In its Fourth Edition, Clear and Effective Legal Writing continues to give students a classic introduction to legal analysis and legal writing. Concise and accessible, the text focuses on memo and brief writing while reinforcing key writing skills. This proven teaching tool provides the student with excellent examples and numerous skill-honing exercises. Offering comprehensive coverage from case synthesis and case briefing to preparing Supreme Court briefs, this text: starts with an overview of legal analysis, and then walks students through the writing process: understanding context, organizing effectively, writing clearly and effectively, and reviewing and editing describes differences between legal language and ordinary discourse, and the linguistic theory underlying the origins of legal language seamlessly combines legal reasoning with legal writing and helps the student understand the relationship between the two provides straightforward rules for writing effective legal documents, with scores of examples of the good, the bad, and the humorous includes numerous exercises throughout the book to help students reinforce their skills dissects and annotates actual trial court memoranda and Supreme Court briefs highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each example provides an insightful interview with the Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States on what the Court expects to see in brief and the assistance that his office provides to all litigants appearing before the Court shows how to transform a memorandum into an advocacy document provides guidance for writing well in an appendix with overview of English sentence structure New to the Fourth Edition: updated examples throughout an updated legal process portion taking into account changes in law and updating examples a new set of Supreme Court briefs with annotations additional material addressing how the Internet is affecting court filings and formatting

With examples drawn from legal writing & student papers, this guide walks students through the writing process & helps them refine their skills in exercises throughout the book. The Second Edition features a reorganized Part I, including three new chapters that help students gain proficiency in reading & analyzing legal materials so they can write more effectively. Part II includes a systematic approach to legal writing; understanding your context; getting organized; writing clearly; writing effectively; & reviewing & editing. Part III covers the process of writing a legal memorandum & an appellate court brief. This Second Edition includes two examples of memoranda, an interoffice memo & a memo of points & authority; a streamlined appendix that provides an overview of English sentence structure; & many enhanced writing exercises.

“This easy-to-follow guide is useful both as a general course of instruction and as a targeted aid in solving particular legal writing problems.” —Harvard Law Review Clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful—all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. For more than twenty years, Bryan A. Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English has helped address this problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. The leading guide to clear writing in the field, this indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process that will appeal to other professionals: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills. Accessible and witty, Legal Writing in Plain English draws on real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through decades of teaching. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting, and the book’s principles are reinforced by sets of basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises in each section. In this new edition, Garner preserves the successful structure of the original while adjusting the content to make it even more classroom-friendly. He includes case examples from the past decade and addresses the widespread use of legal documents in electronic formats. His book remains the standard guide for producing the jargon-free language that clients demand and courts reward. “Those who are willing to approach the book systematically and to complete the exercises will see dramatic improvements in their writing.” —Law Library Journal

This book is for law students and practitioners who want to learn, or be reminded of, the fundamentals of legal writing and oral advocacy. Effective Lawyering concisely describes useful, yet often neglected, writing techniques. The book has pithy discussions of:(1) ways to avoid recurring, yet frequently overlooked, writing problems;(2) sensible approaches to writing common legal documents; and(3) methods for preparing an oral argument.In addition, it provides the reader with a series of checklists to turn to when undertaking a writing project or preparing for oral argument. The authors have designed the book for practicing attorneys as well as law students. The book is an ideal supplement for first-year and advanced legal writing courses, for upper-division skills courses, and for students participating in law journals or moot court programs. Short and to-the-point, the book's unique check-list approach will help law students and practitioners improve their writing methodically.

First published in 2003, Writing for the Legal Audience guides lawyers, paralegals, and law students through sensible, practical advice for writing to a dozen legal audiences, from supervisors to appellate judges and from clients to opposing counsel. Each chapter focuses on a different audience for legal writing and presents three concrete recommendations for satisfying that audience. The recommendations are amply supported with explanations, references to the leading experts, and numerous before-and-after examples. The second edition is thoroughly revised, with new tips, new examples, and up-to-date advice for producing clear, readable, effective legal writing. In addition, Schiess has added a new chapter, "Writing for the Screen Reader," that offers advice for preparing legal documents aimed at readers who will encounter the text electronically on a computer, tablet, or handheld device.

"A magnificent book on writing. Drawing on the lessons from psycholinguistics and rhetoric, Judge Bacharach has written a remarkably practical book on how to write effectively. Judge Bacharach illustrates his points with very specific suggestions and countless examples from briefs from top lawyers and opinions of judges. I learned so much from this wonderful book." -- Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley School of Law