How do you know that you have bad habits in your law practice? Even if you are lucky enough to have a mentor, surely he or she doesn’t track your every step. For some, guidance about persuasive and effective writing unfortunately ceased after the first year of law school. Now you’re in your second, or perhaps 25th year of practice, and you’ve fallen into some bad writing habits that you’re not even aware of. Whether at the trial or appellate level, attorneys fall into similar patterns that lead to less effective written communication in motions and appellate briefs.
Do you find yourself throwing every argument into your brief because you are afraid to waive even clear losing points? Do you attack your opponent’s character or behavior in court documents over the course of litigation to show that his or her behavior has been so egregious that it warrants such a distraction from the issues at hand? Do you write to the maximum page limits in fear that the judge or judges won’t take your argument seriously if it’s concise and takes up a page or two?
Author and legal-writing consultant Bryan Garner’s books and lectures help attorneys remedy these bad habits. His lectures are not a quick fix or one-pill solution to weak writing. He teaches attorneys to care about legal writing and to cultivate the skills of writing throughout your practice. Should you really dedicate your time to doing so? Justice Ginsberg of the United States Supreme Court seems to think so (see Garner’s interviews with Justice Ginsberg here and here).
Bryan Garner and a member of the Supreme Court are speaking at DRI’s Annual Meeting in October. Some of the most experienced and prestigious attorneys throughout this country attend Mr. Garner’s lectures to continue to refine their persuasive legal-writing styles. You can too, as part of attending this year’s Annual meeting. It may be one of the rare opportunities to concentrate on improving your written and oral advocacy skills and fix those bad habits we all fall into throughout our practice.