Nothing frustrates and derails a lawsuit like surprises, the sudden appearance of information that can swing the case unexpectedly. So, since the 1940s, the US federal court system has required all parties in a lawsuit to provide all possible relevant information...
A few years ago, a couple of law professors surveyed practicing lawyers and judges on the quality of legal writing from new lawyers. The results? More than 93% of the responding practicing attorneys and judges believed that the briefs and memoranda they saw were...
Last week, Carolyn Elefant, author of MyShingle, discussed her blogging anniversary. She’s been writing at MyShingle for 14 years, making it one of the longest running legal blogs. It’s definitely the longest running legal blog focused on solo practice....
A couple weeks ago I received a review copy of Matthew Butterick’s Typography For Lawyers (TFL), 2nd edition from the publisher. It’s not a new release, it actually came out last year. But it’s something that I’ve been meaning to read and the...
Brief writing is part art and part science. How you develop your theme, present your arguments, structure your facts. While researching something completely unrelated, I came upon a brief article by Justice Maria Rivera (First District Court of Appeal, Div. 4, CA)...
When writing a motion to compel for a judge, you want to make it persuasive. You don’t want to make it a chore to read. Honorable Randy Wilson, a District Judge out of Texas wrote an article in the Advocate juxtaposing two Motions to Compel. The Bad: In this...
