The leading guide to clear writing
Admirably clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful--all too often,
legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for
obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. Since 2001, Bryan A.
Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English has helped address this
problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and
legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their
written work. Now the leading guide to clear writing in the field, this
indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions
and offers valuable insights into the writing process: how to organize
ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills.
Accessible and witty, Legal Writing in Plain English draws on
real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through decades of
teaching experience. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal
materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting, and
the book's principles are reinforced by sets of basic, intermediate, and
advanced exercises in each section.
For this third edition, Garner has retained the structure of the
previous versions, with updates and new material throughout. There are
new sections on making your writing vivid and concrete and on using
graphics to enhance your argument. The coverage and examples of key
topics such as achieving parallelism, avoiding legalese, writing
effective openers and summaries, and weaving quotations into your text
have also been expanded. And the sample legal documents and exercises
have been updated, while newly added checklists provide quick summaries
of each section.
Altogether, this new edition will be the most useful yet for legal
professionals and students seeking to improve their prose.
