Archive | Writing

Trial filings are the Ugly Ducklings of written advocacy. Rarely do judges say, “Ross, I just read the most incredible motion in limine” or “Wow, you’ve got to see this memorandum in support of partial summary judgment that I just devoured.” Let’s face it, although most litigators hang around the trial courts, most of the […]

State v. Willan (Ohio June 12, 2013) involves statutory construction; the court rules, 4-3, that the statute under which defendant was convicted unambiguously applies to defendant, but the dissent argues that the statute is ambiguous and that defendant should prevail because of the Rule of Lenity. The statute reads as follows: Except when an offender […]

In my First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic this Fall, students will naturally be told to write clearly, concretely, and precisely, with sound reasoning and in a calm, credible tone. But while that’s important, it does help to have some flair, some wit, and even some eloquence, if it doesn’t undermine the other requirements. Naturally, this […]

David Post faulted Justice Scalia’s footnote 1 in Monday’s City of Arlington v. FCC (see also this follow-up), so I thought I’d mention my own thought on the subject, because I think there’s actually a useful lesson to law students there. The footnote, which accompanied a sentence that began, “In July 2008, CTIA—The Wireless Association,” […]

Law review editors: If you publish the abstracts to your articles in italics, please stop. Big blocks of italics are harder to read than ordinary Roman text; that’s why you don’t see books, articles, or newspapers printed all in italics. There are many ways that you as publishers can use to set off the abstract […]

Some time in the next several months, I’ll be putting together the fifth edition of my Academic Legal Writing book. If you’ve used the book in your writing, or supervised students who have, are there any additions, changes, or other improvements that you could recommend? Many thanks!

I just stumbled across the following in a law review article: “[so and so] recently published a book-length project.” This book-length project is otherwise known as a “book.” The author of the offending phrase is generally an excellent writer, so it happens to the best of us.

You know there’s trouble ahead when you see, in an early footnote to a law review article (31 U. West Los Angeles L. Rev. 257 (2000)), Editor’s note: To better demonstrate the author’s passionate voice, many points of emphasis hereunder have been italicized, bolded or capitalized accordingly.