Tips From A Judge On Becoming A Better Legal Writer

Law360 reports on an article in the NY State Bar Ass'n Journal by Acting Supreme Court Justice Gerald Lebovits, The Legal Writing Process for New Lawyers: Getting It Written and Right. The article discusses three stages of writing: pre-writing (e.g., thinking, researching, analyzing, outlining), writing (e.g., what parts to write first), and post-writing (revising and editing). He recommends spending 30% of your time on the fist and third stages, and the remaining 40% on the writing part. In the murder-your-darling department, he advises: "Don’t be in love with your writing. Let go of words, sentences, and citations that don’t help you.”

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