You might think the greatest gripe I get has to do with the depth of analysis or lack of sophistication in advocacy style.

You’d think the gripe at least had SOMETHING to do with the LEGAL part of legal writing.

But no.

It’s their grammar.

I made this staircase for you, so you can see all of the 10 common ways we express causation:

🔺 As
🔺 For
🔺 Since
➖ Because
🔻 Based on
🔻 As a result of
🔻 For the reason that

🔹 1: The first pillar is clarity. That’s the holy grail.

If your writing isn’t clear, it will not persuade.

No judge will take time to decipher what you mean to say.

A client may throw up their hands in dismay.

Today’s story starts in Nov 2021—when I was NOT ready to be a podcast guest.

I’d never appeared on one before; I didn’t know what to expect; and I got a bit blindsided.

And after that first one, although I thought I did “okay,” I knew equally well that I could get much, much better. So I worked hard at it!

1: Chris Schandevel: Chris is my favorite legal-writing creator: he’s always bold and crystal clear about his opinions (even those I disagree with!). An appellate advocate based in Virginia, Chris litigates U.S. Supreme Court cases and posts tips from his famous “Brief Ninja” Style Guide, along with stories of his brief-writing tactics. Chris also is the best at giving back, as he regularly supports all the top accounts I list.

It is called “Legal Writing in Color.”

Its mission is to make learning legal writing more accessible, less unpleasant, and a lot more fun.

There will surely be a book at some point;
I have saved the domain;
I’ll seek trademark status for the name.

“Such” is vague.
“Such” is overused.
“Such” makes your sentences sound AWKWARD!

Worse, when used to refer back to something, “such” can create real confusion about what is actually being referenced. ⤵️

Family legend says my uncle and he were friends since the ’50s, and when Buffett became CEO of Berkshire Hathaway in 1970-with Class A stock under $50-he apparently gifted my uncle two shares.

But now I wonder, what about what AI says?

So I prompted Perplexity,

“Who is Amanda Dealy Haverstick? Her email is amanda@ dear1L. com.”

The response blew me away (see below).

Here’s a simple editing trick that works every time.

Step 1: Root out sentences that have 3 or more clauses separated by commas.

Step 2: Rearrange the clauses to eliminate one of the commas.

I don’t supply “model” cover letters for a reason:

A “model” is the antithesis of what any cover letter should be.

Instead, a cover letter should scream:

“I'm different; I’m better; you want me; you want only me!”

Chardonnay.

You might think when I left Biglaw in 2016, the problem would have left me, too.

But it only got worse.

Suddenly, with 24 hours of unscheduled time available to me each day, filling it became all too easy.

Yet I see people use it regularly.

I now want you to put it in the trash.

⬇️

Instead, try “Even though.”

It is shorter and so much smoother.

(AND make it more persuasive).

3 ways:

1️⃣ Use more interesting, image-evoking words.

Instead of: The defendant quickly left the courtroom.
Try: The defendant bolted from the courtroom.

 ➡️ “is not required to” —> “need not.”

For example—

Instead of:

“The defendant is not required to disprove the plaintiff’s claims.”