Dear legal writer, Feeling lost in a sentence/nothing is sounding right? Just move these 2 words:

Subject + Verb

🔹 1: Identify the subject in your sentence.

The SUBJECT tells who or what the sentence is about (e.g., “The boy” in “The boy kicked the ball.”).

🔹 2: Now, find your verb.

The VERB shows the action or state of being of the subject (e.g., “kicked” in “The boy kicked the ball.”).

🔹 3: Last: Put your verb NEXT TO your subject (and keep them together).

Now, recast the rest of the sentence,
and voila!

EXAMPLES

▪️ Clunky: The committee, after reviewing several budget proposals and hearing extended public comment, decided to postpone the vote.

Smooth: The committee decided to postpone the vote after reviewing several budget proposals and hearing extended public comment.

▪️ Clunky: The plaintiff, who on three separate occasions attempted to negotiate and who repeatedly sought clarification of the payment terms, alleges that the defendant breached the contract.

Smooth: The plaintiff alleges that the defendant breached the contract after the plaintiff attempted three times to negotiate and clarify the payment terms.

 👉 The improved clarity saves space, too!

🔷 RECAP

Keep your subjects close to their verbs.

This way, your reader doesn’t have to dig through your words to find the meaning; they can simply follow your reasoning.

That makes your reader happy.

And happy readers => happy clients 🎉🎊

Cheer-

💌 Amanda

P.S. The above is an excerpt from my February newsletter: 🎵3 Notes. You can subscribe to get more legal-writing tips here: writinglawtutors.com/newsletter/

#DearLegalWriter