Are you a lawyer or a judge? Or do you just seek a writing muse? Look no further than Justice Elena Kagan’s majority opinion in Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools. Writing for a near-unanimous…
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25 Ways to Write Like John Roberts
In the market for New Year’s writing resolutions? Consider Chief Justice Roberts’s 2017 opinion in Buck v. Davis as a source. Brief Catch can help you make all these edits and many more. Here…
Judge Gorsuch’s Writing Style: A Cheat Sheet
I have longer pieces about the major strengths and minor weaknesses of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s opinion writing style. But if you’re one of those many people who really want to know whether Judge Gorsuch uses an Oxford…
A Day in the Life of the American Contract
Do practicing lawyers get to vote on legal-writing controversies? Not if you ask some self-styled pundits. Like other forms of writing, legal writing has its descriptivists (“Here’s how lawyers do write”) and its prescriptivists (“Here’s how…
Happy and Grateful to Receive the 2016 Golden Pen Award
“The Board of Directors of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) is pleased to announce that Ross Guberman is the recipient of the 2016 Golden Pen Award. The author of three books, Point Made, Deal Struck, and Point…
What Sort of Writer Is Merrick Garland? Seven Clues
We’ve heard a lot about Merrick Garland’s sterling CV and seasoned age, but how does he fare as an opinion writer? For clues, I pored over his 2013 opinion in ACLU v. CIA, a…
A Tale of Two Judges: Posner vs. Flaum
Belleau v. Wall is an important case handed down last month about whether requiring a convicted sex offender to wear a GPS-tracking ankle bracelet violates his Fourth Amendment rights or the Ex Post Facto Clause.…
My initial thoughts on Judge Posner’s new book, Divergent Paths
February 1, 2016 By Legal Writing Pro Judge Posner’s latest book, Divergent Paths: The Academy and the Judiciary, is a provocative read for anyone interested in today’s debates about fixing law schools and the…
Five Habits to Make in 2016
I try to stay upbeat about legal writing. In that spirit, I will suggest five great habits for the few short months of 2016 that remain. 1. At least once a week, expose yourself . . . to a writing model.…