Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text With Exercises
ISBN:9780226284187 read summary

Bryan Garner's Legal Writing in Plain English is a book which should be available and handy for all lawyers without any distinction of status, age or mothertongue. It contains exercises which will improve the awareness and ability of every lawyer.

In this book published by the University of Chicago Press, Bryan Garner has assembled an interesting collection of exercises and instructions. He focuses a good deal of attention at the outset on how one should "frame one's thoughts" on a subject, and then proceeds to enhance our understanding of sentence phrasing options and word choices. I especially enjoyed this preferatory work-up. We can all use this - for initial learning or for refreshing and revising our approaches. He includes principles for legal drafting, while also going into the detail of document design, discussing American standards - both those we might keep and those that should be abandoned. The great strengths in Garner's materials are that (1) he takes good firm positions on what is best-usage in legal English, (2) he explains clearly why, and (3) his own prose is fun to read. If one has the time to devote, this is a wonderful book for the advanced student, learner and legal practitioner.

Simply put, this is a handy writing guide for lawyers. Just casually flipping through this book for a few minutes will make you a better writer. For example, I especially like the lists, which give you substitutes for legalese or summarize styles that Judges like. Briefly reading through this book taught me more than I learned in an entire semester of Legal Research & Writing. I highly recommend it.

This reference book is a great tool for prompting the editing of your own work. Often I will write something and after I have edited it then I will take a look at a few random sections of this book and make sure that my writing is in line with what this master wordsmith suggests. A bit of an erratic method of editing, but it serves a purpose of making me seriously think about if something applies or not to my work. However random, I am often surprised by the things that I turn up via this method.

In striving to be a better writer, complacency and comfort are your enemies. Garner has helped me break out of my self-made box. I gave it four out of five stars because there are times I am left wanting more from a few of the sections in this book. If there was a 4.5 star rating, then this book would have my vote.

The book is excellent. It teaches you everything about legal writing: design, grammar, persuasive writing, organized ideas and punctuation. Don't forget the exercises. They will help you to recognize your weaknesses in writing.