Writing to win : the legal writer / Steven D Stark.

New York : Broadway Books, 1999.

21509

Drafting -- United States.

Legal composition -- United States.

Introduction

Part I: The fundamentals of legal writing

1. Organizing your material

2. The rules of the road

3. The mechanics of editing

Part II: The fundamentals of argument for all lawyers

4. The art of argument

5. The role of narrative in argument

Part III: Writing in litigation

6. Writing the facts

Chapter7. Writing arguments

8. Writing trial and appellate briefs

9. Writing complaints and answers

10. Writing in discovery

11. Oral argument from a writer's perspective

Part IV: Writing in legal practice

12. Technical writing

13. Writing memos

14. Writing letters and e-mail

15. Drafting contracts and rules

Conclusion: The Real Damage of Bad Legal Writing

Appendix: The thirteen rules of professionalism in legal writing

Appendix: Submitting samples for inclusion in future editions of this book

Bibliography.

Of all the professions, the law has the most deserved reputation for opaque, jargon-clogged writing. Legal education, which focuses on judicial opinions, not instruments of persuasion, is partly to blame. Yet forceful writing is one of the most potent weapons of legal advocacy. In Writing to Win, Steven D. Stark, a former Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School who has taught thousands of aspiring and practicing lawyers, has written the only book on the market that applies the universal principles of vigorous prose to the job of making a case-and winning it. Writing to Win focuses on the writing of lawyers, not judges, and includes dozens of examples of effective (and ineffective) real-life writing-as well as models drawn from advertising, journalism, and fiction. It deals with the problems lawyers face in writing, from organization to strengthening and editing prose; teaches ways of improving arguments; addresses litigation and technical writing in all its forms; and covers the writing attorneys must perform in their practice, from memos and letters to briefs and contracts. Each chapter opens with a succinct set of rules for easy reference. No other legal writing book on the market is as practical, as focused on results, as well written as Writing to Win. - Back cover of book.

0385495927

xvii, 283 pages ; 21 cm