Book Review: Keeping It Civil

by Keith Lee | Book Reviews

If you spend any time around lawyers, you’ll realize very quickly that they love to tell war stories. Every lawyer has them. It’s often a competition to see who can better the other. “I was in a depo and the opposing counsel started making lewd...

Two Fundamental Disciplines For Becoming A Better Writer (That You Aren’t Doing)

by Keith Lee | Writing

  From time-to-time I review law review articles on writing, looking for skills and best practices in my own writing. I recently came across two articles on the topic: Legal Writing for the “Real World”: A Practical Guide to Success (PDF link) by...

Burn Bryan Garner’s Books

by Keith Lee | Writing

  Burn anything that Bryan Garner has written.  He really knows his stuff, but Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style said it all.  Besides, Garner, Scalia, and Posner pissed me off when they got into a juvenile cat fight over a book about rules.  Not to put...

Review: The Articulate Attorney

by Keith Lee | Book Reviews

I recently received a review copy of the second edition of Brian K Johnson & Marsha Hunter’s The Articulate Attorney: Public Speaking for Lawyers. Johnson & Hunter get right to the point of the matter with their very first sentence: People expect...

Review: Writing For Dollars, Writing To Please

by Keith Lee | Book Reviews

    I received a review copy of Professor Joseph Kimble’s new book Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The case for plain language in business, government, and law. Professor Kimble has long been one of the leading advocates for the use of plain...

What Is The Most Important Element Of Legal Analysis?

by Keith Lee | Writing

I’m still on my SSRN kick for whatever reason, deep diving into obscure law review articles whose totals reads don’t amount to one days traffic on Associate’s Mind. It’s a shame really as there are some worthwhile articles crammed in with the...