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Efficient legal document production for lawyers

By: Jim Calloway
Published: March 5, 2012

Tags: document management, legal writing

Lawyers have always been interested in better ways to produce legal documents and correspondence. Even before computers, memory typewriters allowed lawyers to reuse forms without retyping the entire document. But what are some methods that can be used to automate the document drafting process today?

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 C. 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.

Crafting legal briefs, ‘Mad Men’ style 

By: Nora Tooher
Published: October 26, 2010

Tags: copywriting, legal briefs, legal writing

Lisa Solomon, an attorney and legal writing consultant in Ardsley, N.Y., is helping solo and small-firm lawyers channel their inner Don Draper.

Fixing poorly written opinions 

By: Mark Painter
Published: September 2, 2010

Tags: legal writing

Columnist Mark Painter offers some suggestions on how poorly written legal opinions could be improved.

Superstitions, fetishes and myths in legal writing 

By: Mark Painter
Published: February 16, 2010

Tags: legal writing

Have you ever been told not to (1) start a sentence with and or but [we discussed this in detail a previous column], (2) end a sentence with a preposition, or (3) have a paragraph with fewer than three sentences?