Ted W. Pelletier heads the vocations and writing departments in Kazan, McClain, Satterley and Greenwood in Oakland. Prior to joining Kazan in 2013, he oversaw appeals and filings through the law firm of Ted W. Pelletier for over a decade, representing plaintiffs/consumers in matters involving multiple issues. He is a member of the OCAC, SFTLA and ACCTLA. This notion was well captured by the late writer C.S. Lewis, who warned that “the reader, we must remember, does not begin by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, it will miss our meaning. I sometimes think that writing like a sheep is driving on a road. If a door is opened to the left or right, the reader will definitely go inside. [“Cross-examination,” in C.S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces, p.

555.)] • Choice of words: Make sure the word you use means what you think. If you`re not sure, neither will the reader. Nothing slows down the reader as much as thinking about the meaning of a word – let alone being forced to look for it. If your reader needs to consult a dictionary to understand your handwriting, choose another word. This 60-word rule serves as a constant check for readability. Sixty words is about three and a half lines of text. If you see that a sentence is long, either revise it to avoid the choice of words, or decide if it should really be two sentences. Both amendments contribute to clarity. I make an exception for sentences with numbered clauses because: 1) numbers help the reader follow sentence structure, and 2) this sentence format is common in legal writing, where legal rules often take the form of a test or multifactorial analysis. Second, your reader is incredibly busy – just like you and your colleagues. Every day, Richter and his team juggle multiple topics on many topics spread across many cases. They fight for the reader`s attention – for their time.

If you want the reader to do something for you – which, of course, is the purpose of your writing – you need to attract and keep that attention. This rule can be applied in countless ways – but in persuasive legal writing, several things are often repeated: And ask someone else to change your writing. If a colleague in your office can`t understand something, an objective reader certainly won`t be able to either. • Remove unnecessary words: Nothing – nothing – makes writing clearer than freeing it from unnecessary words. I posted the following on my office wall: “Unnecessary words waste reader`s space and time, and they weaken strong writing.” [Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly, The Elements of Technical Writing 65 (1993).] Remove unnecessary details, redundant language, and exaggerated wording. The short answer is: “Practice.” Excellent persuasive writing is a skill that, like all skills, is mastered by practice. It must be worked tirelessly. But in the short term, the most important suggestion I can make is this: edit your letter. I know.

We are all busy. As a result, our instinct is often to get something written and get it over with. But this – the first draft – is just the beginning. Your writing will improve immeasurably with careful and focused editing. Not just on the computer screen – print your design and edit it on paper. Be ruthless. Cut off anything that doesn`t need to be there. We do this by following a simple rule: any decision about your writing should serve to facilitate the reader`s work.

Don`t let the reader do the work for you. • Alternative meanings: If a word has different meanings, be careful. For example, many legal drafters use the word “like” for some reason to mean “because”: “Since the court has already ruled on this issue, the application should be dismissed.” But the word “like” also means (and in fact much more often) “at the same time.” Thus, the reader`s first impulse is that the sentence means “At the same time, the court has decided…” This leads to hiccups in the reader`s understanding. Avoid it. Therefore, it`s our job as persuasive writers to carefully plan our course, neglect the road around and ahead, and keep those doors closed – to keep our reader firmly on the path we want to take. Every detail you include in a briefing should serve you in one way or another. If not, it distracts from your argument. For example, I do not use proper names other than the parties to the dispute. Instead, I identify people with a descriptor such as “personnel specialist”, “medical expert of the accused”, “the officer on duty”. I do the same with the date and time; I only accept them if they have legal significance. Even then, I explain why they are important.

For example, I would write, “The taunts continued for six months after she complained to hr” or “He died two days later.” By eliminating details this way, you`ll lighten your reader`s cognitive load and leave more room to focus on your argument. The battle for the reader`s precious attention is fierce. The reader who is pressed for time and has many other things to do will find every reason to put your papers away. I always tell authors to assume that when your reader picks up your articles, they have a stack of other articles from other cases on their desk. (This assumption is mostly valid.) Not to mention a variety of other things, large and small, that can infiltrate consciousness: a child`s notes; upcoming vacations; a fantasy football team; They call him. The easiest way for the reader is to be distracted or disinterested in your papers. Therefore, your documents cannot be confusing. Or ambiguous. Or boring.

If your handwriting gives the reader a reason to divert his or her attention from your papers, you can bet he or she will. The reader of your persuasive writing—your briefing, your movement, or your resistance—is (for our purposes) two main things: (1) intelligent but ignorant; and (2) incredibly busy. Successful persuasion of a judge with written memoirs begins with understanding who your reader is. Yes, in the simplest sense, of course, the reader is the judge – or perhaps, more accurately, the clerk, the staff lawyer or the outsider. But successful persuasive writing depends on understanding who that person is, including their pressures and limitations. Only then can you identify the problems this creates for you – and then how best to overcome those problems to help the reader help you. To convince. At this point, you might think, “These are great suggestions, but how do I translate them into my writing?” Write each heading and subheading as a sentence and write a subject sentence for each paragraph. I cannot stress enough the importance of thematic phrases.

They are crucial for clear writing. • Omitted analysis: This gap also permeates legal writing: showing the reader the facts and applicable law, but not analyzing how the law is applied to your facts. Or cite the applicable language of an authoritative case, but don`t show how that language applies to your case. No matter how clear it seems to you, don`t leave the analysis to the reader. Show it to the reader; Connect the dots. This is one of the most common and costly flaws of persuasive writing: relying on the reader to deliver something important. This is usually done in two ways: Copyright © 2022 by the author. To obtain permission to reprint, contact the publisher: www.plaintiffmagazine.com This serves two purposes.

First of all, it helps to stop the opponent`s claims. Sometimes an opponent writes so badly that you can`t understand what he or she is trying to say. If you don`t know, chances are the judge or employee doesn`t know either, and can therefore rely on your interpretation. Second, providing the specific page numbers for your opponent`s argument helps the judge or author refer to it, which means they can better judge what you`re saying about it. I use these rules when writing, not when editing. This requires me to continually evaluate and clarify my reasoning. The extra work pays off in the work of persuasion. • Prior knowledge: Many authors mistakenly assume that the reader already knows something important – for example, the fundamental right. These authors will go straight to the specific nuance of their topic without explaining the basis on which this nuance is based. The reader, to understand your nuance, needs the underlying base. It doesn`t have to be tedious, but take a moment to orient the reader: for example, this topic is regulated by law; The key wording of the Act is found in paragraph (b); this language has been interpreted in several cases as meaning X; But a recent case came to a different conclusion.