Checklists for Powerful, Efficient Legal Writing

Abstract:     
Lawyers may wish for their writing to be more powerful and efficient, but not know what to change or how to implement changes. One solution that speaks to each phase of the writing process and every writing situation is this: a checklist. Actually, the solution is not just one single checklist, but the method of using checklists throughout the writing process as well as in broader conversations about effective legal writing.

Inspired by Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (2009), this column in the Georgia Bar Journal reviews the types of checklists lawyers may use to improve their writing process and their written work product. It provides short sample checklists and encourages lawyers to critically assess their own writing strengths and weaknesses and construct personalized writing checklists for better legal writing.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 4

Keywords: legal writing, rhetoric

Accepted Paper Series