Improve your practice by sharpening your legal writing skills with Justia Webinars! Write Like the Best Legal Writers discusses the craft of legal writing, how lawyers can improve their legal writing skills, and why writing matters. Attendees will examine various examples that illustrate the five main strategies for improved legal writing: writing for non-lawyers, building a story arc, using shorter sentences, words, and smaller ideas, eliminating passive voice, and reading the final draft out loud.
- Write for a non-lawyer reader, regardless of who your reader is. Show off how smart you are by dumbing it down.
- Examples of overly complex writing and how to correct it.
- Examples from strong briefs.
- Examples from strong correspondence (demand letters, advisory opinions, etc.)
- Build a story arc from section to section, paragraph to paragraph, sentence to sentence.
- Topic sentences, transitions, big-picture structure and organization.
- Examples from opinions and briefs.
- Use shorter sentences, shorter words, and smaller ideas.
- Compare long sentences to multiple short sentences conveying same concept.
- Eliminate passive voice and other wordy constructions.
- Examples of passive voice and other wordy constructions, how to spot them and fix them.
- Print your "final" draft and read it aloud. Fix errors and any sentences that trip you up or require more than one breath.
- Examples of technically correct writing that trips you up when you read it and how to revise.
*CLE credit is only available to Justia Connect Pros. Not a Pro? Upgrade today>>
Status: Approved
Credits: 1.0 General
Earn Credit Until: November 16, 2024
Status: Approved
Credits: 1.0 General
Difficulty: All Levels
Earn Credit Until: December 31, 2024
Status: Approved
Credits: 1.0 General
Earn Credit Until: January 31, 2025
This presentation is approved for one hour of General CLE credit in California and South Carolina (all levels). This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of 1.0 credit hours.
Please note that CLE credit, including partial credit, cannot be earned outside of the relevant accreditation period.