Writing is a craft. Its fundamentals are no different for lawyers than they are for any other professional, including journalists. The principles that those responsible for written text have to master are all the same:
- Who is the audience? A judge is one distinct audience, a client is another, a prospect yet another. That specific reader determines tone, word choice, types of evidence marshaled or persuasive techniques used, degree of explicitness [soft or hard sell], and length.
- What is the definition of the situation? For example, are you the one with the power? If so that means you have the upper hand and must use it. If you don't use it, you will confuse the audience. If you are in a position of weakness, you have to figure out tactics to transform that into some kind of semblance of a level playing field. A useful read on definition of the situation is Erving Goffman's THE PRESENTATION OF SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
- What can be improved on the second and third draft? Usually plenty. In their article on legal writing in THE RECORDER, Elizabeth Lampert and John di Bene stress the utility of re-writing. What usually occurs as we review the first draft or even the second is that we become aware of flaws in thinking. For example, we might catch that we implied some kind of cause-effect relationship when we only have evidence of a correlation. Picking up on this helps our communications with clients and prospects in which we might overstate a situation.
- Whose writing should you be analyzing as models? Human learning starts with imitation. Until we master this craft, it's a must to retrieve the best models of that kind of writing. When I began to write in the medium of the weblog, I had to struggle to break away from the medium of print. To do that I studied the blog posts of those who had gone there before me such as Toby Bloomberg and Paul Chaney.
- When should you argue for your approach in writing? In that we all have to choose our shots. That's primarily not so much because of power relationships but rather because writing is a subjective entity.
My book on how to present ourselves in all mediums might be useful. It's OVER-50: HOW WE KEEP WORKING. Although it's custom-made for Baby Boomers it's really a primer on presentation of self in professional settings. It's in paperback and available online. Here you can review the Preface, Introduction and Table of Contents Download Over50prefaceintrotoc.
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