Preface Introduction Part One: Principles for All Legal Writing 1. Framing Your Thoughts § 1. Have something to say, and think it through. Approach your task with a fervent desire to get your message across. § 2. Carry out your writing projects in four steps: think and research; plan and organize; write; revise. § 3. Order your material in a logical sequence. Present facts chronologically. For other material, make the order (a) deductive, (b) comparative, or (c) spatial. Keep related material together. § 4. Use informative headings to mark sections and, if helpful, subsections. 2. Phrasing Your Sentences § 5. Exclude unnecessary words. § 6. Keep your average sentence length to about 20 words. § 7. Keep the subject, the verb, and the object together--toward the beginning of the sentence. § 8. Use parallel phrasing for parallel ideas: don't pair unlike grammatical forms. § 9. Use strong, precise verbs. Minimize is, are, was, and were--especially when they are part of a passive-voice construction. § 10. Avoid multiple negatives. § 11. End sentences emphatically. 3. Choosing Your Words § 12. Use plain English, not legalese. § 13. Be wary of pretension, officialese, and stiff formulas. § 14. Simplify wordy phrases--especially those containing of. § 15. Avoid zombie nouns--especially -ion words that you can turn into verbs. § 16. Avoid doublets and triplets. § 17. Refer to people and companies by name. Never use corresponding terms ending in -or and -ee. § 18. Use shorthand names only when you must. Shun unfamiliar acronyms. § 19. Make it snappy, vivid, and interesting. § 20. Be a companionable voice of reason. Make everything you write speakable. Part Two: Principles Mainly for Analytical and Persuasive Writing § 21. Plan all three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the end. § 22. For the all-important opener, use the deep issue to state the problem clearly. § 23. Summarize concretely and effectively. But don't overparticularize with dates and similar unimportant details. § 24. Make your paragraphs cohesive. Introduce each one with a topic sentence. § 25. Link your paragraphs explicitly. § 26. Vary the length of your paragraphs, but keep them generally short. § 27. Provide textual signposts along the way. § 28. Unclutter the text by footnoting citations. Keep the footnotes free of sentences. § 29. Weave quotations deftly into your prose. "Quotation sandwiches" are hard to skip. § 30. Be forthright in dealing with counterarguments. Part Three: Principles Mainly for Legal Drafting § 31. Draft for an ordinary reader, not for a mythical judge who might someday review the document. § 32. Organize provisions in descending order of importance. Use a good numbering system and abundant headings to make things easy to find. § 33. Minimize definitions and cross-references. If you have more than a few definitions, put them in a schedule at the end, not at the beginning. § 34. Break down enumerations into parallel provisions. Put every list of subparts at the end of the sentence--never at the beginning or in the middle. § 35. Replace every shall. § 36. Don't use provisos. § 37. Replace and/or wherever it appears. § 38. Prefer the singular over the plural. § 39. Use numerals, not words, to denote amounts. Avoid word-numeral doublets. § 40. If you don't understand a form provision--or why it should be included in your document--try diligently to gain that understanding. If you still can't understand it, cut it. Part Four: Principles for Document Design § 41. Make sensible choices about typography: use a readable font and type size, don't underline, minimize all-caps and initial caps, and put one space between sentences. § 42. Create ample white space--and use it meaningfully. § 43. Highlight ideas with attention-getters such as bullets. § 44. Use graphics whenever they can enhance your message. § 45. For a long document, make a table of contents. Part Five: Methods for Continued Improvement § 46. Embrace constructive criticism. § 47. Edit your work rigorously and systematically. § 48. Seek out reliable answers to questions of grammar and usage. § 49. Habitually gauge your own readerly likes and dislikes, as well as those of other readers. § 50. Remember that good writing makes the reader's job easy; bad writing makes it hard. Appendix A: A Restatement of Punctuation Appendix B: Four Model Documents 1. Research Memos 2. Motions 3. Appellate Briefs 4. Contracts Key to Basic Exercises Bibliography Index