Legal-writing tips

Adam Liptak had a nice article in today’s New York Times discussing the American Law Institute’s abandoning any further recommendations on the death penalty. At http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/us/05bar.html?ref=us I like the contrast he drew with these two paragraphs: “Instead, the institute voted in October to disavow the structure it had created ‘in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.’ That last sentence contains some pretty dense lawyer talk, but it can be untangled. What the institute was saying is that the capital justice system in the United States is irretrievably broken.”

I was reviewing my  notes from Stephen King’s On Writing that I wanted to share with you. I recently read On Writing and found that I liked King and that he really cares about his craft. (Not that anyone who sells millions of books needs my approval.) Some random advice from On Writing that might be helpful to you. (You can buy this book new for under $10.) “I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing.” “Timid writers like the passive voice because it is safe. They also think it sounds authoritative.” Hmm… why write, “I have a dream” when you can write, “A dream was had by me”? “I believe that the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” His analogy is that adverbs are like dandelions—a few are nice but not an entire field of them.

I love lists because it makes it easier for your reader to process it. As an example, look at this text written in narrative and the same material in a list. Senate Bill 461 (Cullerton, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to getting a tax deed: (1) It allows the owner of a certificate of purchase in a scavenger sale to file a petition at any time within six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the redemption period from a sale. (2) It conforms post-judgment practice and service of notice of the redemption period to the Code of Civil Procedure. (3) It requires that purchaser must give notice of tax sale and the right to redeem not less than three months or more than six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the period of redemption. (4) It allows the court to give possession to the tax-deed grantee or grantee's successor in interest (instead of just tax-deed grantee). Or this. Senate Bill 461 (Cullerton, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) makes the following changes to getting a tax deed: (1) It allows the owner of a certificate of purchase in a scavenger sale to file a petition at any time within six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the redemption period from a sale. (2) It conforms post-judgment practice and service of notice of the redemption period to the Code of Civil Procedure. (3) It requires that purchaser must give notice of tax sale and the right to redeem not less than three months or more than six months (instead of five) before the expiration of the period of redemption. (4) It allows the court to give possession to the tax-deed grantee or grantee's successor in interest (instead of just tax-deed grantee). A couple of suggestions on lists.

This weekend I finished reading A Writer's Coach by Jack Hart, who is the editor at large and writing coach at The Oregonian. One of his recommendations was to put a theme statement at the top of your screen while you write. The theme statement is a simple statement of what you are trying to say; it's not your lead or introductory synopsis. (You do use an introductory synopsis if you can, right?) The theme statement is to keep you on track as you write so that you don't get lost deeper into the document. Because if you get lost, your reader will also get lost. When you are finished with your piece, you delete it from the screen. For those interested, I liked and recommend A Writer's Coach, The Complete Guide to Writing Strategies That Work.