#bryan garner

Writing Style is clearly important to the Supreme Court Justices.  Not only are the justices cognizant of the writing styles in briefs, but they are also attuned to the writing styles of other judges and justices. Justices past and present discussed this and other matters in interviews with legal writing specialist Bryan Garner for the Scribes Journal over a decade ago. Some of the key takeaways…

Finer Words…”Tense Present”

I received Bryan A. Garner’s new book, Nino and Me: My Unusual Friendship with Justice Antonin Scaliatoday.  As I have examined this book as I do most books I receive, I read the inside cover, the table of contents, the dedication, and the acknowledgements.  In this brief perusal, I have learned of the friendship Bryan Garner, David Foster Wallace and Justice Antonin Scalia.  Also, in this…

Describers vs. Prescribers: Reaching a Linguistic Common Ground

When I published The Power of Six, my first collection of short stories, a reviewer said that the book had grammatical errors, albeit small ones. This shocked me, as the book had been professionally edited and proof-read. So, I reached out and asked her for an example. “You start a sentence with a gerund,” she said. “So?” I asked. “So, that’s wrong.”

I was baffled by this. Surely, that’s a matter…

Why We Need The Bluebook® Even When It Makes Us Nuts.

  The Bluebook® gives us a uniform way to cite to legal authorities. Imagine the breadth of legal writing without a common and reliable citation form to research and locate cases and other sources of law.

Theoretically, each new edition should include citation format to new sources for legal writing, such as the Internet. Unfortunately, every new edition to The Bluebook® does not limit itself to…

You’ve Written The Brief. Now What About The Conclusion?

No more copying and pasting. Draft a strong conclusion. by Rebecca Phalen Blog

http://www.rebeccaphalen.com/draft-strong-conclusion/

You finally finished drafting the argument section of your brief; you are mentally spent. So for the conclusion you copy and paste: ‘For the foregoing reasons, Defendant asks this Court to grant its motion.’ Yes, it feels a little anticlimactic and abrupt, but at…

Lickspittle, Attorneys and Lawyers.

Let’s talk of Attorneys, Lawyers and Lickspittle or Lickspittle, Attorneys and Lawyers.

I read. I read almost compulsively. I write less compulsively. My commas and strange words have been known to drive a close relative to near distraction. When that happens I figure I must be doing something right.

Today, an email from Law and Fiction came “Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day.” Terminology — lawyer…