Four Steps to Standout Legal Writing
February 2008
Four Steps to Standout Legal Writing
In just one day, you’ll learn dozens of ways to make your next brief, letter, memo or e-mail better. The ability to write effectively is one of the most important skills an attorney can have. This interactive workshop will offer you proven tools for pleasing impatient, demanding readers. We’ll cover everything from writing sentences that make sense to drafting a compelling story. Participants edit and discuss excerpts from such well-known cases as the Microsoft and Ford⁄Firestone litigations, and the Peterson and Steward prosecutions. The course materials provide examples and models along with checklists and practical tips.
You’ll learn:
- drafting tips
- how to write better letters, memos and e-mails
- how to organize your writing
- how to draft clear, forceful sentences
- how to make sure your first words don’t fall flat
- how to avoid doing the little things that bug judges
- and much, much more!
Ross Guberman’s “Four Steps” approach:
- Trim fat, clutter, and other distractions from your prose
- Center your sentences on actors and actions
- Track your readers’ questions and not your authorities
- “Headline” your case support to draw your readers in
Agenda
8:30 a.m.
Registration
9:00 a.m.
What Readers Want
What lawyers want to write is often different from what judges and clients want to read. We’ll evaluate sample excerpts, discuss judges’ preferences, and share our own tastes in legal writing.
9:30 a.m.
Step One: Trimming Clutter and Other Distractions
“Too many words, not enough substance” is the most common complaint lawyers get about their prose. Learn 30 ways to cut clutter from your writing.
10:30 a.m.
Break
10:45 a.m.
Step Two: Composing More Forceful Sentences
No matter how technical your specialty, when readers don’t understand a sentence you’ve written, they blame you and not themselves. We’ll discuss and apply a proven method for crafting sentences that make sense.
11:45 a.m.
Usage Interlude
We’ll start out with 15 of the most common usage mistakes and then open up the floor for an informal discussion on usage.
12:15 p.m.
Lunch (on your own)
1:15 p.m.
Step Three: Refining Structure
Do you have a reliable method for organizing complicated thoughts in a way readers can follow? Judges and clients find most legal writing rambling and hard to follow. We’ll consider a way to generate seamless prose the first time—and learn a series of self-tests to ensure perfect structure.
2:15 p.m.
Break
2:30 p.m.
Step Four: Using Authorities More Effectively
Many lawyers cite authority in ways least likely to persuade judges. We’ll discuss how the great legal writers marshal case law and other support.
3:15 p.m.
Eight Tips for Better Facts
Tips and models that show how to draft winning facts.
4:00 p.m.
Seminar Concludes
Faculty
Ross Guberman is the founder and president of Legal Writing Pro, an advanced legalwriting training and editorial consulting firm. He is also an Associate Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School,where he teaches an advanced-writing seminar on litigation drafting and strategy.
Before founding Legal Writing Pro, Ross worked at several international law firms as a litigator and briefwriting consultant. He holds degrees from Yale, the Sorbonne, and The University of Chicago Law School, where he was Articles Editor of The University of Chicago Legal Forum.
Ross is an award-winning journalist, translator, book author, book editor, and former professional musician. He has commented on business and law for major newspapers, radio stations, and television networks, including CBS and CNN.
Ross is a member of the Association for Continuing Legal Education and the American Society for Training & Development.
Location Information
CLECI Large Classroom
1900 Grant Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80203
Get directions
1900 Grant Street, Suite 300
Denver, CO 80203
Registration Fees
| $269.00 | |
| CBA | $239.00 |
| $199.00 |
- General Credits: 7.00
- Ethics Credits:
- EDI Credits:
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