Brevity and Clarity

Your ability to write persuasively will impact your case results. This is because your reader
(judges and opposing counsel) bases decisions about your client’s case on your papers. When
you edit for brevity, you can reduce your word count by 30 percent or more, producing a
document that is not only shorter but more muscular – and thus more persuasive.

Clarity is advanced by concise writing — "brief" is not a misnomer. The good opinion and the
good brief both allow the reader to grasp the matter early.

Simplicity and Structure

Too often, we lawyers seem to search for lofty ways to express our thoughts. Instead, we should
be striving for simplicity. Simplicity often brings clarity, which is the real key to good legal
writing.
Simple sentence structure generally makes writing easier to understand. The standard structure in
English is subject — verb — object. The subject is the actor in the sentence; the verb is the
action; and the object receives the action. We sacrifice simplicity when we tinker with the order
of this basic structure, perhaps by putting the recipient of the action first. Lawyers should write
clearly and concisely. Doing so is as simple as a KISS: Keep It Short and Sweet.

Organizing Arguments

You must organize your discussion of the law clearly and logically to allow the reader to easily
follow your rationale. Generally, you should organize your discussion according to the structure
of the relevant legal rules. If the broad legal issue you are analyzing has four main subparts, then
organize your analysis into four main subparts.

Constructing Paragraphs

In analytical writing, each paragraph should contain a fully developed discussion of one idea.
Begin with a thesis sentence that clearly states the main idea you'll discuss in the paragraph.
Subsequent sentences should provide additional information that supports and elaborates on the
main idea presented in the thesis sentence.
Within a paragraph, be sure that you organize your supporting sentences clearly, making it easy
for your reader to follow your line of reasoning. Transitional words provide links between your
ideas and help the reader make sense of your overall meaning. Common transitional words
include although, because, similarly, then, and therefore, among many others.

Constructing Sentences

As a lawyer, you will sometimes use these kinds of simple sentences – since they are very good
for effect – but will often use more complex sentences. For example, you might write a sentence
that has a dependent clause describing the way in which something is done (an adverbial
clause) or describing one of the nouns in the sentence (an adjectival clause).

The most common error lies in the excessive use of passive sentence construction. When you
write in the active voice, the subject of the sentence acts. When you write in the passive voice,
the subject of the sentence is acted upon.

Generally, the active voice is more direct and engaging to the reader. It is the preferred voice in
all sorts of prose. However, there are times when the passive voice should be used, particularly
by lawyers. For example, if you do not know who did something or if you want to emphasis that
the act was done, rather than that it was done by someone in particular, you may need to resort to
the passive voice.

Every good lawyer knows that persuasion begins with framing the issue, and framing the
issue begins with effective word choice.