Writing in Law
Anthony Coppola
University of Iowa
Writing in Law
“Every morning when I get out of bed, I have anywhere from ten to fifteen emails from clients,” said Chris (Lawyer from Iowa, September 2) When one hears someone is a lawyer, they often think about how they are in a courtroom or in front of a jury, but in fact that is rarely the issue. Out of 1000 criminal cases roughly on average three cases make it to trial (Rennison). Most of their work is done in the files typing; briefs, petitions, pleadings, and court documents. Lawyers are considered the “professionals of writing” in how they are required to word every phrase to a science (Schiess). Lawyers live at the desk, and most of that time is spent on the computer doing some form of academic or non-academic writing.
Academic Writing
Depending on the type of lawyer someone is decides whether they spend significant time writing academically or not. Most of the lawyers that write academically are working for the state as; judges, environmental lawyers, or tax lawyers (LAWYERS). These writings are then published to city records so that anyone can use them as research. Research is a detriment part of being a lawyer and often it's hard to find sources that are about what your case is over. Chris however, had insight on this and explained to me about commonly used databases such as; lexisnexis, and westlaw (a Lawyer, September 2). These are paid databases that his firm purchased that gives him access to thousands of academic pieces. These pieces from the databases help him draft his own documents and better his argument when attempting to setting his clients cases. Any misuse or error in research can cause several problems just like when writing in class. For instance if one lawyer drafts up a pleading and makes an error, the piece becomes “a frivolous pleading” which means that it can be thrown out during the courts process.
Audience
When drafting a piece of writing first a lawyer must look at his audience. In this profession there are many different groups of people one could write too. A lawyer generally writes to the opposing side, the judge, the prosecutor, or to the jury. Depending on who the audience is the lawyer must take into consideration when drafting their document. Knowing your audience is an important trait to use in all forms of writing because it will help you get your point across in the most efficient way.
Writing can be challenging in the world of law and especially when creating academic pieces. Academic pieces in law is creating or changing the laws that exist today. So whenever there is a question in whether the law is fair or unconstitutional it is a long process and the writing session must be perfect to avoid loopholes in the law. For example a new recent case common today deals with abortion. This law has been questioned heavily and always will be. However, this case was brought up by a christian group talking about their beliefs and how they are against the practice and use of abortion (Chambers page 2).
Language
The writing style used in academic writing is what defines it from most non-academic documents. Academic pieces use a type of language to shows how knowledgeable they are on a the topic. In law they make sure they use very descriptive words so that the law can be understood to the fullest. When creating academic pieces the author must fact check and create a piece of writing that is error free. Chris explained to me one time in particular when he had change his style of writing so that he could draft a academic paper. He had a big case and spent approximately forty hours reading, writing, and researching so that he could prepare a document that was later presented in front of the supreme court. During our interview he explained how it was the “most challenging piece of writing” that he had ever prepared (Lawyer from Iowa, September 2). The language and terms used by lawyers in their writing is one reason why they are well-known as professional writers.
Non-academic Writing
Non-academic writing in the field of law is just as important as academic writing if not more important. Non-academic writing is most commonly seen in; emails, letters, briefs, petitions, and pleadings. Emails are the most common form of communication according to Chris and along with that he is constantly drafting petitions, pleadings, and briefs (A Lawyer from Iowa September 2).
Audience
Writing non-academically is a very broad term and includes many different forms of writing. This makes knowing your audience that much more important when choosing to writing non-academically. If a lawyer is drafting up an email to send to a client he is allowed to make it more personable and not worry as much about grammatical errors. On the other side of that when one is drafting a petition they must make sure they are concise getting to the point and listing all the know facts. This is is presented in front of a judge so the petition must be in prime format, which makes drafting this much more challenging.
Language
Word usage for any professional is important and you can say the same for lawyers. They have to think about their word choice no matter what form of writing they are preparing. This is the case because lawyers write more non-academically than academically. Almost all documents written by a lawyer are non-academic pieces, even though they still research and analyze. To be a successful lawyer you must master the skill of writing and persuasion. That is why lawyers often choose to go to classes Called CLE’s and learn more about writing. These classes teach tips and help lawyers become more knowledgeable in their field of work (Wayne).
Structure
Every stage in the writing process is important, but it is all unless if you can not structure your paper correctly. This is true in the field of law as well. However, there are many differences between documents that can cause trouble among inexperienced lawyers. When I sat down with Chris he gave me strict details on how he would structure a commonly created document called a brief.
“When drafting a brief I first have to caption it. So who are the planif and the defendant or petitioner and respondent then you have to state the case number and you have to name what you are writing. Followed by Who’s filing the brief, then I have to do an introduction and describes all parties involved, whether its a person people or a company, then I go into factual background and then I go thro issues and states them then goes through case law, then he drafts a legal argument for each and every legal issue. Then a conclusion.” -Chris
So, as seen above it is easy to see how structure influences how someone in the field of law writes.
Purpose
The point of non-academic writing is to put your own ideas on a piece of paper for others to see. Lawyers do this on a daily basis, they analyze the law and then draft a document to express how they feel about it and how it can help their case. Lawyers also use writing as a way to communicate with other lawyers, not just their clients. It is very common for lawyers to send emails back in forth rather than call one another on the phone. According to chris he uses email for almost all forms of communication because you are able to send rough drafts of papers for the other side to see (Lawyer from Iowa, September 2)
Conclusion
When comparing academic writing to non-academic writing you see similar patterns, but in the end they are different. Academic pieces are structured differently and therefore contain different information, language, and are written for different audiences. When looking at the job of a lawyer you can’t overlook all the time that they spend at the desk constructing documents. Lawyers are professional writers and they have to be. Most of the time when they are representing people their clients are relying on them to help them either collect, or not lose too much money (Wayne). At the end of the day if you want to be success in this field you must know how to write both academically and non-academically or it is going to be hard for you to make money in the future.
References
Cécile Laborde. (1 June 2018). Abortion, Marriage and Cognate Problems, The American
Journal of Jurisprudence, 63(1), Pages 33–48.
Chambers, C. (2018, May 7). Reasonable Disagreement and the Neutralist Dilemma: Abortion
and circumcision in Matthew Kramer’s Liberalism with Excellence. The American Journal of Jurisprudence, 63(1).
College Grad . (2018). Lawyers. In Lawyers .
Rennison, C. M., & Dodge, M. (2018). Introduction to Criminal justice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Schiess, W. (2012, 3 December). Lawyers are profession writers . In Legible. Retrieved
September 9, 2018, from
United state department of Labor. (2018, August 28). what lawyers do. In lawyers
Zofia Stemplowska(2018, 1 June). Should I Be Proud of Liberalism with Excellence? On the
Collective Grounds of Self-Respect, The American Journal of Jurisprudence, Volume 63(1) Pages 81–91.
I thought that it was a very well put together paper. But you can tell when he starts getting a little tired towards the end. All of the academic source points were extremely strong will a lot of facts and explanations to back them up. The non-academic section could use a few more explanations to back up the quotes and sources however. Overall it was a very solid essay with very few grammatical mistakes, a lot of support, great use from the quotes and especially great use of the interviewee.
ReplyDeleteI would consider reading through the end, the non-academic section and revising it and adding a little more information. The academic section was very solid, but the non-academic got relatively weak. I would consider adding a little bit more to the structure section for example. It has a really strong quote but not very much to explain it and in-between.
There were a few areas that could use much more explanation after quotes. For example, the last sentence in the language essay. His interviewee explains how a piece is the "most difficult piece of writing he's ever made". Then Anthony goes on to say "The language and terms used by lawyers in their writing is one reason why they are well-known as professional writers". There could be a few examples of this or a little bit more explanation.
There were some spelling and grammatical errors, which of course are expected in a rough draft. But they can definitely be hard to find and detrimental to a final essay. The first language paragraph has the word "a" when it should be "an", the first academic audience paragraph has "too" instead of "to". These are among a few of the grammar mistakes.
Also, consider changing up some words that are used very often. This will make some sections of the essay less choppy. The non-academic structure paragraph has seven "then's" in it alone. This will make the paper more interesting as-well.
I thought that it was a very well put together paper. But you can tell when he starts getting a little tired towards the end. All of the academic source points were extremely strong will a lot of facts and explanations to back them up. The non-academic section could use a few more explanations to back up the quotes and sources however. Overall it was a very solid essay with very few grammatical mistakes, a lot of support, great use from the quotes and especially great use of the interviewee.
ReplyDeleteI would consider reading through the end, the non-academic section and revising it and adding a little more information. The academic section was very solid, but the non-academic got relatively weak. I would consider adding a little bit more to the structure section for example. It has a really strong quote but not very much to explain it and in-between.
There were a few areas that could use much more explanation after quotes. For example, the last sentence in the language essay. His interviewee explains how a piece is the "most difficult piece of writing he's ever made". Then Anthony goes on to say "The language and terms used by lawyers in their writing is one reason why they are well-known as professional writers". There could be a few examples of this or a little bit more explanation.
There were some spelling and grammatical errors, which of course are expected in a rough draft. But they can definitely be hard to find and detrimental to a final essay. The first language paragraph has the word "a" when it should be "an", the first academic audience paragraph has "too" instead of "to". These are among a few of the grammar mistakes.
Also, consider changing up some words that are used very often. This will make some sections of the essay less choppy. The non-academic structure paragraph has seven "then's" in it alone. This will make the paper more interesting as-well.
My overall impression of this paper is that it is on the right track and answers the question asked “How do lawyers write” The information is all there but could use some more support. This paper is very well done, but can be improved with some slight changes
ReplyDeleteIn the introduction paragraph, many sentences began or contained the pronoun “you”. This is not recommended because as a research paper, the tone should stay academic. I recommend changing them to “one.” This slight change improves the papers overall tone. It is also not good to use “you” because it is not wise to address the audience directly, it is off putting to the reader and comes off accusatory.
In terms of sources, you did a really good job incorporating your interview into your paper and using the interview effectively. I think your paper would improve if you used actual writings from lawyers as support. I understand with confidentiality laws this is hard, but maybe you can remove names and find emails, or some sort of briefs to further support your claims.
As a final suggestion, I would read your paper out loud, and find the sentences that are worded funny or grammatical errors that can be easily fixed. This will also improve the flow of your paper. I would also include some paragraph transitions to continue to improve the flow of the paper.