TIPS ON BECOMING A MORE EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITER

TIPS ON BECOMING A MORE EFFECTIVE LEGAL WRITER

Many people think that writing is a talent — you're either born with it or you're not — but talent only provides an advantage to the legal writer. Effective persuasive writing — writing that succinctly states the writer's case, persuades the reader of the cause, and spurs her into action in response — is a learned skill that most lawyers improve on throughout their practice. To remain competitive in today's cutthroat practice, few lawyers can afford to rest on their laurels without trying to improve their writing skills.

Let's look at some of the key elements to keep in mind while writing that next brief, memo, or client e-mail.

BE CLEAR AND CONCISE
Too many professionals use convoluted language to make their thoughts seem more impressive.
However, good writing elucidates its conclusion with clear statements in logical progression. It’s important to use the simplest possible language and not hide behind acronyms. That does not mean that all sentences have to be short and simple — often, that is impossible. However, sharp, crisp writing can often convey complex ideas in an orderly and straightforward way.
When writing, pay attention to your word choice. Is there a word that you can replace with a different one to make your sentence more clear? On the other hand, is a certain word or phrase prohibiting you from articulating exactly what you want?

USE THE ACTIVE VOICE
In addition to paying attention to word choice and sentence length, using the active instead of passive voice can add clarity to your writing by cutting out unnecessary words and creating sentences that flow smoothly.

MEET THE CLIENT'S NEEDS
Clients have no desire to pay for writing as art, and even a technically excellent writing style is misplaced if it simply amounts to undue word-fiddling that adds substantially to a client's bill. Good writing will always be apt, to the point and done by a lawyer who is prepared and rightly focused to meet a client's true needs. If you've struggled to write something clearly, ask yourself whether you should bill the client for all the time you spent on the piece, or whether you should allocate some of the time to professional development.

CORRECT V. GOOD
Blind adherence to rules creates writing that appears more focused on securing the "A" in freshman English than conveying a message. One obvious example of this is the preference against the split infinitive — lawyers will write the worst sentences in order to keep infinitives together, ruin the flow of their arguments and lose their readers in the process. While it is important to know a rule, it is just as important to know when you should break it.

REWRITE
Professional writers know that no one gets it right the first time, so take a page out of their book and allow time for a revision. Figure out what you want to say in the first draft; worry about how best to say it in the drafts that follow. But don't rely on others to do your editing and rewriting. Just because a colleague happens to write well does not mean that he or she is well-equipped to critique your work.

Whether in the sharpness of a contract, the tone of a negotiating position, the power of an argument, or the clarity of strategic advice, a reader can tell if the writing is lively, if it makes sense, or sounds ill-defined. Clients will appreciate your lawyering skills all the more if you display superior writing skill and are able to execute complex writing tasks quickly, intelligently and effectively.


Sophie Corbett is an Intern at ELPR and a second year journalism student at Cal Poly