Legal Writing Guides: Writing Style

This extremely brief guide is intended to help students write good papers in law school. It covers paper structure, substance, and style.
Christians, Allison, Really Basic Rules for Writing Good Papers in Law School (July 1, 2020). 23 The Green Bag 2D 181, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3647633

From the authors of the widely praised Legal Writing Handbook, the Fifth Edition of this comprehensive guide hones in on the basic principles of grammar, punctuation, and legal style. Clear guidance, examples, and practical advice make this a perfect companion to legal writing texts and indispensable to the process of writing and editing legal documents.

In this critically acclaimed book, Tom Goldstein and Jethro K. Lieberman demystify legal writing, outline the causes and consequences of poor writing, and prescribe easy-to-apply remedies to improve it. Reflecting changes in law practice over the past decade, this revised edition includes new sections around communicating digitally, getting to the point, and writing persuasively. It also provides an editing checklist, editing exercises with a suggested revision key, usage notes that address common errors, and reference works to further aid your writing. This straightforward guide is an invaluable tool for practicing lawyers and law students.

Admirably clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful—all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. Since 2001 Bryan A. Garner’s Legal Writing in Plain English has helped address this problem by providing lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars with sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. Now the leading guide to clear writing in the field, this indispensable volume encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process that will appeal to other professionals: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills.

Legal Writing Style promotes the art of good writing by teaching students and practitioners the tools to make their prose clear, precise, simple, and forceful. With examples of what works and what doesn’t, this short but comprehensive treatise provides an invaluable resource for recasting writing for maximum impact and ultimate success.

Wydick's Plain English for Lawyers--now in its sixth edition--has been a favorite of law students, legal writing teachers, lawyers, and judges for over 35 years.

Since first appearing in 2002, Bryan Garner's The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style has established itself as the go-to source for all questions of legal style (apart from citation form). The book isn't just one talented man's effort: Garner has two experienced coauthors plus a hands-on team of 54 editorial advisers, most of whom have long and valuable experience teaching LRW. The book is a one-of-a-kind resource--the legal writer's equivalent of The AP Stylebook or The Chicago Manual of Style.