Try my editing P-E-N

Dear Legal Writer, We’ve all been there: The brief is done, but it’s several pages too long. You’ve got a few hours to try to cut it before the filing deadline, and you can’t afford to lose substance.

What’s your first move?

Try my P-E-N approach. It kills the culprits behind 3 biggies behind empty words:

—Passives
—Expletives
—Nominalizations

🔷 1: PASSIVES. (Culprit: “by the”)

Root out passive voice by searching for sentences containing “by the.” That’s the most common signal for passive voice. Passive voice is always LONGER than active voice.

🚫 “The bill was passed by the Senate.” (Passive/longer)

✅ “The Senate passed the bill.” (Active/shorter)

–
🔷 2: EXPLETIVES: (Culpits: “It is” & “There are”)

Both two-word phrases are almost always useless expletives. They take up space without adding value. Cut them, and make your subject carry out the verb.

🚫 “There are three factors that courts consider. They are: _”

✅ “Three factors the court considers are __”

✅ “The court considers these three factors: __”

–
🔷 3: NOMINALIZATIONS. (That’s just a fancy way to say clunky noun clauses that can be converted into verbs.)

make arrangement for –> arrange

provide a description of –> describe

take the deposition of —> depose

*Without the nominalizations, the texts are shorter.

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Won’t you try my simple P-E-N approach to cut words today?

Fondly,
💌 Amanda

P.S. I’ve collected my legal-writing posts at #DearLegalWriter.

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