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CALI Lessons - Legal Writing
Clear and Effective Legal Writing by
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
The Elements of Legal Style by
With expanded coverage in this new edition, The Elements of Legal Style features additional sections, many more examples, and a thoroughly researched appendix that contains 80 major statements on prose style--what it is and how to attain it. Inspired by Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, this book clearly (often wittily) explains the full range of what legal writers need to know: mechanics, word choice, structure, and rhetoric, as well as all the special conventions that legal writers should follow in using headings, defined terms, quotations, and many other devices. Garner also provides abundant examples from the best legal writers of yesterday and today, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, Clarence Darrow, Frank Easterbrook, and Antonin Scalia. If you want to make your writing clearer, more precise, more persuasive, and above all more stylish, The Elements of Legal Style offers the surest--and the most enjoyable--means to that end.
The Grammar and Writing Handbook for Lawyers by
The Grammar and Writing Handbook shows you precisely which rules need to be followed, how to choose the correct words, and the most effective way to structure every sentence to help you compose more persuasive, stronger material that's flawlessly written. The book includes a brief history of the English language, as well as comprehensive information on every thing from singular vs. plural, to composing a legal memorandum.
Just Briefs by
Just Briefs: Preparing for Practice, Fourth Edition, features the authors' famously effective step-by-step approach in the form of a highly focused how-to guide. Just Briefs provides all of the tools needed to master the critical legal writing skill of drafting motion and appellate briefs. The perfect companion to any legal writing text, Just Briefs teaches the skills of effective advocacy as it plays out in trial and appellate briefs, oral argument, and the thinking process that informs both. New to the Fourth Edition: Updated examples throughout the text Reorganized in this edition into shorter, more teachable chapters Professors and students will benefit from: The authors' trademark straightforward, step-by-step approach Helpful examples of motion and appellate briefs Ideas about how to present an effective oral argument Federal rules and samples of federal briefs, valuable resources for participants in moot court competitions Practice Pointers that offer real-world advice for writing persuasive briefs Coverage of motion briefs, with a brief in support of a motion for summary judgment
The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well by
In this critically acclaimed book, Tom Goldstein and Jethro K. Lieberman demystify legal writing, outline the causes and consequences of poor writing, and prescribe easy-to-apply remedies to improve it. Reflecting changes in law practice over the past decade, this revised edition includes new sections around communicating digitally, getting to the point, and writing persuasively. It also provides an editing checklist, editing exercises with a suggested revision key, usage notes that address common errors, and reference works to further aid your writing. This straightforward guide is an invaluable tool for practicing lawyers and law students.
Legal Writing and Analysis in a Nutshell by
This book provides a ten-step guide to clear, precise, and effective legal writing and analysis for both law students and experienced lawyers. It gives the keys to writing legal memoranda and briefs, organizing analysis, crafting clear and concise sentences, using legal language accurately, using grammar and punctuation properly, writing persuasively using classical rhetorical techniques. The book describes a method for analyzing and improving individual writing style includes a sample analysis. It also includes new material on using plain English and new legal documents to illustrate effective writing techniques.
Legal Writing by Design : A Guide to Great Briefs and Memos by
The second edition of Legal Writing by Design remains unique in demonstrating how to transform thoughts into writing by explaining the link between thinking and writing. It doesn't just tell the reader to "argue by analogy" or to "apply the rule" it explains the design of the thinking involved in those processes and shows how to transform that design into writing. Through easily understandable hypotheticals, outlines, graphics, exercises, and writing samples, many garnered during the authors' combined forty-plus years of teaching legal writing and appellate advocacy to law students, Legal Writing by Design comprehensively demonstrates how to transform ideas into exceptional writing. It demystifies the writing process by explaining the design of (1) deductive and inductive reasoning, (2) analogical thinking, and (3) relevancy. Once that design is understood, writing becomes easy. Writing with liberal doses of humor, the authors provide clearly readable charts, examples, and templates throughout this second edition. All chapters include a chapter review, and many also provide writing prompts. In addition to chapters explaining the fundamentals of writing legal memos and briefs, Legal Writing by Design contains sections on (1) clear and effective writing; (2) the appellate process, including an easily understandable explanation of standards of review; (3) oral argument techniques and practice; (4) the writing and editing process; (5) case briefing; and (6) professionalism in the practice of law. Exercises corresponding to the principles explained are included throughout most chapters, with answers provided in a separate Teacher's Manual. Successfully used for over ten years by thousands of law school students, Legal Writing by Design is the perfect tool for anyone - attorneys, legal assistants, pro se litigants, undergraduate students, or the public - who seeks the ideal way to analyze issues, to write clearly, and to write persuasively.
Point Made : How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates by
With Point Made, legal writing expert, Ross Guberman, throws a life preserver to attorneys, who are under more pressure than ever to produce compelling prose. What is the strongest opening for a motion or brief? How to draft winning headings? How to tell a persuasive story when the record isdry and dense? The answers are "more science than art," says Guberman, who has analyzed stellar arguments by distinguished attorneys to develop step-by-step instructions for achieving the results you want. The author takes an empirical approach, drawing heavily on the writings of the nation's 50 most influential lawyers, including Barack Obama, John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Ted Olson, and David Boies. Their strategies, demystified and broken down into specific, learnable techniques, become a detailedwriting guide full of practical models. In FCC v. Fox, for example, Kathleen Sullivan conjures the potentially dangerous, unintended consequences of finding for the other side (the "Why Should I Care?" technique). Arguing against allowing the FCC to continue fining broadcasters that let the "F-word"slip out, she highlights the chilling effect these fines have on America's radio and TV stations, "discouraging live programming altogether, with attendant loss to valuable and vibrant programming that has long been part of American culture."Each chapter of Point Made focuses on a typically tough challenge, providing a strategic roadmap and practical tips along with annotated examples of how prominent attorneys have resolved that challenge in varied trial and appellate briefs. Short examples and explanations with engaging titles -"Brass Tacks," "Talk to Yourself," "Russian Doll" - deliver weighty materials with a light tone, making the guidelines easy to remember and apply.In addition to all-new examples from the original 50 advocates, this Second Edition introduces eight new superstar lawyers from Solicitor General Don Verrilli, Deanne Maynard, Larry Robbins, and Lisa Blatt to Joshua Rosencranz, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Judy Clarke, and Sri Srinvasan, now a D.C.Circuit Judge. Ross Guberman also provides provocative new examples from the Affordable Care Act wars, the same-sex marriage fight, and many other recent high-profile cases. Considerably more commentary on the examples is included, along with dozens of style and grammar tips interspersed throughout.Also, for those who seek to improve their advocacy skills and for those who simply need a step-by-step guide to making a good brief better, the book concludes with an all-new set of 50 writing challenges corresponding to the 50 techniques.
The Bluebook by
A Uniform System of Citation: The Bluebook is the definitive style guide for legal citation in the United States. For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on The Bluebook's uniform system of citation in their writing. In a diverse and rapidly changing legal profession, The Bluebook continues to provide a systematic method by which members of the profession communicate important information to one another about the sources and legal authorities upon which they rely in their work.
Legal Citation in a Nutshell by
Learning legal citation is one of the difficult (and sometimes admittedly annoying) tasks that students new to the law face. This book is designed to ease that task. It initially focuses on conventions that underlie all accepted forms and systems of legal citation. Building on that understanding and an explanation of the process of using citations in legal writing, the book then discusses and illustrates the particular rules of The Bluebook and the ALWD Citation Guide for citing cases, statutes, and all other major legal sources. Its unique appendices provide a useful reference resource to aid students in formulating citations.
Garner's the Redbook by
Since first appearing in 2002, Bryan A. Garner's legal-style manual The Redbook has established itself as the go-to source for all questions of legal writing (apart from citation form). The book isn't just the effort of a preeminent legal editor: Garner has enlisted not only his experienced team but also a group of 54 editorial advisers, most with long and valuable experience teaching LRW. The book is a one-of-a-kind resource--the legal writer's equivalent of The AP Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style. The brand-new fifth edition has lots of new material, including updates relating to pronoun use (especially they) and questions of unconscious bias. The two exhaustive indexes (word and subject), plus the detailed table of contents, make it easy to find authoritative guidance within seconds--whatever the question might be. The author, Bryan A. Garner, is now the most frequently cited writer in American judicial opinions. He has produced the past five editions of Black's Law Dictionary and is the coauthor of Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts (with the late Justice Antonin Scalia). He has written more than 25 books that are widely relied on as authoritative. You can rely on him, too, for the most comprehensive, nitty-gritty resource available to legal writers: The Redbook: A Manual of Legal Style. Whether you're preparing a brief, a contract, or a memo, don't circulate a draft without consulting the latest edition.
Understanding and Mastering the Bluebook by
The Bluebook® provides the rules for legal citation, but can be intimidating and frustrating to use. With its simple building-block approach, this survival manual teaches how to understand and master the essential rules for legal practitioners. Rules are fully described and illustrated using: Clear explanations and illustrations of the basic components of legal citations; Step-by-step instructions for building citations to the most common authorities cited by legal practitioners; Detailed guidance for citing legal materials to both print and electronic sources; Examples, comparison charts, illustrations, and bullet-point explanations designed for quick mastery of basic Bluebook citation rules; Tips, hints, and cautions to help users avoid common citation errors; Cross references to the controlling Bluebook rules; and A user-friendly format gathering The Bluebook's scattered rules for each authority into one place. For readers interested in further practicing their citation skills, Linda Barris created Mastering The Bluebook Interactive Exercises, an online learning tool. The new edition will coordinate with both Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook, Fourth Edition and The Bluebook, 21st Edition (both out summer 2020). Each copy of Understanding and Mastering The Bluebook, Fourth Edition includes a discount code for 20% off the purchase of Mastering The Bluebook Interactive Exercises.
Users Guide to the Bluebook by
This Users Guide is written for practitioners (law students, law clerks, lawyers, legal secretaries and paralegals), and is designed to make the task of mastering citation form as easy and painless as possible. To help alleviate the obstacles faced when using proper citation form, this text is set up as a how-to manual with a step-by-step approach to learning the basic skills of citation and includes the numbers of the relevant Bluebook rules under most chapter subheadings for easy reference when more information is needed.--Publisher.