Archive - Elegant Legal Writing

Legal writing tasks involve tradeoffs. If you want the document to be aesthetically pleasing as well as done on time, start early.

Jan 19

September 2022

The practice of law often requires attorneys to distill masses of information.

Sep 13, 2022

May 2022

Ryan McCarl's book Elegant Legal Writing will be published by the University of California Press in 2023

May 31, 2022

April 2022

Slides from last week's CLE to the Texas Office of the Attorney General

Apr 30, 2022

February 2022

Ryan McCarl discusses legal writing on the California Appellate Law Podcast.

Feb 19, 2022

Lawyers shouldn't start new writing projects with a blank page.

Feb 4, 2022

January 2022

How lawyers can use Microsoft Word to mark citations and create a Table of Authorities in briefs and motions.

Jan 30, 2022

November 2021

Writing comes easiest when you are fully absorbed in the work.

Nov 22, 2021

A central goal of this newsletter is to help you diagnose problems with turgid writing. You should develop a checklist of common problems to watch for…

Nov 10, 2021

Lawyers should write with their audience in mind.

Nov 8, 2021

July 2021

Legal stylists disagree on how often lawyers should use footnotes and what they should use them for.

Jul 28, 2021

When citing precedents, you often need to provide some factual context to assure the reader that they apply.

Jul 26, 2021

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