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The winning brief : 100 tips for persuasive briefing in trial and appellate courts
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Online
- Summary
-
Good legal writing wins court cases. It its first edition, "The Winning Brief" proved that the key to writing well is understanding the judicial readership. Now, in a revised and updated version of...
Good legal writing wins court cases. It its first edition, "The Winning Brief" proved that the key to writing well is understanding the judicial readership. Now, in a revised and updated version of this modern classic, Bryan A. Garner explains the art of effective writing in 100 concise, practical, and easy-to-use sections. Covering everything from the rules for planning and organizing a brief to openers that can capture a judge's attention from the first few words, these tips add up to the most compelling, orderly, and visually appealing brief that an advocate can present. In Garner's view, good writing can win cases, and bad writing can lose them. It can't be said that superb briefs will always prevail, as the merits of the case surely have something to do with winning. But statistically a good brief will improve your chances. It will help you highlight the merits for your side. It will entice judges by asking less of them--less elbow grease and less brain sweat. All of this can be pursued methodically. This book helps to chart the path.
Details
- Creator
- Bryan A. Garner
- Format
- Books
- Language
- English
- Publication
-
- 2nd ed
- New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2003
- ©2003
- Physical Details
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- 1 online resource (1186 p.)
- ISBNs
- 9781280843686, 1280843683, 9780199769957, 0199769958, 019517075X
- OCLC
- ocn727648006
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- English
- Part A. Composing in an orderly, sensible way ; 1. Plan every writing project by breaking it up : and carry it out in stages -- 2. When first working on a writing project, let the madman run loose for a while -- 3. Begin the architectural planning by stating the issues -- 4. Once you've drafted issue statements, read more law and take plenty of notes -- 5. Outline your brief, but start with nonlinear outlining -- 6. Write a draft straight through, without stopping to edit -- 7. Proof carefully -- Part B. Conveying the big picture ; 8. Frame the deep issues at the outset so that you meet the 90-second test -- 9. Phrase your issues in separate sentences -- 10. Limit your issues to 75 words apiece -- 11. Write fair but persuasive issues that have only one answer -- 12. Weave facts into your issues to make them concrete -- 13. If you don't open with explicit issue statements, sum up the issues and your theme in a short introduction -- 14. Highlight the reasons for the conclusion you're urging -- 15. Make your points as simple as possible, but no simpler -- Part C. Marching forward through sound paragraphs ; 16. Begin a paragraph with a topic sentence -- 17. Bridge from one paragraph to another -- 18. Connect your sentences smoothly to one another -- 19. Ease your readers' way by providing signposts -- 20. Break up long, complex sentences -- 21. Avoid tiresome repetitions that hurt the mind's ear -- 22. Put all your citations in footnotes, while saying in the text what authority you're relying on -- 23. If you must cite in text, make the citations unobtrusive -- 24. Say something about the critical cases you cite : show how and why they apply -- 25. Use parenthetical case explanations merely to show why you're citing the cases : not to present your argument --
- Part D. Editing for brisk, uncluttered sentences ; 26. Relax the tone : eliminate the jargon known as 'legalese' -- 27. Avoid overparticularization -- 28. Populate your sentences -- 29. Work hard to replace be-verbs with action verbs -- 30. Know what the passive voice is, and minimize it -- 31. Uncover buried verbs : especially words ending in '-tion' -- 32. When given the choice between a passive-voice verb and a buried verb, choose the passive voice -- 33. Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases : especially those beginning with 'of' -- 34. Don't separate a short subject from its verb with a modifying phrase -- 35. Don't separate a verb from its object -- 36. To write forcefully, end your sentences with punch -- 37. Cut filler phrases such as 'there is' and 'there are' -- 38. Eliminate throat-clearing phrases -- 39. Ruthlessly cut unnecessary words -- 40. Keep you sentences to one main thought, but combine related sentences if doing so will minimize choppiness -- 41. Use parallel constructions whenever you can : but make sure the ideas are really parallel -- Part E. Choosing the best words ; 42. Replace humdrum phrases with snappy ones that spark interest -- 43. State your ideas freshly -- 44. Strive for distinctive nouns and verbs : minimizing adjectives and adverbs -- 45. Save syllables -- 46. Avoid heavy connectors -- 47. Simplify wordy prepositions : with respect to, as to, in order to, in connection with, etc. -- 48. Don't use 'however' to start a sentence -- 49. Strike 'pursuant to' from your vocabulary -- 50. Use 'that' restrictively, 'which' nonrestrictively --
- 51. Fix every remote relative pronoun -- 52. Resist rabid deletions of 'that' -- 53. Don't use 'such' as a pronoun -- 54. Use well-recognized symbols and abbreviations, but avoid uncommon ones -- 55. Generally, dispense with Mr., Mrs., and Ms. -- 56. Shun sexist language, but do it invisibly -- Part F. Punctuating for clarity and impact ; 57. Use dashes-not parentheses-to highlight interruptive phrases -- 58. Hyphenate your phrasal adjectives -- 59. Otherwise, be stingy with hyphens : especially after prefixes -- 60. Avoid gratuitous quotation marks and other typographic oddities -- 61. Use bullets for lists -- 62. Use the serial comma -- Part G. Becoming proficient in designing text ; 63. In the argument section, use argumentative headings -- 64. Format headings with an Arabic-numbered outline system in this sequence -- 65. Put a little more white space above a heading than below -- 66. Use the power of your computer -- 67. Indent your paragraphs only a quarter of an inch or so -- 68. Avoid all-caps and initial-caps text -- 69. Generally, spell out numbers one to ten, and use numerals for numbers 11 and above -- 70. Use charts, diagrams, and other visual aids when you can -- Part H. Sidestepping some common quirks ; 71. Never distort the facts or the law -- 72. Counter the Rambo writer with the deflating opener -- 73. Swear off the hence-the-title principle -- 74. Describe actions, no filings, when possible -- 75. Avoid voluminous quotations --
- 76. When you have a lengthy quotation, supply an informative lead-in -- 77. If you can improve on the language of a statute, contract, or case, then paraphrase -- 78. Abbreviate words as appropriate in case names -- 79. Shun 'clearly' and its allies -- 80. State the facts powerfully : in chronological order -- 81. Narrate chronological events using relative times : not a series of dates -- 82. Present important ideas in lists -- 83. Rid yourself of the common superstitions that will handicap you as a writer -- Part I. Capitalizing on little-used persuasive strategies ; 84. Show, don't tell -- 85. If you're the appellant or petitioner, choose your grounds of complaint carefully -- 86. If you're the appellee or respondent, draft you brief before seeing your opponent's effort -- 87. Say it well and say it emphatically -- 88. Organize the argument section as a dialectic, so that you deal effectively with counterarguments -- 89. Conclude powerfully -- 90. Make clean, crisp photocopies of the one or two most important cases, highlight up to two inches of text, and bind the cases with your brief -- Part J. Hitting your stride as a brief-writer ; 91. Visualize the reader -- 92. Watch out for potential miscues -- 93. Never write a sentence that you couldn't easily speak -- 94. Try to come in well under the relevant page limit -- 95. In an appellate brief, always state the standard of review -- 96. State squarely what you want the court to do -- 97. If you've shown that the caselaw is on your side, don't stop there -- 98. Show concern for the court's valuable time -- 99. Use focus groups to evaluate draft briefs, with mock judicial readings -- 100. Remember the importance of ethos -- Appendix A -- Appendix B