Writing skills training & coaching for lawyers, accountants, & other professionals, including paralegals, managers & staff. Effective Email programs
New York
Joined March 2009
- Tweets4.2K
- Following1.1K
- Followers1.5K
- Likes134
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
And more than that, sometimes it is the best way to start a sentence. #legalwriting teapawt.net/judgedillard/status/95…
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
Yes, especially good short stories and narrative nonfiction (in short form, like magazine articles). Reading good models of brevity is key -- because briefs can't (or shouldn't) be like novels. #legalwriting teapawt.net/Miz_Rosenberg/status/9…
You’re unable to view this Post because this account owner limits who can view their Posts. Learn more
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
Brief-writing tip: If there's one background fact that really should lead to a win for your side, keep your brief short to make it stand out rather than repeating it page after page after page. The repetition in the 50-page brief I'm reading today lessens the impact.
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
If the string of citations really helps your case, perhaps you might explain how in at least a parenthetical? Or did you cite 6 inapt cases just to make me look them all up?
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
I tell my new clerks that I love crappy first drafts. From a crappy first draft we can figure out where we need to go. #legalwriting teapawt.net/aznchew/status/9435705…
Important teapawt.net/joelklettke/status/936…
First, before writing, delete name from TO line. teapawt.net/morningmoneyben/status…
Great thread on upward feedback: how to give editing feedback to someone senior teapawt.net/jaime_asantos/status/9…
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
Lin-Manuel Miranda: “You write until the rust comes out of the faucet and it’s clear water. Then you write down the clear water.” #writing
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
A 36-line deep paragraph is a wall of text that no reader should ever have to climb. #plainlanguage
"Change horses in midstream", "beat a dead horse", etc. — dictionary coverage for non-native speakers. teapawt.net/PeterSokolowski/status…
And in legal writing, don't just drop the parenthetical thought into a footnote. teapawt.net/editormark/status/9298…
If a thought is parenthetical, maybe you ought not include it. If you include it, maybe it ought not be parenthetical. #amediting #writing
Never install any major software updates (operating system, PowerPoint, Keynote) on the day of a presentation. Or when traveling. teapawt.net/zimmerjohn/status/9297…
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
#EzraPound, #BTD, said good writers "keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear." Note the accuracy part.
Point-first writing: The last thing you want to do is force the reader to ask ‘What’s this all about and where is it going?’ tips.slaw.ca/#.WgXOr7hKvSY.t…
Spell check isn't enough. Best typo 2017 from Beethoven bio: Being dead did not stop him . . . teapawt.net/plantypal/status/92689…
Pre-tenure faculty members: writing full of dense impenetrable sentences choked with polysyllabic prose. Too much legal writing can be described the same way. @racheltoor teapawt.net/chronicle/status/92867…
"They’d earned their stripes, and in doing so, had made their work unpalatable to any except the few in their own speciated niches." chroni.cl/2m9B3Gz
Marilyn Bush LeLeiko retweeted
No. I am a skeptical reader. You earn credibility as I read your brief. If I see (cleaned up) and haven't heard of that, I have a new credibility question ("What the heck was 'cleaned up?'") and will have to check the quote.
Try to avoid giving your readers mental hiccups when you use hyphens: "10-digit dialing" but not "10-digits will be required" teapawt.net/ArrantPedantry/status/…