Using Generative AI to Discover What You Don’t Want

Writers often discuss the zero draft—a rough document where they begin shaping their ideas. Anne Lamott calls it the “shitty first draft.” But what if getting to that point feels impossible? Before reaching the zero draft, writers can try something new: the negative draft.

Legal writing often feels formulaic. It follows established patterns and uses predictable structures. But those formulas exist for good reason. Predictable structures help legal readers—judges, lawyers, clerks, and other professionals—quickly understand the argument, locate key facts, and process information. Legal readers rely on them for cognitive shortcuts to handle their caseloads.

To write effectively, you must know your message before you start. Planning your pitch is the first step to writing for your audience. Everything before this stage serves you, not the reader.

Writing isn’t a linear process with a specific set of tools that a writer must use to succeed. It’s more like the messy, disjointed process of putting together a puzzle, where you don’t find the missing pieces until the end. Only after it has taken shape do you see it more clearly. But just because the act of writing is non-linear, doesn’t mean that the process has to be unstructured.

At the end of the school year, we’re thinking about gifts for soon-to-be graduates. The ideal gift will set a graduate up for success and provide lasting value.

I am a fan. An unabashed fan. I admire people openly and I tell them—and everyone within earshot. So if you want my advice on networking, that’s it: Be a fan.

Regardless of practice area, document creation consumes a significant portion of every lawyer’s time. According to Thomson Reuters, up to 60% of lawyer time is spent on writing, editing, and proofreading. Even after the first draft is complete, editing and proofreading can drag on for hours—and sometimes errors still slip through the cracks.

Admit it: You’re proud of your writing skills. They give you enviable power. You can wield English grammar and vocabulary like a sculptor’s chisel or a warrior’s axe. You’ve thrived in fields where your long, complex (but clear) sentences with lots of Latin syntax and vocabulary roots show your expertise. But what if, by setting these skills aside sometimes, you could make your writing even more powerful? What if you could have a greater effect on your audience by changing your writing style to better fit their needs? You can create more powerful and effective messages when you write in plain language. WordRake can help you achieve this transformation faster and more efficiently.

Dialog boxes often feel disruptive, but sometimes we’re so quick to dismiss dialog boxes that we miss key information. Some hidden gems are tucked away in WordRake’s dialog boxes.

WordRake’s complex algorithms are contextual—that’s what makes its editing suggestions so powerful and accurate. The algorithms operate using signals and triggers. So when you Rake a document and accept changes or otherwise edit the document, the available signals and triggers change. When you Rake a second time, WordRake might make additional editing suggestions your new wording revealed.