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The Delaware Supreme Court reprimanded a lawyer for “disruptive, disrespectful, degrading, [and] disparaging rhetoric.” As the court put it, “[l]awyers are not free, like loose cannons, to fire at will upon any target of opportunity.” Here are three takeaways you should be aware of: 1. Avoid Comparing Parties to Animals of
Fretting over Plain English? Just pick up one of Warren Buffett’s annual reports for Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett’s clear, fresh style is one reason the SEC invited him to write the preface to its Plain English Handbook. In a speech at the National Press Club, former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt explained how
Are you a lawyer or a judge? Or do you just seek a writing muse? Look no further than Justice Elena Kagan’s majority opinion in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools. Writing for a near-unanimous court, Kagan bolstered the right to special-education accommodations, in this case a service Goldendoodle named Wonder, for
Is the country’s malaise affecting our judges as well? The Seventh Circuit has referred a lawyer to the state ethics board for possible suspension of his license. His sin? “Rampant grammatical, syntactical, and typographical errors” (full opinion). A federal judge in Texas once issued a “Kindergarten Order” comparing the lawyers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s current ideological divide may be the sharpest we’ve seen in a long time. Yet the justices do unite in one key respect: The current court boasts some of the best opinion writers in American legal history. Take the opinions from the tumultuous last term. From those
Although law-firm partners have too many grammar-specific issues to detail them all in one article, here are eight of the most common issues below: 1. Misuse of Mid-Sentence Commas Tip: If you have and or but in the middle of a long sentence, check what follows. If it’s a person
Just like its sister article Just Say No, this article adds to our list of quick style fixes. 1. Provides That Replace this heavy phrase with under and a comma. That way, you focus on the parties, not on the case name or statute. Before: “Section 102(a)(3) provides that life
A good editor is like Pavlov’s dog. Here are five expressions that should make you salivate—for all the wrong reasons. 1. Regarding, Concerning You know you’re talking to a lawyer when you hear things like “Do you have any thoughts regarding where we should go for dinner?” or “I have a serious
Who doesn’t need some inspiration these days? On the writing front, consider Chief Justice Roberts’s opinion in Buck v. Davis. Here are 25 ways to write like him. Or do so automatically. A Sense of Time 1. Replace full dates with phrases. Two months later, Buck returned to federal court . . . Within
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