Legal Writing Abad Reviewer 11-12

CHAPTER 11: WRITING CLEARLY Clarity is one of the primary criteria for good writing

Headings  When the paper is long and abound in variety of topics, it would help to use headings.  Two Kinds of Headings o General – provide some kind of signposts that point out to the reader the grounds he is about to cover in his reading. “Statement of the Facts”, “Issues Presented”, “Conclusion” o Specific – like newspaper headlines, they attempt to capture in a few words the essence of a particular discussion. Subheadings are not punctuated with a period and are always in the present tense. “Statements of remorse made by the representatives of the Japanese government”

Right Connectives  Coupling mechanisms to tie your ideas together  Connectives or transitory devices  Examples: o And; Besides; Furthermore; First; Then; Finally; Nearby; Below; However; On the other hand; In fact; In other words; For instance; Therefore; To sum up; Consequently  Connectives also serve as tools for developing logical reasoning. You are able to test the relation between ideas by trying one connective in place of another  WORD BRIDGES You can join two sentences by putting into the second sentence a word that points a word you used in the first. Example: o If the purpose of reorganization is to be achieved, changes in the rankings of the employees should be expected. For one to insist having his old rank would render the exercise useless. Abstracts vs. Concrete Reasoning  An abstraction is any word that applies to a large class of things rather than to any single, concrete object or idea. Excessive use of abstract words may result to vagueness, even meaninglessness. o Justice, equality, executory, commenced, grave abuse of discretion  Concrete words are words that stand for real things, things that appeal in one way or another to the senses o Structure – House – Shed – A dilapidated little shack with makeshift walls and a cardboard roof Substitute Names  Identifying parties based on their positions in the case often results in confusion (“complainant”, “defendant”, “petitioner”)  It is better to use their names (thereafter the shortcut of their names) throughout your discussion especially when the case reaches a higher court and the parties begin to assume cumbersome and confusing descriptions

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CHAPTER 12: WRITING LEGALESE Law is a device for social control. Since effective obedience to laws requires an understanding of them, laws should be written in plain and ordinary English or Filipino that the average layman could understand Legal Clichés  To non-lawyers, legal clichés sound so unnatural and pretentious, if not arrogant. o Petitioner respectfully submits o Even a cursory perusal of Section 21 will readily reveal o Lest it be forgotten, the law is supreme o We humbly submit that the answer to the foregoing query is a resounding no o Suffice it to state o The argument is untenable o The argument is bereft of merit  Legal clichés get in the way and do not add to the meaning of the main message of the sentence

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o Posits - assumes o Was in possession - had o Commenced - filed o Contentions - claims o Stated – said o Implemented – carried out o Manner – way As a rule, the easier word is the better choice if it means exactly the same thing

Cheap Words  Examples: good, nice, pretty, ugly, bad, awful, big, little, fast, slow, funny, crazy, great, fine  Look for a more precise meaning in the thesaurus o Crazy – mad, lunatic, bereft of reason, irrational  Do not dwell in the slum of cheap language Self-praise  Don’t include remarks about how diligently you have worked on your cases. They sound like self-praise and they divert attention from the main message of the sentence o In our considered opinion o A careful scrutiny o After thoroughly going over the records

Old English  In the case at bar  In the instant case  The parties in the case at bench have agreed to arbitration  To wit:  Thereat, hereto, aforesaid, thereby, thereof, therewith, forthwith, herein, therefrom

Sentence-length Variety  Your inner ear is tuned to verbal sentences of various lengths  Writing is a form of talk – preserved talk. You strain the inner ear when you write sentences at more or less uniform lengths. It is unnatural.  CAPTURE IN WRITING THE BASIC RHYTM OF SPEECH. Vary your sentence length.

Sounding Formal  Standard for all effective writing is being understood  Some lawyers insist on using POLYSYLLABIC words like accompanied instead of “went with”; informed instead of “told”  They sound like stuffed shirt

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