by Matthew Salzwedel
on July 9, 2012
All right, the title of this post is tongue-in-cheek because I would never use cometh in a post, much less in my legal writing.
But I wanted to announce that I’ll be posting fewer articles on Legal Writing Editor in the near future because Lawyerist recently asked me to write a weekly column on legal-writing, language, and usage issues. Lawyerist is one of the best legal websites in the United States, and it “provides advice on law firm marketing, practice management, technology, career development, law school success, legal ethics, and how to start a law practice.”
The decision to slow down my posting on Legal Writing Editor was difficult, but Lawyerist gives me the ability to reach a larger audience. My goal always has been and will continue to be to help as many legal professionals as possible to become better legal writers and editors. So please visit Lawyerist to read my weekly column, which appears every Wednesday.
That said, I continue to work on outside writing projects, which I still will post here. Recently, I published two articles for the Minnesota Lawyer discussing the Supreme Court’s June 28 health-care decision. The first article, Lawrence v. Texas could decide the fate of health care, discussed how Justice Kennedy might decide the case. The second article, Judicial modesty! Judicial activism!, summarizes the decision and gives several takeaways from it.
Please check them out, and thank you for following Legal Writing Editor!
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by Matthew Salzwedel
on June 21, 2012
Earlier this month, Ray Bradbury passed away. Bradbury, of course, was known for his award-winning short stories, plays, and novels. In fact, his writing was so prolific that his online biography recounts that he “published more than thirty books [and] close to 600 short stories.” At the Powerline blog, Steven Hayward, of the American Enterprise Institute, posted a tribute to Bradbury that I thought was particularly germane to one of the topics we’ve addressed several times on this site, namely, the practical steps a person must take to become a good writer. [continue reading…]
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by Matthew Salzwedel
on June 1, 2012
(Note: You can access an updated version of this column here).
Are good legal writers born with writing ability, or can a lawyer become a good legal writer through mentoring, dedication to the craft, and hard work? This question isn’t new; many people have published their views on it, at least with respect to writing ability in general. (Jack Kerouac thought the question was important enough to publish an entire newspaper article on the subject, in which he concluded that writers are made, but genius writers are born.)
I decided to compare the views of two authors on opposite ends of the writing (and, most likely, political) spectrum—Bryan Garner (legal writing) and Stephen King (fiction novels)—to discover their thoughts on the nature-versus-nurture controversy. I summarize Garner’s and King’s views below, and then add my own take on the question. [continue reading…]
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