BriefCatch Blog

So many people yearn to understand regulations right now. If you want to help, think of yourself as an interpreter. Less “copy and paste” and more “streamline and clarify.” Here’s an underused tip: Make it all about “You.” Let’s take the IRS’s attempt to explain a complex scheme involving inherited individual retirement accounts, or IRAs.…

So many are clamoring for guidance from lawyers right now. And so many lawyers are clamoring to be trusted advisors. Time pressure, high stakes, and ever-evolving rules make clear writing invaluable these days. But are we doing all we can? Let’s apply some clarity tips to a typical BigLaw client alert I found randomly. The…

I skimmed hundreds of pages of client alerts and other publications. Here’s a distillation. What is force majeure? A contract defense allowing you to (1) delay performance, (2) excuse performance, or (3) limit liability from nonperformance. You invoke force majeure over an event (or the effect of an event) that you couldn’t control or reasonably anticipate…

When you hear the name George Conway III, do you think “Kellyanne” or “That Twitter Guy”? My goal is to make the association “Peerless Securities Litigator” or “Crack Legal Writer.” After all, Mr. Conway figured in my Point Made long before he became a household name. Let’s take two routine briefs Mr. Conway signed at…

It’s hard to get lawyers and judges to agree on much these days, but here’s one exception: that Justice Elena Kagan is a terrific writer. Take her majority opinion in Allen v. Cooper. Kagan’s opening facts might already reel you in: But don’t be fooled. It’s still a case about sovereign immunity in copyright actions.…