legal writing « Lawyers USA Online

Legal writing for a wired world

Published: November 14, 2011

Tags: 20 Things Lawyers Need to Know in 2012, legal writing, social media, writing

Do your client communications more closely resemble “Moby Dick” than Ashton Kutcher’s latest tweet? If so, you might want to consider cutting a few words before hitting “send.”

Book review: Legal writing tips for any medium

Published: October 3, 2011

Tags: book review, legal writing

Legal writing spans a lot of territory, from briefs and motions to such mediums as blog posts, Twitter feeds and e-mails.

Marie Buckley, a lawyer, writing coach and the founder of Legal Advocacy Workshops, has authored a new book published by the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section to guide lawyers through all forms of legal communication.

Legal writing in 140 characters or less

Published: July 22, 2011

Tags: Facebook, legal writing, social media, Twitter

Forget everything you learned in law school about legal writing, because the rules have changed in the era of the tweet, the text and the two-second attention span of most readers.

Good writing starts with ‘The Barstool Conversation’

By: Lisa Healy
Published: June 8, 2011

Tags: legal writing

You’re sitting there, with a pile of research and a blank Word document, cursor blinking at you. You have three – no, 30 – things to do before 6 p.m., and the work (maybe it’s providing a short legal answer to a partner, maybe it’s writing a motion for summary judgment) needs to get done.

Legal writing: Skip the text message

By: Scott Ford
Published: April 7, 2011

Tags: email, legal writing, texting

Admittedly, the manner and delivery of legal research and writing have changed significantly in the last decade. But there are a handful of guiding principles that can help bridge the gap between the era of the typewritten “office memorandum” and the age of pervasive – if not exclusive – electronic communication.

When considering vocabulary, think ‘business casual’

By: Lisa Healy
Published: December 1, 2010

Tags: legal writing

All writers should embrace the idea that one can use an educated vocabulary while writing in a way that makes even the most complicated topic easy to understand. But if you are choosing between two words, or trying to decide what level of complexity your vocabulary should take overall, Columnist Lisa Healy suggests thinking of “business casual” as the description of a good writing style.