The Lawyer’s Guide to Writing Well
with Tom Goldstein; University of California Press, 3rd paperback edition, 2016, 286pp.; 2nd paperback ed., 2002, 276pp.; 1st paperback ed., 1991, 278pp.
McGraw-Hill, 1989, 274pp., hardcover ed.
From page 1
Most lawyers write poorly.
That’s not just our lament. Leading lawyers across the country agree. They think modern legal writing is flabby, prolix, obscure, opaque, ungrammatical, dull, boring, redundant, disorganized, gray, dense, unimaginative, impersonal, foggy, infirm, indistinct, stilted, arcane, confused, heavy-handed, jargon- and cliché-ridden, ponderous, weaseling, overblown, pseudointellectual, hyperbolic, misleading, incivil, labored, bloodless, vacuous, evasive, pretention, convoluted, rambling, incoherent, choked, archaic, orotund, and fuzzy.
From the reviewers
"Should be in the office of every lawyer."
"Lawyers . . . need writers, or at least a guide like The Lawyer’s Guide to Writing Well, to help them put together a sentence that the rest of the world can understand."
"This may be the most underappreciated legal-writing text in the country. This gem of a book is snappy, informative, and interlaced with some of the most memorable quotes to be found anywhere."
"This advice is sensible and lucidly given, and what is more, the reason for it is explained, so that even a moderately eager reader need not simply memorize but can remember the principle and apply it where needed."