Law Commons^™

Advice About Written Advocacy From The Washington Court Of Appeals, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

References To Beatles Songs In Advocacy And Judicial Opinions, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article surveys the indelible mark that the Beatles (Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) continue to leave on courts in the United States more than half a century after the quartet burst onto the American scene with their three television appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, six years before the band’s breakup.

What Lawyers Can Teach Their Employed Law Students About 'Impactful Legal Writing', Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article concerns the value of teaching employed law students about the potency of “impactful legal writing” – legal writing that can have a substantial impact on someone other than the student writer. Much of the employer’s most instructive teaching about impactful legal writing occurs at the beginning of an assignment, rather than solely during review after the student has completed the assignment. This article identifies four ways an employed law student’s impactful writing when fulfilling assignments differs from the effect of students’ academic writing in law school. Each of the four ways enables the employer to deliver practical lessons …

How Law Students' Part-Time Legal Employment Can Help Employers Improve Their Own Writing Skills, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Professor Abrams authors a column, Writing it Right, in the Journal of the Missouri Bar. In a variety of contexts, the column stresses the fundamentals of quality legal writing — conciseness, precision, simplicity, and clarity.

References To Classic American Novels In Advocacy And Judicial Opinions, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

With this Journal of the Missouri Bar article, the survey of courts’ cultural markers returns to literature – particularly American literature. Besides “To Kill a Mockingbird,” federal and state courts in their written opinions have cited and quoted from other classic novels written by American authors, including "Catch-22", "Moby-Dick", and "The Grapes of Wrath".

Legal Citations: A Foundation Of Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

The article advanced this formula for achieving effective appellate advocacy: “First, you seek to persuade the court of the merit of the client’s case, to create an emotional empathy for your position. Then you assist the court to reach a conclusion favorable to the client’s interest in terms of the analysis of the law and the procedural posture of the case.”

References To Robert Frost's Poetry In Advocacy And Judicial Opinions, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article concerns courts whose written opinions have recently cited and quoted Frost and his poetry. By profiling Frost’s enduring influence, the article fortifies a theme I have presented in earlier “Writing It Right” articles. The theme begins in the courts, which in recent years often accent their opinions’ substantive or procedural rulings by quoting or citing well-known cultural markers from literature, sports, or popular entertainment.

Improved Writing From Reading Other Writers, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In 1954, a 12-year-old junior high school student wrote to Justice Felix Frankfurter seeking advice about how to prepare to become a lawyer. “The best way to prepare for the law,” Frankfurter answered, “is to come to the study of law as a well-read person.” Reading other writers, he explained, enables future lawyers to “acquire the capacity to use the English language on paper and in speech and with the habits of clear thinking.”

Justice Frankfurter offered his young correspondent sound advice about the intimate link among reading, writing, and lawyering. Reading works from other writers with an eye toward …

Charles Dickens' Novels In The Courts, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article examines written judicial opinions that contain references to novels by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), the British novelist and social critic who is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the Victorian Age. Americans today still read Dickens’ best-known novels, and the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower federal and state courts have cited and quoted from them.

Shakespeare In The Courts, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article continues the theme of recent “Writing It Right” articles in the Journal of the Missouri Bar. These articles describe how federal and state judges today frequently accent their opinions’ substantive or procedural rulings with references to cultural markers that can resonate with the advocates, parties, and judges who comprise the opinions’ readership. The courts’ broad array of cultural references demonstrates versatility. Some of my early articles in the Journal profiled judicial opinions that referenced terminologies, rules, and traditions of baseball, football, and other sports. Together these sports’ mass audiences help define American culture.

Later my Journal articles profiled …

Eight Strategies That Enhance Legal Writing, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

A few years ago, I spoke about legal writing at an annual forum of Missouri’s appellate judges, held at the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia. The hour-long presentation advanced eight strategies that enable judges and practicing lawyers to sharpen their writing. These eight strategies appear below in this article.

References To Aesop's Fables In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In several “Writing It Right” articles over the past few years, I have described how federal and state judges frequently accent their opinions' substantive or procedural points with careful references to cultural markers familiar to many Americans. This article continues traveling the literary lane by turning to Aesop’s Fables. By invoking a Fable, the Friends of Animals district court continued a tradition that began in 1823, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court cited Aesop in a will contest.

Amicus Curiae Briefs: A Message From The 7th Circuit, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Like other brief writers, the amicus brief’s writer must heed the court’s rules of practice and procedure, including rules that prescribe a brief’s maximum page length. But a brief writer can meet the court’s circumstances and expectations without going to the max. A few months before he ascended to the Supreme Court bench in 1943, D.C. Circuit Judge Wiley B. Rutledge advised advocates to strike a balance by being “as brief as one can be consistent with adequate and clear presentation of his case."

An amicus’ prudent approach to concise brief writing is to adapt the advice delivered by opera …

References To Children's Stories And Fairy Tales In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Jones v. State is typical of recent state and federal court decisions that have spiced substantive or procedural points with references to classic children’s stories or classic fairy tales. These literary resources have won places in American popular culture and are likely generally familiar to readers, especially when (as in Jones) the court provides any necessary context explaining the resource’s relevance to the decision.

In previous Journal of The Missouri Bar articles, I have written about judges’ invocation of an array of influential cultural markers that are generally familiar to Americans. These articles explored written opinions that accompanied substantive or …

Mincing No Words: When The Court's Opinion Criticizes An Advocate's Writing, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In recent years, court opinions have chastised counsel’s briefs or other written submissions for such structural deficiencies as improper citations; missing exhibit labels; incomplete tables of citations; mis-numbered counts; failure to cite to the record; and skirting of court rules that regulate font size, maximum page limits, mandated margins, and the like. Beyond structure, opinions have also chastised counsel for written submissions that are “riddled with misspellings, typographical errors, punctuation errors, and grammar and usage errors” and for those marked by careless cutting-and-pasting from forms or other prior work product, or by careless reliance on spell-check.

Some opinions identify the …

Generalist Judges And Advocates' Jargon, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Clerking is a privilege. Fresh out of law school and eager to begin their careers, law clerks at any level of the federal or state judiciary covet the opportunity to learn from a judge’s reservoir of knowledge. But law clerks who anticipate careers writing as advocates are also well-positioned to learn about something that a judge may not know when briefs or other adversary submissions land on the desk.

That “something” concerns jargon, this article’s focus because its use by advocates can impede the court’s understanding of a case’s facts and law. “Jargon” refers to “special words or expressions that …

References To Movies In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Part 1, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In opinions in cases with no claims or defenses concerning movies or the movie industry, trial and appellate judges often help explain substantive or procedural points, or help embellish the discussion, with references to themes, scenes, or characters from well-known films that have held Americans’ attention. Sometimes the reference appears in an opinion of the court, and sometimes it appears in a concurring or dissenting opinion.

America's Founding Editors: Writing The Declaration Of Independence, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

On Congress’ behalf, one of its members, 33-year-old Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson, drafted the Declaration of Independence. For the next half century, Jefferson’s fierce pride of authorship, unrestrained by humility, kept him from crediting Congress for skilled editing that helped make him a national icon by sharpening his powerful, but less than polished, draft. The irony of lawyer Jefferson’s enduring bitterness and ingratitude can stimulate today’s lawyers to sharpen their own drafts by respecting cooperative editors as valuable allies, not as troublesome adversaries.

References To Television Shows In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy (Part Ii), Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In the Journal’s January-February issue, Part I of this article began by surveying television’s profound influence on American culture since the early 1950s, a sturdy foundation for federal and state judges who cite or discuss well known television shows in their opinions. Part I presented television drama shows.

This Part II picks up where Part I left of. The discussion below presents television situation comedies (“sitcoms”) and reality TV shows that appear in judicial opinions. The discussion concludes by explaining why advocates should feel comfortable following the judges’ lead by carefully using television references to help make written substantive or …

References To Television Shows In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy (Part I), Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

One Judge's "Ten Tips For Effective Brief Writing" (Part Ii), Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge Terrence L. Michael (N.D.OKLA.) has written "Ten Tips for Effective Brief Writing" and posted them on the court's website. In the Journal's September-October issue, part 1 of this article began by discussing Tip #9 ("leave the venom at home"). That part proceeded to discuss Tips 1-4.

This final part discusses the remaining Tips. All 10 thoughtful Tips warrant careful consideration from advocates who prepare submissions for trial courts or appellate courts.

Judges And Their Editors, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"Fear Itself": What Legal Writers Can Learn From Fdr's Iconic Moment, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article concerns President Roosevelt's timeless faceoff with fear from the inaugural podium in the depths of the Great Depression. After surveying the dire national emergency that faced the new administration more than eight decades ago, the article draws lessons about sound rhetoric for today's legal writers.

Sanctions For Evading Maximum Page Limits On Court Filings, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Judge Marrero joins a growing lineup of judges who have imposed or threatened sanctions on counsel for attempting to evade court rules that set maximum page limits on briefs, memoranda, and other filings. Orders and reported opinions catalogue various strategies, including these: presenting the main text in a font smaller than the court's required font; presenting the main text with spacing less than required double spacing; using excessive footnotes, often single-spaced or in small fonts; or narrowing required margins on the sides, the top, or the bottom of pages.

The Pesky Serial Comma, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

The "serial comma" - sometimes called the "Oxford comma" or the "Harvard comma"- comes immediately before a conjunction that separates the last of three or more elements in a series. For example, consider the trio "ready, willing, and able." Consider too "win, lose, or draw." The serial comma is the one immediately before the "and" or the "or." In statutes or private arrangements, a comma's presence (or, as in O'Connor, its absence) may hold high stakes for litigants.

References To Spring's Championship Sports In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

t'he courts' own careful use of sports references invites advocates to carefully use sports references in the-i briefs and other written submissions. With the post-season playoffs and the World Series holding sports fans' attention, I wrote in the journal's September-October 2016 issue about the role of baseball references in judicial opinions and written advocacy. As attention turned to post-season playoffs and the Super Bowl, I wrote in the January-February 2017 issue about football references.

The trilogy of articles concludes here with sampling of judges' recent references to four sports that hit high notes every Spring Basketball, with the National Basketball …

References To Football In Judicial Opinions And Written Advocacy, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Writing for the Court,Justice Elena Kagan explained that the dual bases of liability, recited in Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, are not "an invitation to Monday morning quarterback an issuer's opinions" if the opinions later prove incorrect. The Court thus spurned second-guessing from the relative comfort of hindsight. With her nod to football, justice Kagan employed a rhetorical technique that justices and lower federal and state judges have employed with increased frequency since the early 1970s. In cases with no claims or defenses concerning sports, written opinions help decide or explain issues of law or fact with …

Respectful Identifiers, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

The bills teach that respectful legal writing replaces outdated identifiers of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or challenge, or other differences among identifiable groups in American society. As Professors Laurel Currie Oates and Anne Enquist advise, respect normally means identifying a group by a name commonly preferred by its members in everyday communication.

Long Ideas, Short Words, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article urges lawyers to invigorate their writing with short words that forcefully and accurately present fact and law For legally trained and lay readers alike, law and public policy are complex enough as it is. Lawyers serve their clients and causes most effectively with the simplest possible writing that, in the context as the lawyer perceives it, conveys the intended message.

Writing In Law Reviews, Bar Association Journals, And Blogs (Part Ii), Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

Lawyers commonly write as their clients' representatives, but many lawyers also do "extracurricular writing" in non-representational roles. A few years ago in Precedent (The Missouri Bar's former quarterly magazine), I wrote about lawyers who publish newspaper op-ed columns (essays appearing "opposite the editorial pages") and letters to the editor. The present two-part article explores three additional extracurricular writing opportunities open to lawyers. In the Journal's January-February issue, Part 1 discussed writing or co-writing in law reviews. Part 2 now concludes by discussing writing opportunities in bar association journals and on blogs.