{"id":12604,"date":"2011-01-04T12:02:15","date_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=12604"},"modified":"2011-01-04T12:54:58","modified_gmt":"2011-01-04T17:54:58","slug":"recommended-legal-writing-reads-from-judge-easterbrook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2011\/01\/recommended-legal-writing-reads-from-judge-easterbrook\/","title":{"rendered":"Recommended Legal Writing Reads from Judge Easterbrook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This past October, as a Judicial Intern at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, I had the pleasure of attending an informal, reoccurring brown bag lunch held among the court\u2019s clerks. We gathered in a conference room down the hall from the Dirksen Federal Building\u2019s second-floor cafeteria to hear this session\u2019s guest speaker\u2014Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook\u2014lecture informally on legal writing. The judge shared some of his experiences (e.g., his decision-making process*) and his must-read books for legal writers.<\/p>\n

The key to solid legal writing, per Judge Easterbrook, is to be brief and articulate: write in short, simple, straight-forward prose. Outline your problem as you would for an intelligent lay person, mindful of the fact that judges are generalists, not specialists. (Judge Easterbrook also noted that judges\u2014unlike those drafting the statutes and regulations judges interpret\u2014are supposed to be out of touch.) To sharpen your writing skills off the clock, read good novels. Read persuasive literature. Challenge your ideological predispositions: conservatives, read the New Republic<\/a>; liberals, read the Weekly Standard<\/a>. Don\u2019t read the New Yorker, though: too many attorneys read this publication, according to the judge.<\/p>\n

Specifically regarding legal writing, Judge Easterbrook opines that the following books should be present on every attorney\u2019s bookshelf:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cMaking Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges<\/a>,\u201d by Antonin Scalia & Bryan Garner.<\/p>\n

2. \u201cThe Elements of Style<\/a>,\u201d by William Strunk & E. B. White.<\/p>\n

3. \u201cThe Elements of Legal Style<\/a>,\u201d by Bryan Garner.<\/p>\n

4. \u201cThe Party of the First Part: The Curious World of Legalese<\/a>,\u201d by Adam Freedman.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the judge\u2019s advice, my legal writing can be overcomplicated and long-winded. The culprit is the way I think; to more fully understand an issue, I write. By allowing myself to formulate the best theories fully on paper, I can identify what works. Perhaps my self-diagnosis is simply a reflection of so often hearing advice like Judge Easterbrook\u2019s. Or perhaps I am in good company? Judge Easterbrook joked about the style guides that Strunk & White could do in only 105 pages (Strunk\u2019s original version? Just 56!) what took Garner 236\u2014noting a lawyer\u2019s tendency to overdo it. So I asked Judge Easterbrook about this problem, questioning whether he, too, has to draft several opinions before getting his mind around an issue. Do you, like me, judge, have to write up an issue to fully understand your own take? No, he answered flatly. Oh.<\/p>\n

The thought of populating a blank screen with gold the first go-round daunts. For now, a mere year and a half into courting the jealous mistress, I take comfort in the fact that legal issues I explore will require less of a mental work-up with more practice and exposure. Or perhaps with a bookshelf lined by works of Judge Easterbrook\u2019s writing gurus? Marquette community: what are your recommended legal writing guides?<\/p>\n

*Judge Easterbrook reads materials in the following order to prepare an opinion: (1) the district court opinion (for sense); (2) the appellant\u2019s brief\u2014beginning with the summary of the argument section; (3) the facts and holding from the district court\u2019s opinion, specifically checking whether the lower court addressed a different issue than that framed within the appellant\u2019s brief; (4) cited opinions; (5) the appellee\u2019s brief, which may, per Judge Easterbrook, provide answers absent in the district court\u2019s opinion. On what the judge calls an \u201cextended process of getting more information and doing more thinking,\u201d a week before oral arguments\u2014with his tentative views formed\u2014Judge Easterbrook consults his clerks. The case is then argued, the panel meets and discusses the appeal, and then the writing judge goes to work on his or her portion of the legal writing conversation: the judicial opinion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past October, as a Judicial Intern at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, I had the pleasure of attending an informal, reoccurring brown bag lunch held among the court\u2019s clerks. We gathered in a conference room down the hall from the Dirksen Federal Building\u2019s second-floor cafeteria to hear this session\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,36,42,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judges-judicial-process","category-legal-practice","category-legal-writing","category-seventh-circuit","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}