Legal Writing Is Not What It Should Be
Southern University Law Review, Vol. 37, p. 1, 2009
24 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2010
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
This Article presents and discusses nine reasons that legal writing is not as good as it should be. The reasons include inadequate preparation in college and law school, over-reliance on forms, complacency, a misguided sense of professionalism, and time pressure. The Article concludes by offering four recommendations: continue to improve law-school legal-writing programs and begin including legal drafting and plain English, train new lawyers in editing, require legal-writing training in continuing legal education, and encourage lawyers to take more individual responsibility for improvement.
Keywords: Legal Writing, Style, Self Expression, Undergraduate, Knowledge Telling, Legal Analysis, Legal Drafting, Judicial Opinions, Time Pressure, Forms, Revising, Editing, Over-Formality, Complacent, Mediocre
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