Plain English for Lawyers

Rating:
Summary: Wish I read it in law school
Review: I bought this book during my first year of law school. It was recommended, but not required reading, so I tossed it aside. Big mistake.

Now that I am getting paid for my work product, I am more concerned about its quality. So, I finally opened the book. It is a quick and easy read, but oh so helpful. Every positive thing posted about the book is dead on.

Reading Plain English for Lawyers has been the best CLE of the year.

Rating:
Summary: A ground-breaker that became a classic.
Review: I first read this book in 1989, and I loved it. It made so much sense, yet it seemed so radical to a young associate at a large law firm. But the advice in this book has been around since 1978. Back then, it was breaking new ground. Now, its advice, though common among plain-English advocates, is still needed by the practicing bar. How great it would be if every lawyer followed Wydick's advice in this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Legal-Writing Classic
Review: This book provides great advice and practical, well-designed exercises. Once considered radical by most lawyers, the book has helped reform legal writing, teaching a generation of lawyers that their writing "should not differ, without good reason, from ordinary well-written English."

The book is also a model of effective prose. It's clear and understandable even to a first-year law student. Yet it's also valuable to seasoned lawyers, especially to those die-hard lawyers who insist that legal writing should remain dense, and often incomprehensible, just because it's always been that way.

Well-respected experts such as Wydick and Garner reject that notion. And clients, who often succeed or fail (and sometimes live or die) by their lawyers' words, should reject it too.

Rating:
Summary: Not just for lawyers and law school students
Review: This book was part of my first-year curricula in law school, but this book is valuable for anyone who paid attention in high school composition, and who is looking for a reader-friendly guide to improve their skills in edited English. The hook for the title comes from the fact that the legal profession is one of the more notorious for having cluttered syntax, archaic terminology, and unnecessary abstractions.

Clear writing begins with clear thinking, and the reader-friendly rules in this book will help sort out the writing quirks that sometimes pop up when a writer isn't as confident in what he/she is trying to say.

Rating:
Summary: A Legal-Writing Classic
Review: This book was required reading for my first year in law school. After having read through it, I am glad it was. I wish that more lawyers were required to read it.

'Plain English for Lawyers' helps everyone write effectively from the Law Student, the practicing Lawyer, the Judge on the Bench, or just somebody that wants to write a persuasive or complicated report how to

Several frequent exercises are included to give the reader an opportunity to practice. Examples are plentiful, and illustrated well.

The last chapter covers punctuation. This chapter makes the book a reference worth keeping. I would recommend to anyone needing a reference for writing briefs, memorandum, or legal correspondence to keep this book on hand.

Rating:
Summary: If only every Lawyer read this...
Review: This book was required reading for my first year in law school. After having read through it, I am glad it was. I wish that more lawyers were required to read it.

'Plain English for Lawyers' helps everyone write effectively from the Law Student, the practicing Lawyer, the Judge on the Bench, or just somebody that wants to write a persuasive or complicated report how to

Several frequent exercises are included to give the reader an opportunity to practice. Examples are plentiful, and illustrated well.

The last chapter covers punctuation. This chapter makes the book a reference worth keeping. I would recommend to anyone needing a reference for writing briefs, memorandum, or legal correspondence to keep this book on hand.