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Great Legal Writing: Lessons From SCOTUS on Grammar, Style, Analogies, and More

Creating Effective Analogies; How to Emulate the Justices' Writing Styles

A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

1:00pm-2:30pm EST, 10:00am-11:30am PST

or call 1-800-926-7926
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This CLE webinar will offer guidance on how to be a great legal writer. The panel will discuss which grammar and style rules really matter and how to modernize one's writing, using conclusions derived from a study of 10,000 pages of recent U.S. Supreme Court opinions. The panel will also discuss best disciplines and habits for achieving quality legal writing and lessons from recent Supreme Court opinions on effective analogies.

Description

Outstanding legal writing is nuanced, persuasive, transparent, and precise. Quality legal writing may look effortless but takes hard work. Poor legal writing can and has led to confusion, litigation, and significant financial losses.

Many lawyers follow the rules they were taught decades ago, have forgotten others, or were simply never taught some. Many of these rules remain best practices, but the Supreme Court has shown by example new ways of making the complex simple, of bringing cases alive, and of mastering analogies.

Listen as this esteemed panel identifies the best writing trends approved by the highest court and offers guidance to attorneys on how to polish their style and abandon bad writing habits.

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Outline

  1. Grammar rules SCOTUS justices follow
  2. How to emulate the justices' writing styles
  3. Creating effective analogies
  4. Disciplines and habits of great writing

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • What is the "cleaned up" citation?
  • What are best practices for avoiding awkward use of "they" or "them"?
  • Does typography matter?

Faculty

Barton, Jill
Professor Jill Barton
Director of the Legal Communication and Research Skills (LComm) Program and Professor of Legal Writing
University of Miami

Professor Barton is the Director of the Legal Communication and Research Skills (LComm) Program and a...  |  Read More

Coale, David
David Coale
Attorney
Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann

Mr. Coale is widely recognized as one of the top appellate lawyers in Texas, his diverse experience ranges from...  |  Read More

Attend on January 22

Cannot Attend January 22?

You may pre-order a recording to listen at your convenience. Recordings are available 48 hours after the webinar. Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

To find out which recorded format will provide the best CLE option, select your state:

CLE On-Demand Video