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Summary: A fine basic reference for any interested in legal writing
Review: Any involved in the legal professions will find Legal Writing In Plain English an important guide which blends a text with exercises. Proven techniques of legal writing are embedded in chapters which provide tips on creating outlines, expressing ideas, and common writing problems. A fine basic reference for any interested in legal writing.
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Summary: Plain English is Shorter, More Precise.
Review: Bryan A. Garner is leading what might be a Quixotic charge to make lawyers write clear, clean, unambiguous and even interesting prose. This book is a recent addition to the Garner arsenal, which includes the excellent The Winning Brief and A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. The anonymous writer from New York who slams Garner is wrong. He claims that traditional legal drafting has stood the test of time and is readily understood by judges, who ultimately have to interpret it. If the writing were clear to begin with, the parties wouldn't get to a judge. They'd likely settle. And that writer ignores the fact that there are thousands, perhaps millions, of legal decisions over contract disputes, almost all arising from documents that were "traditionally drafted." And different judges can decide differently about the meaning of a clause. That writer askes rhetorically whether Garner would insist that mathematicians use prose to make their work clear to laypeople. The rhetoric ignores the fact that mathematics is its own language. Legal writing is written in English, the same English used to buy groceries, talk lovingly to your spouse, and complain to the doctor about what ails you. There is no valid reason a contract should be beyond the comprehension of a layperson, other than lawyers' need to feel like they're elevated professionals with a grip on arcana. And the writer's praise of "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary" as an incantatory phrase in contracts overlooks an obvious improvement: "DESPITE anything in this agreement to the contrary . . . ." Garner is a brilliant, insightful teacher who cares deeply about the language and its highest and best use. We know what happens with legalese: litigation and contention and noncomprehension. Give plain English a try, with Garner as your guide to Aquinas's trinity of wholeness, harmony, radiance, and of course clarity clarity clarity.
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Summary: The Great Garner Strikes Another Blow for Good Prose
Review: Bryan A. Garner is leading what might be a Quixotic charge to make lawyers write clear, clean, unambiguous and even interesting prose. This book is a recent addition to the Garner arsenal, which includes the excellent The Winning Brief and A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. The anonymous writer from New York who slams Garner is wrong. He claims that traditional legal drafting has stood the test of time and is readily understood by judges, who ultimately have to interpret it. If the writing were clear to begin with, the parties wouldn't get to a judge. They'd likely settle. And that writer ignores the fact that there are thousands, perhaps millions, of legal decisions over contract disputes, almost all arising from documents that were "traditionally drafted." And different judges can decide differently about the meaning of a clause. That writer askes rhetorically whether Garner would insist that mathematicians use prose to make their work clear to laypeople. The rhetoric ignores the fact that mathematics is its own language. Legal writing is written in English, the same English used to buy groceries, talk lovingly to your spouse, and complain to the doctor about what ails you. There is no valid reason a contract should be beyond the comprehension of a layperson, other than lawyers' need to feel like they're elevated professionals with a grip on arcana. And the writer's praise of "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary" as an incantatory phrase in contracts overlooks an obvious improvement: "DESPITE anything in this agreement to the contrary . . . ." Garner is a brilliant, insightful teacher who cares deeply about the language and its highest and best use. We know what happens with legalese: litigation and contention and noncomprehension. Give plain English a try, with Garner as your guide to Aquinas's trinity of wholeness, harmony, radiance, and of course clarity clarity clarity.
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Summary: An Enlighten Reformer Improving Writing For All!
Review: Bryan Garner is a beacon of light in a profession over wrought in using formal vain communications. I was able to review this book at a Writing Seminar led by the author. He is reforming the way all people should communicate and his lectures are sincerely admirable. The author teaches a, "Can Do Style," of encouragement. I came away concluding the old method of learning by rote is failing. English Teachers are excellent in explaining the rules of good grammar. But terrible on coaching children in applying the rules for skillful writing. I am not concluding all English Teachers deserve blame here. Teachers simply restate how they learn grammar Likewise, ideal teaching avoids faultfinding personal attacks as much as possible. Human nature prompts one to avoid parents or teachers or practicing embarrassment is the road to success. Instead, the author urges that all writing should make the reader feel smart. The legal profession is a victim of what they read. The most insecure judges, lawyers and law clerks often wrote to display their education. Today, the best lawyer will use plain English to convince others of the merits to his argument. Success and confidence draw near by making anyone feel they are smart because they accept you. Using large words makes one think about the words they do not know above your alluring reasoning. Bryan Garner's primers along with practicing his techniques will change you into a stronger writer, lawyer and person. You will not regret spending the money on Bryan Garner's books and seminars. The goal is to make everyone feel smarter by reading what you write! What better way to change the world by touching people with your thoughts to words to deeds!
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Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: EXCELLENT BOOK, ALSO MODERN LEGAL USAGE, 2ND EDITION. ENOUGH SAID.
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Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: EXCELLENT BOOK, ALSO MODERN LEGAL USAGE, 2ND EDITION. ENOUGH SAID.
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Summary: A Wonderful Guide!
Review: I strongly agree with five of the six amazon.com reviews, which are highly favorable and award five stars. This book is beautifully written, well organized, and eminently sound. Garner tackles the difficult job of convincing staid, inflexible lawyers to abandon the age-old practice of using incomprehensible legalese and thus ensuring that their contracts will have to be translated for those whose lives are affected by them and later interpreted in costly litigation. Most prestigious lawyers, law firms, and judges strongly favor Garner's plain-language approach to drafting. For example, the late Charles Alan Wright, a brilliant Supreme Court lawyer and noted author, called Garner "the world's leading authority on the language of the law." And the Texas Supreme Court enlisted Garner's aid in redrafting the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. So it's hard to believe that judges would generally prefer "conventional drafting" over the clear, accessible language that Garner advocates. The five five-star reviews of the book on this website came from a law professor, a practicing lawyer, a book reviewer, and two others who appear to be nonlawyers. I wondered if the anonymous New York corporate lawyer who gave the book a meager one star knew something that everyone else didn't. So I checked for reviews from highly respected sources. And I found that Harvard Law Review, the Law Library Journal, and Trial have all published very favorable reviews of this book. The plain-language drafting recommended in this book is widely viewed as beneficial, not only by nonlawyers, but also by highly skilled lawyers who seek to avoid ambiguity and litigation and who strive to improve the tarnished image of lawyers generally. I believe that Garner's approach would be condemned only by a few rich corporate lawyers who thrive by making themselves indispensable in drafting, translating, and later litigating the long, dense form contracts that they produce.
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Summary: Attorneys can't write well without this book!
Review: Quit searching -- this is the best book on legal writing that you will find. It is outstanding. I am an attorney in Texas, and I have attended two of Mr. Garner's legal-writing seminars. He is currently the leading authority on legal writing; he is also an engaging speaker. His approach is to eliminate legalese and to present a powerful and succinct message. This approach has a very practical foundation -- over the years, Mr. Garner has polled judges across the country to see which writing elements they prefer. This volume distills Mr. Garner's findings into a compact, 227-page format. The book also contains model documents -- a research memorandum, a legal motion, an appellate brief, and a business contract -- which serve as excellent reference tools for the legal practitioner. Put simply, if you don't subscribe to Mr. Garner's advice, you don't know how to write well. And this book is the best way yet to access to Mr. Garner's valuable insight. This book is an ESSENTIAL reference tool.
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Summary: Attorneys can't write well without this book!
Review: Quit searching -- this is the best book on legal writing that you will find. It is outstanding. I am an attorney in Texas, and I have attended two of Mr. Garner's legal-writing seminars. He is currently the leading authority on legal writing; he is also an engaging speaker. His approach is to eliminate legalese and to present a powerful and succinct message. This approach has a very practical foundation -- over the years, Mr. Garner has polled judges across the country to see which writing elements they prefer. This volume distills Mr. Garner's findings into a compact, 227-page format. The book also contains model documents -- a research memorandum, a legal motion, an appellate brief, and a business contract -- which serve as excellent reference tools for the legal practitioner. Put simply, if you don't subscribe to Mr. Garner's advice, you don't know how to write well. And this book is the best way yet to access to Mr. Garner's valuable insight. This book is an ESSENTIAL reference tool.
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Summary: English Teachers Everywhere Need To Reform Teaching Methods.
Review: The Author is teaching people how to apply simple words and sentences in order to improve communications. The days of placing confusing words to display ones' education are over. The best writers use simple descriptive words, short sentences and in the active voice so all can understand what they are saying. Bryan Garner is leading this reform movement by starting with the greatest abuses of the English language, Lawyers! Anyone reading a Supreme Court opinion of any era pretty much can see waht I am saying. They are full of alien words meant to show off an education rather than send a common, understandable reasoning for all people to follow. The educated can find words that the common person can understand better than a common person having to run to a Lawyer to deciper what some Law Clerk and Judge wrote to sound important. America is founded on the ideal that all persons are created equal. It is about time Judges, Lawyers and all other educated people everywhere write to the level of the people they say they represent for a change for a better society. We all need to start with Bryan Garner's books and teachings so we can one day understand them for the betterment of all and the future of our nation. No one is asking anyone to dumb down, only write smarter for the reader.
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