BriefCatch Blog

Originally published in May 2016 Do practicing lawyers get to vote on legal-writing controversies? Not if you ask some self-styled pundits. Like other forms of writing, legal writing has its descriptivists (“Here’s how lawyers do write”) and its prescriptivists (“Here’s how lawyers should write”). The prescriptivists, who dominate the field, have the virtues of idealism and of trying to foment large-scale change in…

How many errors can you find in these sentences from actual contracts? Match wits with BriefCatch! Nothing in this Agreement requires Pubco to register any securities pursuant to the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1933, as amended. Pubic Offering. Subject only to the last sentence of Section 5.1, and not subject to any of…

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Why is Johansson suing Disney? For allegedly interfering in her Black Widow contract with Marvel Studios, a Disney subsidiary. Johansson claims that Disney rushed to release Black Widow on its streaming service to grow the Disney+ subscriber base and to devalue her interest in the film’s profits. What does her Black Widow contract say about…

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Many lawyers find themselves retelling—or regurgitating—testimony from fact witnesses, expert witnesses, or both. The default mode is often as painful to write as it is to read. A witness “stated that.” And then, in the next sentence, the witness “further stated that.” If the writer is feeling feisty, a few sentences later, the witness no…

An easy way to make your brief-writing more appealing? Shun deadweight openers—however, additionally, consequently, accordingly. That technique has worked wonders for the Chief Justice, who Justice Ginsburg once said was the greatest appellate advocate of his generation. Back in his brief-writing days, he showed how a lighter touch—thus, so, but, also—propels the reader forward and…

Kagan and Kavanaugh disagree on a lot these days, including in their Borden v. United States face-off. These two prominent Justices do share supreme writing skills, though. Like all great stylists, they trim their respective sentences with gusto, but as I’ve explained elsewhere, follow the lead of these Justices by sparing the word that after…

A single day at the Supreme Court generated three perfect composite BriefCatch scores. What can the rest of us borrow or steal? From Justice Kagan, how to punch up your prose by starting a series of sentences with one-syllable words. From Justice Gorsuch, how to start your brief or opinion by juxtaposing what a case…