

Nov 1, 2015 2:20 AM CST

Good headings show you’ve thought out your arguments well in advance

The most important part of a brief? That depends on whom you ask. Some say the issue statements. Others say page 1 (which ought to amount to the same thing). Still others say the statement of facts. A few say the conclusion. But one of my favorite answers is the…

Sep 1, 2015 6:00 AM CDT

The Bluebook’s 20th edition prompts many musings from Bryan Garner

About 10 years ago, I was finishing a book for a friend of mine in London, the late Sir Robert Megarry, when in his mid-90s his health began to fail. The book was his New Miscellany-at-Law (2006)—the third in a series of humorously erudite books that he began in 1955.

Aug 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT