Bryan Garner
Masters as Models of Legal Writing
September 08, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
What can we do to improve our business and legal writing skills? Look to the industry leaders. In The Elements of Legal Style, Bryan Garner beautifully, succinctly, and effectively states this premise.
Analyzing their prose may be no more helpful to you than showing films of Ben Hogan or Babe Zaharias to a novice golfer. Perhaps we cannot learn to write greatly -- only to avoid writing poorly. [citing Richard A. Posner, Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation 297 (1988)]. But whatever your individual abilities, the masters provide the best models.
Surely, we read judicial opinions for substance to determine the strengths and weakness of our legal argument. We can make a good investment of time by reading the opinions a second time for style. Good readers make good writers.
david@davidkrell.com
What can we do to improve our business and legal writing skills? Look to the industry leaders. In The Elements of Legal Style, Bryan Garner beautifully, succinctly, and effectively states this premise.
Analyzing their prose may be no more helpful to you than showing films of Ben Hogan or Babe Zaharias to a novice golfer. Perhaps we cannot learn to write greatly -- only to avoid writing poorly. [citing Richard A. Posner, Law and Literature: A Misunderstood Relation 297 (1988)]. But whatever your individual abilities, the masters provide the best models.
Surely, we read judicial opinions for substance to determine the strengths and weakness of our legal argument. We can make a good investment of time by reading the opinions a second time for style. Good readers make good writers.
A Valuable Lesson in Legal Writing
May 09, 2010
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Last Thursday, May 6th, I enrolled in a one-day writing workshop taught by the dean of legal writing -- Bryan A. Garner. Bryan is an attorney, instructor, and consultant with a deep, relentless, and obvious passion for words. His company, Law Prose, hosts several writing classes for lawyers across the country.
Because I love to write, I often enroll in Continuing Legal Education classes that focus on writing skills. Bryan’s workshop Advanced Legal Writing & Editing is on a different level than most CLE classes. Bryan’s approach is peer-to-peer rather than instructor-to-student. It’s the same approach I saw last year at Bryan’s workshop The Winning Brief.
Additionally, Bryan does not rely on his reputation as Editor-in-Chief of Black’s Law Dictionary, columnist for the On Language column in The New York Times Magazine, or esteemed author of several legal writing books. He continues to expand the education process in his workshops. Through grunt work combined with navigating red tape, Bryan secured videotaped interviews with dozens of judges and United States Supreme Court justices. They explain their views, complaints, and insights regarding brief writing. This information is simply invaluable for members of the bar.
Last month, I taught my 90-minute CLE workshop Stop Writing Like A Lawyer! at my alma mater, Villanova Law School. When I approached a classmate of mine about attending, he said that he doesn’t need a CLE course in legal writing because his practice is more than 15 years old. In his mind, experience equals skill. I think differently. If Derek Jeter can take batting practice, then I can take a skills class taught by Bryan Garner to keep my skills sharp. And if I’m lucky, I’ll learn some new strategies.
At Bryan’s Advanced Legal Writing & Editing workshop, the oldest student was 87 years old. He entered the New York bar in 1952.
I guess you really can teach new tricks to an old dog.
david@davidkrell.com
Last Thursday, May 6th, I enrolled in a one-day writing workshop taught by the dean of legal writing -- Bryan A. Garner. Bryan is an attorney, instructor, and consultant with a deep, relentless, and obvious passion for words. His company, Law Prose, hosts several writing classes for lawyers across the country.
Because I love to write, I often enroll in Continuing Legal Education classes that focus on writing skills. Bryan’s workshop Advanced Legal Writing & Editing is on a different level than most CLE classes. Bryan’s approach is peer-to-peer rather than instructor-to-student. It’s the same approach I saw last year at Bryan’s workshop The Winning Brief.
Additionally, Bryan does not rely on his reputation as Editor-in-Chief of Black’s Law Dictionary, columnist for the On Language column in The New York Times Magazine, or esteemed author of several legal writing books. He continues to expand the education process in his workshops. Through grunt work combined with navigating red tape, Bryan secured videotaped interviews with dozens of judges and United States Supreme Court justices. They explain their views, complaints, and insights regarding brief writing. This information is simply invaluable for members of the bar.
Last month, I taught my 90-minute CLE workshop Stop Writing Like A Lawyer! at my alma mater, Villanova Law School. When I approached a classmate of mine about attending, he said that he doesn’t need a CLE course in legal writing because his practice is more than 15 years old. In his mind, experience equals skill. I think differently. If Derek Jeter can take batting practice, then I can take a skills class taught by Bryan Garner to keep my skills sharp. And if I’m lucky, I’ll learn some new strategies.
At Bryan’s Advanced Legal Writing & Editing workshop, the oldest student was 87 years old. He entered the New York bar in 1952.
I guess you really can teach new tricks to an old dog.