Plain English for Lawyers

I'm a lawyer who is considered a wordsmith by colleagues and judges. This is one of the most important books I've ever encountered. I was exposed to it in my first law school year's writing class, and its lessons have remained with me since. Banish the passive voice! (unless deliberately and thoughfully chosen and used). This is not merely a key to fluidity in writing, but in a sense a moral imperative. Actions are attributable to actors - they don't simply occur. If you're asserting an action took place, you and your reader should know who or what you claim set it in motion. This necessitates intellectual rigor and clarity. Also, I remember and have employed for twenty-five years Wydick's apt metaphor that good legal writing is like fine cabinetmaking: the skill of the craftsman is shown by the crafted joints not requiring glue, just as the quality of a piece of prose is shown by its lack of reliance on "glue words" (read the book). I've used the lessons of Wydick's brief book as a lawyer, writer and writing teacher. I've given it to colleagues, non-lawyers and young relatives. Their writing uniformly improved.

This book provides great advice and practical, well-designed exercises. Once considered radical by most lawyers, the book has helped reform legal writing, teaching a generation of lawyers that their writing "should not differ, without good reason, from ordinary well-written English."The book is also a model of effective prose. It's clear and understandable even to a first-year law student. Yet it's also valuable to seasoned lawyers, especially to those die-hard lawyers who insist that legal writing should remain dense, and often incomprehensible, just because it's always been that way.Well-respected experts such as Wydick and Garner reject that notion. And clients, who often succeed or fail (and sometimes live or die) by their lawyers' words, should reject it too.

This book was required reading for my first year in law school. After having read through it, I am glad it was. I wish that more lawyers were required to read it.'Plain English for Lawyers' helps everyone write effectively from the Law Student, the practicing Lawyer, the Judge on the Bench, or just somebody that wants to write a persuasive or complicated report how to Several frequent exercises are included to give the reader an opportunity to practice. Examples are plentiful, and illustrated well.The last chapter covers punctuation. This chapter makes the book a reference worth keeping. I would recommend to anyone needing a reference for writing briefs, memorandum, or legal correspondence to keep this book on hand.

I first read this book in 1989, and I loved it. It made so much sense, yet it seemed so radical to a young associate at a large law firm. But the advice in this book has been around since 1978. Back then, it was breaking new ground. Now, its advice, though common among plain-English advocates, is still needed by the practicing bar. How great it would be if every lawyer followed Wydick's advice in this book.

I bought this book during my first year of law school. It was recommended, but not required reading, so I tossed it aside. Big mistake.Now that I am getting paid for my work product, I am more concerned about its quality. So, I finally opened the book. It is a quick and easy read, but oh so helpful. Every positive thing posted about the book is dead on. Reading Plain English for Lawyers has been the best CLE of the year.