The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well

It matters how you write.

Lean, clear, crisp prose is no luxury for practitioners who face crowded court calendars, staggering mounds of paper, and overly long affidavits, memoranda, and briefs. Disorganized documents full of "legalese" burden courts and shortchange clients.

This concise, lively, and 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. Everything that most lawyers will need to improve their writing quickly and markedly is here.

Authoritative and unique among legal writing guides, the book draws on a nationwide survey conducted by the authors. In their responses, 300 lawyers, judges, professors, writing instructors, and legal journalists from all over the country provided insights into lawyers' writing habits. Throughout The Lawyer's Guide, authors Goldstein and Lieberman illustrate their points with instructive examples taken from these lawyers' daily practices.

Complete with a glossary that addresses lawyers' most common errors, this easy-to-use book is an invaluable tool for practicing lawyers and a sensible grounding for law students. It is a definitive guide to becoming a better writer—and a better lawyer.

Tom Goldstein is dean of Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. He has taught journalism for several years, and covered legal affairs for the New York Times and other publications. Jethro K. Lieberman is professor and director of the legal writing program at New York Law School. He has had a varied law practice, was Business Week's first legal affairs editor, and is the author of twenty books.