Philosophical Inquiry

Webb’s Writing Tips

In my experience, it is the rare attorney who likes to write.  But also true to my own experience is that if you can find good writing advice that works for you, then the task becomes a bit easier and even more enjoyable.  Along those lines, my research has led me to Laura Webb and her article, “Why Legal Writers Should Think Like Teachers.  Webb’s advice is to view “[l]egal writing [as]…

Toulmin’s Paradigm

Toulmin’s argument layout (below) is helpful to organize and critically assess a case. Saunders argued that this model is useful in two ways: “First, it can be used to identify the component parts of pretrial case development”; and second, “the model helps us to understand that this process is often reverse-engineered” (570). Nota bene: Saunders uses the terms grounds and data…

Is the practice of law rhetorical?

If we commit to taking Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric seriously, the the practice of law seems thoroughly rhetorical. Aristotle said that rhetoric is the search for the available means of persuasion in a given situation (Smith 6). Under that definition, it is hard to see how the practice of law is not rhetorical. Indeed, taking the example of an attorney interviewing a potential client that…

What Is Rhetoric The word rhetoric carries at least two meanings—one that is important for our purposes and one that is less so.  Starting with the meaning that is less important for our objective, rhetoric, in common speech, seems to imply a certain valence to language and an implication that what is being said it not true and, perhaps, only being said only for effect.  Oftentimes, we hear…

So, What’s the Problem?

Some time ago, I had suggested that we gather for a series of training seminars in conjunction with an ongoing series of “office hours” to look at this thing called rhetoric and decide if it can help our practice. I am putting together this series of blog posts to set forth the first session of the training session.  We can consider it the first module. I believe that the practice of law is a…