Guide to Legal Writing Style

Terri LeClercq

Aspen Law and Business, Jan 1, 2000 - Law - 140 pages

Every legal writing instructor has a favorite text for teaching the basics of effective legal writing... so where do you turn to for guidance in helping students on the more subtle area of style? Right here. to help students move from a substantive first draft to a polished final document, many of your colleagues rely on Terri LeClercq's GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING STYLE - now available in a revised and enhanced Second Edition. This brief yet powerful paperback text gives your students the skills they need to advance from acceptable to exceptional writing.
GUIDE TO LEGAL WRITING STYLE, Second Edition, zeroes in on the stylistic elements for polishing your document:
organization
sentence structure
word choice
punctuation
formatting
Crafted for use with any of the various legal writing coursebooks, this supplementary text offers:
a synopsis of the process of crafting a final legal document, including macro- and micro-organizational issues
plenty of exercises to strengthen skills and provide opportunities for self-testing
grammar and punctuation reviews for self or group testing
Refined by classroom use, the Second Edition is strengthened by:
a more accessible interior design and a new, larger size
a new chapter on formatting
an updated chapter on Reviewing the Basics, with more exercises
new 'try These' exercises throughout the book allow students to evaluate their understanding of the skills presented in the text
new Preface that acts as a guide to the book's content and specifies ways to use it in conjunction with other texts
a new, separate Appendix that contains all the answers to the exercises in the book, keyed to the chapters in which they are discussed

Contents

• CREATING SENTENCES WITH STYLE: 25
• CHOOSING WORDS WITH STYLE: 57
• PUNCTUATING WITH STYLE: 79
• FORMATTING FOR A VISUAL SOCIETY: 97
• REVIEWING THE BASICS: 111
• ANSWERS TO TRY THESE CONCLUDING EXERCISES AND REVIEWING THE BASICS: 115
• Preface xiii: 137

About the author

Terri LeClercq, Ph.D., taught rhetoric and composition and legal writing for over 30 years. Her interest in prison reform developed from listening to law clerks and the formerly incarcerated. Inmates need writing advice. She has also published Guide to Legal Writing Style (Aspen Press) and Expert Legal Writing (University of Texas Press).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Guide to Legal Writing Style; Aspen's legal research & writing text series; Legal Research and Writing
• Author: Terri LeClercq
• Edition: 2, revised
• Publisher: Aspen Law and Business, 2000
• ISBN: 0735512256, 9780735512252
• Length: 140 pages
• Subjects: Law / Legal Writing