Don’t Surprise the Court

Dear Legal Writer, Don’t surprise the court.

Judges hate surprises.

Like “surprise facts.”

Those are ones you didn’t describe neutrally in your Facts section.

Yet increasingly, I’m seeing briefwriters get sloppy.

Just recently I was reading a brief involving someone yelling at someone with a garden shovel.

 —In the Facts section, the lawyer provided an overview of a situation, but no quotes of what was said or other specifics were included.

 —But later in the Argument section, the lawyer contended that the exact words used had significance.

 —He also argued using the specific measurements of the shovel to emphasize how big it was.

That is TABOO in legal writing.

✅ Put all agreed-upon facts in the Facts section of your brief.

✅ Never mention a fact in your Argument or Discussion section that you haven’t already described neutrally in your Facts section.

Fondly,

💌 Amanda

#DearLegalWriter