CLE
Rick Horowitz
Rick Horowitz Prime Prose, LLC
What Stays, What Goes Crisper, Clearer, Tighter Legal Writing
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What Stays, What Goes: Crisper, Clearer, Tighter Legal Writing

Lawyers tend to write too much. They include more information than they need to include — and they use too many words to say what they want to say.

We'll re-examine some of the assumptions that lead lawyers down unproductive writing paths, identify key stumbling blocks, and suggest ways to avoid them. The result? More concise, more informative, more persuasive, more effective writing.

Topics covered include:
Legal Writing Law Practice
Agenda:
  • Introduction and Overview
    • Brief introduction of the presenter
    • Description of topics to be covered and anticipated takeaways

  • When Lawyers Write: What Can Go Wrong?
    • Distinction between “Big-Picture Concise” and “Detail Concise”
    • Overly lengthy documents
    • Overly wordy documents (incl. jargony writing)
    • Mismatch for your audience
    • Mismatch for your situation

  • Being Concise: The Big Picture — Including Too Much
    • The urge to over-include — why?
    • The risks of over-including: less focused, less confident, less effective
    • Reconsidering your approach

  • Ways To Avoid/Address Over-Including
    • Situational awareness: goal and audience
    • Situational sifting
    • Easing your mind about cutting things
    • Asking for guidance

  • Being Concise: The Details — Using Too Many Words to Say It
    • Lawyers tend to be wordy: not just in over-including information, but in the wording/phrasing
    • Shorter isn’t always better, but …
    • “Shorter” is more than simply word counts

  • Ways To Avoid/Address Wordiness
    • Common pitfalls & helpful workarounds
    • Tools & resources
    • AI as another useful writing tool* (*but be careful)

  • Wrap-Up
    • Do you need it?
    • Less can be more

  • Questions & Answers (as time permits)
Duration of this webinar: 90 minutes
Originally broadcast: May 21, 2025 10:00 AM PT
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Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits

*CLE credit is only available to Justia Connect Pros. Not a Pro? Upgrade today>>

California CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.50 General

South Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.50 General

Difficulty: All Levels

North Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.50 General


This presentation is approved for one and a half hours of General CLE credit in California, South Carolina (all levels), and North Carolina.

Justia only reports attendance in jurisdictions in which a particular Justia CLE Webinar is officially accredited. Lawyers may need to self-submit their certificates for CLE credit in jurisdictions not listed above.

Note that CLE credit, including partial credit, cannot be earned outside of the relevant accreditation period. To earn credit for a course, a lawyer must watch the entire course within the relevant accreditation period. Lawyers who have viewed a presentation multiple times may not be able to claim credit in their jurisdiction more than once. Justia reserves the right, at its discretion, to grant an attendee partial or no credit, in accordance with viewing duration and other methods of verifying course completion.

At this time, Justia only offers CLE courses officially accredited in certain states. Lawyers may generate a generic attendance certificate to self-submit credit in their own jurisdiction, but Justia does not guarantee that lawyers will receive their desired CLE credit through the self-submission or reciprocity process.

Speaker
Rick Horowitz
Rick Horowitz Wordsmith in Chief
Prime Prose, LLC

Rick Horowitz is the founder and Wordsmith in Chief of Prime Prose, LLC, offering legal-writing workshops to institutions and organizations across the country. A graduate of Brandeis University and NYU School of Law, Horowitz worked for a Washington law firm, specializing in communications law, and as a legislative assistant to a member of the congressional leadership.

He went on to become a nationally syndicated columnist, winning two National Headliner Awards; and a commentator for Milwaukee Public Television, where he received eight Regional Emmy Award nominations and two actual statuettes.

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