CBA Record May-June 2022

35 TH ANN I VERSARY OF THE CBA RECORD

From“Aforementioned” to “Zir”: The Evolution of Legal Writing By Amy Cook, Editorial Board member

I t’s said that good legal writing is simply good writing. The need for organiza tion, clarity, and writing for your audi ence are essential. The changes discussed over the last 35 years by our stellar legal writing columnists include moving away from legalese (though it proves to be a hard habit to break), technological advances, and the use of gender-neutral language. 1996: Hours in the Law Library A February/March 1996 article by Lisa A. Davis and Julie A. Braun highlights the lengths we had to go to do legal research. They advise, “An attorney should under stand federal and state case reporters; the West Digest system; federal and state stat utes, regulations, and legislative history; Shepard’s citations; legal periodicals, trea tises, and restatements; dictionaries, loose leaf services, court rules and electronic resources such as Lexis and Westlaw. Other ways of keeping current include checking advance sheets and pocketparts. Knowledge of these necessary resources is indispensable.” While it remains true that attorneys need to keep current in a wide variety of sources, the Internet has made checking sources far easier. There is much from 1996 that remains valid today. Davis and Braun advise collaboration, simple words and knowing your audience. They instruct: • Don’t fly solo. If you encounter tur bulence during the research process, reach out and ask someone. Discuss the direction of your research with

adversary process, by definition, produces two conflicting accounts of the same set of events. The reader weighs the compet ing information. Good legal writing can tip the scales in your favor.” 2001: Technology, Organization and Tone In April 2001, Scott Longman wrote a piece that began: “Our profession is riding the cusp of a technological shock wave. In the past 15 years, we’ve gone from IBM Selectrics to pulling down Internet research on your cell phones. The temptation for technology to dis place, or at least minimize, advocacy is potent: click, highlight, copy, paste and we have Justice Scalia presenting our arguments via block quote. But in

an associate, a mentor, or a helpful reference librarian. • Avoid legal lingo and Latin phrases. They add little to the understand ing of the document and cloak your position in legalisms that obscure the analysis. • Tailor your document to your audi ence. Some judges become impatient with extensive use of footnotes. • Don’t take theatrical license when trying to persuade your target audi ence. You are not writing a script for Picket Fences or Law and Order. We may not be scriptwriting, but the authors do advocate for storytelling. “Develop a story which the reader finds consistent, coherent, and more complete than the adversary’s competing story. The

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