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Effective Legal Writing Revised
Effective Legal Writing Revised
Effective Legal Writing Revised
you to be a lawyer.
“First thing we do is
to kill all lawyers.”
- Shakespear’s King Henry VI
Halley’s Comet
A memorandum, as it goes
down the chain of command in
a Big Law Firm.
SUBJECT : Operation Halley’s Comet
FROM : Senior Partner/ Owner
TO : Managing Partner
• TOO LONG
• TOO MANY ISSUES
• BOMBASTIC LANGUAGE
• TO MANY CITATIONS
• TO MANY QUOTATIONS
• PERSONAL FEELINGS
• MISREPRESENTING A RULE/MISCITE A
CASE
OBSERVE ABC’s of
LEGAL WRITING
• A-accuracy
• B-brevity
• C-clarity
THE FIVE ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
1. PRECISION
2. BREVITY
A. Use the simple, familiar and concrete
words
B. Short sentences
C. Make your paragraph compact
3. Originality
4. Vividness
5. Style
ON MATTERS OF STYLE for
STYLE MATTERS
• FONT SIZE
Use TIMES ROMAN—THE WORKHORSE OF
SERIF FONTS, COMPACT AND RELIABLE AT ALL SIZES,
A NEUTRAL BUSINESSLIKE
HEADER 12
TITLE 14
TEXT 14
BLOCK QUOTE 12
FOOTNOTE 10
WHAT ABOUT SPACING?
TYPE SPACE
TEXT 1.5
BLOCK QUOTES 1
BETWEEN 3
PARAGRAPHS
PROPER MARGINS?
POSITION SIZE
LEFT 1.5’’
RIGHT 1”
TOP 1.2”
BOTTOM 1”
ESSENTIAL PARTS OF PLEADING
BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT
A. REFERENCE TO COURTS
Reference to courts other than the Supreme
Court should be in lower case.
Ex. This court is convinced that grave abuse of discretion was
committed.
B. PARTY DESIGNATION
Party designations, such as petitioner,
respondent, appellant and appellee, are not
capitalized even if replacing a proper name.
Ex. Consequently, petitioner spouses contend that the contract is
valid.
C. TITLE OF COURT DOCUMENTS
1. Capitalize the actual title of documents
filed in the courts such as pleadings, motions,
and manifestations, or decisions, orders, and
resolutions issued by the courts.
Ex. The Balmes decision is about national patrimony.
E. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
1. Capitalize references derived from proper
names of government agencies.
Ex. The Bureau (referring to the Bureau of Customs)
F. POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
THANK YOU
GOOD LUCK and
GOD BLESS
LOVE YOU