By Brian Malcom
Some things stand the test of time. A few such things that come to mind are diamonds, love and Twinkies. Another is good advice. Larry Childs, a litigator for more than 30 years, wrote a letter as a 3L to his 1L sister. Larry thought about the things he had learned about legal writing in law school. He put pen to page and gave his sister some tips. Three decades later, the advice on legal writing is still sound and relevant. The letter is below. Pay close attention to the first three rules and the last sentence.
Letter from a third-year law student to a first-year law student:
Dear 1L:
Against my better judgment, I am going to try to set down some of what I told you about memo writing. Remember that most first-year memos are over researched and underwritten and most of the point of the exercise is the writing. Here are some suggestions off the top of my head:
- Be clear.
- Be clear.
- Be clear. (got that one?)
- Resist the temptation to slant the case toward one side. Give arguments for both sides and point out weaknesses in both sides’ arguments.
- Write short, declarative sentences (<35 words) and avoid all passive verbs.
- Legal memos are structured fairly rigidly. Organize the memo from general to specific. (General rule, then exceptions.) Discuss each issue separately to avoid confusion.
- Organize paragraphs as follows: General point (topic or thesis sentence – introducing and summarizing the point of this paragraph); Case support and how facts of the case that tie into your fact situation; Analysis – how that case affects your facts. Don’t be short on analysis. It may take more than one paragraph. This is where a lot of beginners fall down.
- Don’t use long quotes except where you can’t say it any better than the judge did.
- Make the statement of facts as crisp and concise as possible. (Usually chronological but not always).
That’s all I can think of at the moment. Try to keep your sense of humor through it all.
Sincerely,
Larry (3L)