Legal Writing & Communication

Lecture Code: CUZL114

Legal writing refers generally to the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of
arguments in legal memos and briefs. Simply put, Legal writing is a type of technical writing
used by lawyers, judges, legislators, and others in law to express legal analysis and legal rights
and duties. Legal writing in practice is used to advocate for or to express the resolution of a
client's legal matter. The vast majority of legal internships and permanent positions will require
the deployment of legal writing skills.

Those working in settings where client-based or impact litigation are the principal focus
will draft and file legal briefs that coherently present their side’s written arguments to the court.
Certain positions might entail the drafting of predictive memos, which anticipate the arguments
of opposing counsel. Even non-litigation positions may require you to research a legal question,
analyze the relevant legal precedents, and present an answer in a memo. Work in academia may
involve not only writing for scholarly publications but also teaching law students the basics of
legal writing and citation. Some larger government agencies and non-profit organizations may
also hire someone to provide legal writing training to new hires or to oversee their legal
publications.

Legal writing is a type of technical writing used by legal practitioners, presiding officers,
legislators, etc, to express legal analysis, rights, duties, opinions and advice. Some documents
must be drafted in a specific format, like heads of argument, but regardless of the format or type
of writing, the content of legal writing must always be in plain language.

The objective of legal writing is not to entertain, to be fun or interesting. The objective of
legal writing is to fulfil the writer’s goal–to inform or persuade the reader. It must therefore be
informative and/or persuasive. When the purpose of legal writing is to inform the reader (for
instance, by way of memorandum or legal opinion) and it does not, in fact, inform the reader
properly, it is simply not good writing. Should the intent of writing be to persuade (for example,
heads of argument or letter of demand), and the reader is not persuaded, it cannot be said that
the document was well-written. Other essential requirements that legal writing must always
comply with: Proper legal writing is clear.

Functions of Legal Language

i. To establish rights and obligations

ii. To distribute information
iii. To enable communication within the legal profession

Features of Universal Legal Writing

i. Extreme Precision
ii. Obscurity, ambiguity
iii. Archaism (structures and vocabulary)
iv. Formalism, ritualism, ceremonialism
v. Wordiness, redundancy
vi. Lengthy and complex sentences (embeddings)
vii. Impersonal constructions (passive)
viii. Terms of art, technical terminology

Varieties on Legal Writing

i. Academic Legal Writing

ii. Juridical Writing
iii. Legislative Writing
iv. Legislative language, statutory language
v. Language of jurisprudence, courtroom language
vi. Language of litigation
vii. Bureaucratic language, administrative language
viii. Language of legal doctrine
ix. Language of private legal documents
x. Language of international organizations
xi. Lawyer-client communication

Characteristics Of Legal English

i. Common words with specialist meaning

ii. Old or middle English words
iii. Latin words and phrases
iv. Words of French origin
v. Terms of art

Characteristic of English Writing

i. Argot
ii. Formal words
iii. Words and expressions with flexible meaning
iv. Extreme precision
v. Many words where one will do

Why Legal English Is the Way It Is

i. Historical reasons
ii. Jurisprudential factors
iii. Sociological factors
iv. Political factors

Characteristics of good legal writing

i. Conciseness
ii. Completeness
iii. Courtesy
iv. Clarity
v. Correctness
vi. Accurate + analytical
vii. Relevant + organized
viii. Thorough + specific and concrete
ix. Logical + correct
x. Persuasive + clear

Guidelines for Better Legal English

i. Match function and style of the text according to the reader

ii. Avoid long and embedded sentences
iii. Avoid complex structures
iv. Use active instead of passive, if possible
v. Avoid double negatives, exceptions to exceptions
vi. Avoid unnecessary synonym pairs (e.g., null and void)
vii. Use technical legal terms only when necessary, avoid jargon
viii. Avoid Latin and foreign words if possible

A Model of the Writing Process

a. Prewriting:

Clarify objectives Define reader Establish scope

b. Information

Collect information. Tailor it to your audience

c. Organization

Determine organizational pattern, paragraph topics. Compare it to the objective, reader

and information

d. Drafting

Put information into sentence form. Put paragraphs into organizational pattern