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Books : The Elements of Legal StyleIn association with Amazon.comRating:  - A MasterpieceThe principles inside of this book are priceless. Utilizing them will drastically improve your legal writing skills, which will ultimately foster success in your legal career/education. Rating: - A fantastic resource for legal writersThere is a dirty little secret in the world of the law. Not many people outside the legal world know about it. I will share it with you: Few judges, lawyers and law students know how to write effectively. Even fewer would readily admit to being poor writers. But fear not! This book gives valuable advice and suggestions on how any legal writer can improve their writings. It helps the reader understand exactly what it is that makes a piece of writing "good." It gives many examples of bad writing and suggestions on how to make it better. It also tries to convince legal writers to keep their prose short and simple: a writer is not going to make up for a poorly-written argument by using lots of Latin words/phrases and legal mumbojumbo. If you are a legal practitioner, this book is an absolute requirement for your bookshelf. Since buying it, I have consulted it regularly. I have yet to be disappointed by the guidance it has given me. Rating:  - A "Must Have" for Anyone Engaged in Legal WritingDespite the fact that many attorneys spend much of their time writing motions, briefs, memos and such with the intent of writing clearly and persuasively, most attorneys fail miserably at doing so. Many judges, the very people the attorneys are attempting to persuade complain of how terribly most attorneys write. Now we have Bryan Garner to the rescue. If you don't know about Bryan, he is one of the preeminent legal scholars on the subject of writing clearly and persuasively. Bryan helps attorneys cut through the clutter of legalese, organize their arguments, and, ultimately, draft documents that often will win their argument solely on the basis of the fact that the Judge can at least read and understand the message. Law students can also benefit from the information found in this book. I would even recommend it for the average layperson who wishes to represent their self in court or who simply wants to write more clearly and directly. Every lawyer should have this book on their shelf and follow its advice religiously. This book may very well be the "bible" of legal writing. Rating: - A well-designed and highly useful guidebookMy first Garner book was "The Winning Brief," purchased as I was preparing for an ultimately successful fight against a speeding ticket, and I was instantly taken by his clear and informative style. This book continues that trend. Garner is an exceptional writer, and even the best of writers, legal or otherwise, can learn a great deal from this book. Rating: - A more scholarly look at legal-writing style.This review is of the Second Edition, published in 2002. This book takes an intelligent, thoughtful, and somewhat scholarly approach to legal-writing style, yet it is still readable and practical. Garner presents good writing advice, with examples of how to do it taken from the great legal writers: Holmes, Cardozo, Llewellyn, and others. And the coverage is broad: from punctuation to citation; from commonly-misused words to rhetorical devices for persuasion. The book covers enough basics to reward the novice, but it can take the experienced writer farther than other legal-writing books. |
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