Thanks to some of my Michigan colleagues, I learned today for the first time that a growing number of appellate court justices are reading briefs on an iPad. I guess it’s pretty clear that…
Read ArticleWhat would his sentences be like? Would they read like his prose, if the prose that he wrote read like this? “It was this look on the face that (slowly) turned left to look…
Read ArticleWell, you should. I’m referring here to rhetorical device of organizing and presenting topics, words or phrases in groups of threes. Sadly, I neither discovered nor perfected the Rule of Three. But I intend…
Read ArticleI can trace four periods in my life that significantly shaped my writing. First, I’ve always been a passionate reader. Reading the good writing of others is not only great fun, it’s indispensable for…
Read ArticleMost writers who take their prose seriously have a few favorite rhetorical devices. When these are used well, they contribute to what is loosely referred to as style. When used poorly, they . .…
Read ArticleIt is no accident that Thomas Mauet’s Fundamentals of Trial Techniques is the best regarded textbook for trial advocacy, at least among professors and adjunct professors who use a text at all. I kept a…
Read ArticleWhy introduce rhetorical figures into your legal writing? Well, if done right, they can elevate good writing to great writing. As pointed out by that acknowledged legal writing guru, Bryan Garner, in The Elements…
Read ArticleA colleague who recently passed the California Bar Examination hosted a group of us to a round of drinks and the talk turned to bar examination grading. Specifically, how little time the graders spent…
Read ArticleBecause I pay attention to analytics, I know that my most popular posts are those in which I have passed on advice or comments from a judge or judge’s clerk. People apparently find and…
Read ArticleWhen we write to a court or to opposing counsel our goal is typically to persuade. When we write to a client, an expert or to a colleague, our aim is primarily to convey…
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