Omit Needless Words

In most courses I teach, I have taken to distributing a list of writing guidelines at the first class meeting.   This began as guidance for students on graded written assignments, so that when I bled red ink on their passive voices they would be on notice.  Admittedly, some of these are personal bugaboos, but I am not shy about my subjective preferences.  Students will have to write for picky partners and cranky courts for their careers, so conforming their writing to my rules is good training.  

I have expanded and contracted the list over time.   Here is the Spring 2015 edition for Negotiation Theory & Practice of Baker's Advice and Strong Preferences for Good Writing:

            To improve your writing is one of the great purposes of this course and law school.  This course requires varied writing assignments, and your grade will depend on the quality, craftsmanship, strength, purpose and effect of your writing.  I will grade your written work product on form and substance, compliance with instructions, correct and fruitful use of legal authority, compliance with proper citation authorities where necessary, style, grammar and spelling. 

 

            For your continued education, improvement as writers and insight into my preferences, please consider these principles of good writing style.  This is not an exhaustive list, but these are common errors and weaknesses which you should seek to eliminate from your writing.  I will penalize your grade for deviation from these virtues, unless your meaning and context demand deviation.  Be prepared to defend your style choices with very good reasons. 

 

       1.   Write intentionally, and do not assume that what you have written first and quickly is good.  Good writing is deliberate writing.  Good writing is a craft that requires practice and discipline.

 

2.     Ensure that all words, sentences and paragraphs have a purpose and that you understand their purposes.  If a word, sentence or paragraph does not have a purpose or if you cannot articulate its purpose, strike it.    As The Elements of Style teaches, omit needless words. 

 

        3.      Almost always, shorten what you have written to convey your point better.  Mark Twain reportedly once wrote to a correspondent, “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”  Stephen King, in his book On Writing, explains his practice of shortening every work by at least 10% after he has completed a draft, without regard for the pain.  This is good practice, and the process of making your completed work shorter, while retaining its essence, will make you a better writer. 

 

      4.      Use strong and diverse verbs.  Verbs are the crux of strong writing. 

 

      5.      Avoid passive voice, almost always.  You should use passive voice only in the most discrete instances when the passive role of the object is integral and necessary for your meaning.  Inevitably, passive voice weakens your writing, and it provides a lazy dodge for writers who seek to obfuscate their meaning.  For instance, “Mistakes were made,” is a weak and dishonorable way of saying, “I made mistakes.” 

 

       6.      Avoid beginning your sentences with “There are. . . ,”  “There is. . .” and “It is. . .”  Similar to the use of passive voice, although not as fatal, these are weak phrases that dilute the effect of your writing.  We speak this way, but you almost always should find a better, clearer and stronger way to express your meaning. 

 

       7.      Use parallel sentences and serial clauses.  For example, this is not parallel: “As lawyers, we should write with honesty, wit and clearly.” “With honesty, wit…” is a prepositional phrase, but “clearly” is an adverb.  This is parallel:  “As lawyers, we should write with honesty, wit and clarity,” or “As lawyers, we should write honestly, wittily and clearly.”  For another example, this is a poor, unparallel sentence: “Today, the place of women in the world is in a transitional age, presenting an affront to many fundamentalist religions and in that traditional societies have certain presumptions about gender.”  This is better and parallel:  “Today, the place of women in the world is in a transitional age, presenting an affront to many fundamentalist religions and challenging presumptions of gender in traditional societies.”

 

8.      Avoid adverbs.  Use stronger verbs instead.  For example, this is poor:  “The baby cried loudly.”  This is better:  “The baby wailed.”   

 

       9.      Prefer simple, shorter sentences.  Use compound or complex sentences if you must, but almost always avoid compound-complex sentences.  For example, this sentence should be two or three independent clauses, not one sentence:  “Although they had fallen for each other, she tried to avoid sitting too closely to him at the end of the day, because of the potential for airborne infection, and he hoped that she would consider stocking up on hand sanitizer.” 

 

      10.  Show your work.  Write for the ease of your reader.  Do not assume that your conclusion flows obviously from the facts and the law without your own analysis.  Always consider the reader and examine whether the reader can understand and follow what you have written to the conclusion you intend.  Demonstrate how the facts and the law inform each other and explain how they work together to justify the conclusion for which you argue.   

 

       11.  Cite every factual and legal proposition with appropriate, authoritative sources, every time.  This practice makes you more careful and accurate and makes your work more persuasive and reliable.   

 

12.  Write in context.  Context is everything.  Write to serve your readers, not to punish them.