Quick Fixes for Common Legal Writing Mistakes

Quick Fixes for Common Legal Writing Mistakes Lets face it: legal writing is difficult. However, there are many quick fixes that can help you to establish a clear, understandable style. Below are my top 20 tips for improving your legal writing.Defined terms should be consistent. If you tag Bill Smith as the Plaintiff, call him the Plaintiff throughout the entire document, not Mr. Brown, Brown, Billy or whatever other name you think will spice up your brief.If you label something A, there must be a B. If used correctly, headings are a great way to organize your brief and give the reader an overall picture of your argument. Headings and subheading should preview each section of legal text. Further, they should be similar in content, grammar and placement.Avoid conclusory language. A conclusion, standing alone, will not persuade your reader. To build a persuasive argument, you must cite to the specific facts and legal authorities that support your conclusion. You cannot simply tell the reader that the Defendant was clearly negligen t. Rather, you must provide the reader with the facts and reasons necessary for him to conclude that the Defendant was indeed negligent.Avoid superfluous language and use plain English. Although every legal education includes the mastering legal terms, part of becoming an effective legal writer is shedding the archaic, the legalese, and the Latin. Too often, those legal words do nothing but make the text sound like a lawyer wrote it. Usually, there are many more effective, reader friendly alternatives that say the same thing. A good rule of thumb is to use legal words correctly but sparingly, and only when necessary.Avoid colloquialism. Legal writing is formal writing. Therefore, you cannot simply write how you might talk in ever day, casual conversation. Most importantly, slang should always be avoided. For example, it would be inappropriate to write, Mr. Brown kicked the bucket on X date. You should simply write, Mr. Brown died on X date.Avoid being catty, snide or sarcastic. It m akes you look childish, immature and unprofessional. It does not add anything to your legal argument. Moreover, judges despise it!Ensure dates, names and amounts are consistent. This simply requires careful attention to detail. I suggest reading through your draft and checking that all of the names are consistent, i.e. you have not started referring to James Smith as Jim Smith halfway through the brief. Next, check that your dates are accurate and in chronological order, if applicable. Finally, double-check any monetary amounts, paying special attention to any parenthetical numerical amounts and their corresponding written amounts.Triple check references to exhibits and affidavits. As with the above, this is primarily an exercise in proofreading and organization. Although it is often tedious, it can prevent embarrassment down the road. You do not want the judge to have to look through all of your exhibits because you mistakenly referred to the demand letter as Exhibit A when it is r eally Exhibit C.Commas and periods go inside quotations. Commas and periods go inside quotes. Always. No exceptions. Quotation marks are used incorrectly in so much legal- and non-legal- writing that most people arent sure what is in fact correct. To further confuse writers, the opposite is true in British English!Beware of over-chronicling. Some dates are very important, but most are not. When the date of every event is listed, it is difficult for the reader to discern which, if any, are relevant to the merits of the case. So unless the exact date is important and should be remembered by the reader, leave it out.Show, don t tell! In your fact section, include concrete examples and citations to relevant documents. This is far more convincing than your opinion or characterization of the facts.Words like obviously and clearly hurt more than help your writing. If you have to emphasize your argument with these words, chances are your argument is not very strong is the first place. Altho ugh it seems paradoxical, eliminating these words from your writing actually makes it stronger and enhances your credibility.Its means it is. Its means belonging to it. Enough said.Resist the temptation to use a large word when a small one will do. For example, in most situations, the word use is fine and the word utilize is a bit much.Be brief and to the point. You do not want the reader to be exhausted, physically or mentally, by the time he or she is done reading your brief. I have yet to put down a brief and say, I wish that had been longer, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has said.Always give the pinpoint page cite. Should you not give the pinpoint page cite, it suggests to the judge that you are either lazy or that you have accurately recited the holding of the case.Don t be bossy. Avoid telling the court what it must or cannot do. Instead, simply assert that the court should not hesitate to grant the relief your client seeks.The Bluebook is your friend. W hen it doubt as to a legal citation, look it up. The Bluebook is surprisingly user friendly. Never rely on the citations given in published opinions or by legal research tools, as they are not always correct.Save ample time for proofreading. Typographical mistakes, grammatical errors and incorrect citations can harm your credibility. Take the time to carefully proofread your document and do not simply rely on your word processor s spell and grammar check as they miss many errors. If possible, ask a friend or colleague to review the brief as well.Revise and rewrite, repeat as necessary. It often takes several drafts to attain the virtues of brevity and clarity. Even when you think you have arrived at the final product, take some time and then revisit the draft so you can better evaluate it with a fresh eye.There you have it. I hope my perspective helps you to refine your legal writing skill set. Like any discipline, it takes a lot of practice and trial-and-error, but with time you sh ould be able to master these quick fixes.

How Putonghua Is Used in Mainland China

How Putonghua Is Used in Mainland China Mandarin Chinese is known by many names. In the United Nations, it is known simply as Chinese. In Taiwan, it is called Ã¥Å"‹è ªÅ¾ / å› ½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (guà ³ yÇ”), which means national language. In Singapore, it is known as è  ¯Ã¨ ªÅ¾ / Ã¥ Å½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (hu yÇ”), which means Chinese language. And in China, it is called æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ © ± / æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ ¯  (pÇ” tÃ… ng hu), which translates to common language.   Different Names Over Time Historically, Mandarin Chinese was called Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ © ±/Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ ¯  (guÄ n hu), meaning speech of officials, by the Chinese people. The English word mandarin meaning bureaucrat, is derived from Portuguese. The Portuguese word for bureaucratic official was mandarim, so they referred to Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ © ±/Ã¥ ®ËœÃ¨ ¯  (guÄ n hu) as the language of the mandarims, or mandarim for short. The final m was converted to an n in the English version of this name. Under the Qing Dynasty (æ ¸â€¦Ã¦Å"  - QÄ «ng Cho), Mandarin was the official language of the Imperial Court and was known as Ã¥Å"‹è ªÅ¾ / å› ½Ã¨ ¯ ­ (guà ³ yÇ”). Since Beijing was the capital of the Qing Dynasty, Mandarin pronunciations are based on the Beijing dialect. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the new Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China) became more strict about having a standardized common language to improve communication and literacy across rural and urban areas. Thus, the name of Chinas official language was rebranded. Instead of calling it national language, Mandarin was now called common language, or æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ © ± / æ™ ®Ã©â‚¬Å¡Ã¨ ¯  (pÇ” tÃ… ng hu), starting in 1955. Putonghua as Common Speech PÇ” tÃ… ng hu is the official language of The Peoples Republic of China (Mainland China). But pÇ” tÃ… ng hu is not the only language spoken in China. There are five major language families with a total of up to 250 distinct languages or dialects. This wide divergence intensifies the need for a unifying language that is understood by all Chinese people. Historically, the written language was the unifying source of many of the Chinese languages, since Chinese characters have the same meaning wherever they are used, even though they may be pronounced differently in different regions. The use of a commonly spoken language has been promoted since the rise of the Peoples Republic of China, which established pÇ” tÃ… ng hu as the language of education throughout the Chinese territory. Putonghua in Hong Kong Macau Cantonese is the official language of both Hong Kong and Macau and is the language spoken by the majority of the population. Since the ceding of these territories (Hong Kong from Britain and Macau from Portugal) to the Peoples Republic of China, pÇ” tÃ… ng hu has been used as the language of communication between the territories and the PRC. The PRC is promoting greater use of pÇ”tÃ… nghu in Hong Kong and Macau by training teachers and other officials. Putonghua in Taiwan The outcome of the Chinese Civil War (1927-1950) saw the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) retreat from Mainland China to the nearby island of Taiwan. Mainland China, under the Maos Peoples Republic of China, saw changes in language policy. Such changes included the introduction of simplified Chinese characters and the official use of the name pÇ” tÃ… ng hu. Meanwhile, the KMT in Taiwan retained the use of traditional Chinese characters, and the name guà ³ yÇ” continued to be used for the official language. Both practices continue up to the present time. Traditional Chinese characters are also used in Hong Kong, Macau, and many overseas Chinese communities. Putonghua Features PÇ”tÃ… nghu has four distinct tones which are used to differentiate homophones. For example, the syllable ma can have four distinct meanings depending on the tone. The grammar of pÇ” tÃ… ng hu is relatively simple when compared with many European languages. There are no tenses or verb agreements, and the basic sentence structure is subject-verb-object. The use of untranslated particles for clarification and a temporal location is one of the features that make pÇ” tÃ… ng hu challenging for second-language learners.