Dear Legal Writer:

If I told you to cut down your use of “expletives” in legal writing, you might retort, “I would never use expletives in legal writing.”

Alas, but you do.

Here’s what I mean:

🔹 Definition:

An “expletive” doesn’t just need to be a profane or obscene term.

It’s any word or phrase that supplies no independent, substantive meaning in a sentence.

“There is,” “There are,” and “It is” are expletives.

🔻 They appear regularly in writing.
🔻 They typically add nothing with any meaning.
🔻 They invariably drag down your prose and make it wordier.

So try dropping the expletives from your sentences.
Recast them with the SUBJECTS of the verbs doing the acting.

🔷 Examples:

“There is a delivery truck approaching our house now.”
-becomes-
“A delivery truck is approaching our house now.”
____

“There were three hotel employees who witnessed the event.”
-becomes-
“Three hotel employees witnessed the event.”
____

“It is agreed by all parties that the case should settle.”
-becomes-
“All parties agree that the case should settle.”

🔷 Exception:

As with all things involving subtlety, tone, cadence, nuance, etc., your sentences may sometimes call for expletives.

But most of the time, expletives should be cut.

Doing so is a great way to sharpen your prose and reduce your word count.

Fondly,
💌 Amanda

#lawyers
#lawstudents
#dear1L