The California Blog of Appeal » Legal Writing Blogs and Resources

Legal Writing Prof Blog’s Favorites

Greg May — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:07:07 +0000

Check out Legal Writing Prof Blog’s list of favorite legal writing blogs and resources.

JALWD Online

Greg May — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:43:41 +0000

From Ray Ward at the (new) legal writer:

Thanks to Legal Writing Prof Blog, I learned that the entire Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors is on-line—every issue, every article, in both HTML and PDF. If you’ve never read the JALWD, do yourself a favor and pay a visit.

He directs you to Legal Writing Prof Blog for instructions on how to submit to JALWD “[i]f you’re brave enough to actually want to write an article” for them. One should be prepared, I assume, for some extensive constructive criticism!

One Blog I Never Want to Appear On

Greg May — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:17:46 +0000

Ever run across some horrible writing in an opponent’s brief and wish you could broadcast it to the world? Now you can. Legal Literatus, the blogger at the relatively new blog, Lawyers['] Writing Wrongs, gives you that outlet. LL solicits your contributions and provides his e-mail address in the sidebar of his blog.

Hat Tip: Mister Thorne of Set in Style.

Bluebook Online

Greg May — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:17:33 +0000

Is your office a little messy? You don’t want to risk being unable to find your copy of “The Bluebook” (The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation) just as you’re finalizing citations for that brief that has to go out the door. You’re a lot less likely to misplace your computer, so perhaps an on-line Bluebook is more reliably available to you.

The Harvard Law Review is happy to oblige. It just announced an on-line version of this essential publication, available via subscription at what appear to be reasonable prices, including multi-year discounts.

H/T to Legal Writing Prof Blog. Who got it from Tax Prof Blog. Click on either link for more details, including pricing.

Writing Advice from Scalia and Garner is Coming

Greg May — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:05:37 +0000

Via Carolyn Elefant at Law.com (whose blog post title, by the way, is quite clever) comes news that Justice Antonin Scalia has teamed up with legal writing guru Bryan Garner to author a book on legal writing. Ms. Elefant links to an article at Legal Times giving more details, and then asks some excellent (and amusing) questions:

Given that Scalia’s opinions (or in particular, his dissents), are often known for their nastiness or sarcasm, I’m particularly curious about the advice that he’ll provide to lawyers. Will Scalia counsel restraint and professionalism in legal writing, and if so, how will he reconcile that with his own opinions? Will Scalia offer “real life examples” of legal briefs or arguments that don’t simply don’t work, and if so, will readers be able to recognize the lawyers whose work is critiqued in the book?

Like I’ve said before, judges get away with things lawyers would never (or should never) dream of writing. One of the perks, I guess.

Which Legal Writing Authors are Cited the Most?

Greg May — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 01:41:47 +0000

Legal Writing Prof Blog wants your help finding out.

Style Tips from Raymond Ward

Greg May — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 07:33:42 +0000

Raymond Ward of the (new) legal writer has posted a chapter he contributed to A Defense Lawyer’s Guide to Appellate Practice in 2004. The chapter is on writing style. It’s a quick read (seven pages) and offers some great advice.

A Professor’s Lament and More Legal Writing Resources

Greg May — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:01:48 +0000

Professor Austen Parrish of Southwestern Law School, as a guest writer at Prawfsblawg, laments the poor writing skills of first-year law students, including this comment: “Exam answers (at times written like lengthy text messages) can bring seasoned professors near to tears.”

He offers a list of helpful books.

The commenters on the post don’t seem particularly optimistic.

Addressing Your Brief To a Specific Circuit Judge . . .

Greg May — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:15:55 +0000

. . . or, at least, to a specific group of circuit judges, may now be possible, if Tom Caso at The Opening Brief is correct. He cites a study covering ten years of federal appellate opinions that concludes “opinion specialization [is an] unmistakable part of every day judicial practice.” In other words, cases of specific types tend to get assigned to certain judges.

Says Tom, “If true, this suggests a more focused approach for the federal appellate lawyer.” There’s more, including a link to the study, at his post.