The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well, Second Edition - Hardcover

Goldstein, Tom; Lieberman, Jethro K.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520234723 ISBN 13: 9780520234727

Publisher: University of California Press, 2002

Synopsis

This eminently practical volume demystifies legal writing, outlines the causes and consequences of bad writing, and prescribes straightforward, easy-to-apply remedies that will make your writing readable. Complete with usage notes that address lawyers' most common errors, this well-organized book is both an invaluable tool for practicing lawyers and a sensible grounding for law students. This much-revised second edition contains a set of editing exercises (and a suggested revision key with explanations) to test your skill. This book is a definitive guide to becoming a better writer―and a better lawyer.

About this title

About the Author

Tom Goldstein is former Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University and author of Killing the Messenger: 100 Years of Media Criticism (1989) and The News at Any Cost: How Journalists Compromise Their Ethics to Shape the News (1985). Jethro K. Lieberman is Associate Dean, Professor of Law, and Director of the Writing Program at New York Law School, as well as Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. He is the coauthor of The Lawyer's Craft: An Introduction to Legal Analysis, Writing, Research, and Advocacy (2002) and author of A Practical Companion to the Constitution: How the Supreme Court Has Ruled on Issues from Abortion to Zoning (California, 1999).

From the Back Cover

"Lawyers...need writers, or at least a guide like The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well, to help them put together a sentence that the rest of the world can understand."―Washington Post Book World

"This may be the most underappreciated legal-writing text in the country. This gem of a book is snappy, informative, and interlaced with some of the most memorable quotes to be found anywhere."―Scott P. Stolley, The Defense

"This advice is sensible and lucidly given, and what is more, the reason for it is explained, so that even a moderately eager reader need not simply memorize but can remember the principle and apply it where needed."―Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence

"This book's authors provide straight-to-the-heart advice for lawyers who want to face the music and turn over a new leaf in their writing...A book deemed worth having!"―Harvard Law Review

From the Inside Flap

"Lawyers...need writers, or at least a guide like The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well, to help them put together a sentence that the rest of the world can understand."—Washington Post Book World

"This may be the most underappreciated legal-writing text in the country. This gem of a book is snappy, informative, and interlaced with some of the most memorable quotes to be found anywhere."—Scott P. Stolley, The Defense

"This advice is sensible and lucidly given, and what is more, the reason for it is explained, so that even a moderately eager reader need not simply memorize but can remember the principle and apply it where needed."—Jacques Barzun, author of From Dawn to Decadence

"This book's authors provide straight-to-the-heart advice for lawyers who want to face the music and turn over a new leaf in their writing...A book deemed worth having!"—Harvard Law Review

Edition details

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0520234723
• ISBN 13: 9780520234727
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 284