LawProse

What’s a good writing style? Over the millennia, there have been four basic theories about good style.
First, there’s the idea that it’s simply good character reflected in writing. As George-Louis Leclerc Buffon (the French naturalist) declared in the 18th century: “Style is the man himself.” More recently, the novelist Norman Mailer made a similar equation...

The obvious goal is to provide an answer to a research problem—preferably in a way that solves a client’s problem—and to do it efficiently.
Let’s assume you understand what the issue is. In finding an answer, you need to identify a rule that supports your conclusion. You’ll find that rule, one hopes, in both a governing text (a statute, say) and in caselaw—but perhaps you’ll have to settle...

The 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style has just been published. It’s the most comprehensive style manual ever, and it will answer virtually every question you might have. (Except, that is, for the kinds of legal-style issues that are answered...

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Law French (also written law-French) as “the corrupt variety of Norman French used in English lawbooks.” Rather more expansively, the newly issued 12th edition of Black’s Law Dictionary (2024) defines it as “the...