Ten Tips for Clearer Briefs

Judges have long voiced their frustrations over verbose, confusing court briefs. And as noted in a previous blog, some courts have tightened their word limits to guard against long-winded briefs. So what can you do to make sure that your briefs are not only readable, but powerful? Professor Mark Cooney, who explained the problem of rejected legal documents in his last post, here offers ten tips for clear briefs that you can feel confident submitting to the court.

 

1. Sue 'em!

Prefer the simple sue or sued to elaborate alternatives. In the sentences below, for example, courts used four or five words — even six words — to say what sue or sued would’ve said in one:

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How to Work with a Legal Ghostwriter

Legal ghostwriters help trial lawyers save time and money. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ghostwriting is writing for someone considered the author. This practice is prevalent in the legal field.

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Stop Slapping on Unnecessary Transition Words

Somewhere along the way, most of us have heard the advice, “good writing uses transitions.” So we picked up words like however, therefore, moreover, and in addition and started sprinkling them into our sentences like magic dust. Transitions, we were told, make writing flow.

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Editing for Enforceability

If you asked me to describe what I did last summer, I’d write an essay about exploring, in greater depth, the pitfalls of legalese. My research revealed that inflated diction, jargon, wordiness, and rambling sentences have unraveled legal documents across the country. So lawyers should by wary of forms afflicted by dense, impenetrable text. The proof is in the cases.

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Why Legal Documents Look the Same, But Need Not Sound Alike

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.

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Man vs. Machine: My Editorial Bout with WordRake

The Tale of the Tape

In one corner, WordRake: editing software with more than 50,000 algorithms designed to improve clarity in professional prose.

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Craft a “Commercial” for Your Case to Find Clarity Before You Write

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.

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9 Effective Proofreading and Editing Strategies for Attorneys

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.

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Crafting Compelling Issue Statements

The issue statement is the first substantive content in a legal brief.[1] It’s also the first opportunity to shape how the court and its staff view our case. So the last thing we want is for readers to struggle or lose sight of our message.

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Say It Once, Say It Right: Trimming Legal Doublets and Triplets

Before the first day of your 1L year, you probably spent 30 minutes reading one page of a 17th century case (and dreaded having to read nine more before class). If you were anything like me, you sighed and consulted Black’s Law Dictionary to decipher the terminology combined in doublets and triplets—and were often disappointed to find the words were near-synonyms or out of use. You rightly identified these terms as archaic and redundant. But by the end of your 3L year, you were unfazed by the English, French, and Latin terms mixed within dense blocks of text. You could even understand what you read and use it to argue for classroom clients! You were ready to enter the profession, thinking and writing like a lawyer.

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Our Story

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WordRake founder Gary Kinder has taught over 1,000 writing programs for AMLAW 100 firms, Fortune 500 companies, and government agencies. He’s also a New York Times bestselling author. As a writing expert and coach, Gary was inspired to create WordRake when he noticed a pattern in writing errors that he thought he could address with technology.

In 2012, Gary and his team of engineers created WordRake editing software to help writers produce clear, concise, and effective prose. It runs in Microsoft Word and Outlook, and its suggested changes appear in the familiar track-changes style. It saves time and gives confidence. Writing and editing has never been easier.