Eliminate strings of prepositional phrases like “of the” or “by the.” Replace the prepositional phrase with an apostrophe. Adding complexity to your writing-legalese-exponentially increases the chances the parties (or the judge) may miss your point. The blog focuses on a key problem in legal writing: that the concepts you’re writing about are so complex that you need to write simply, directly, and plainly to aid reader comprehension. This Economist blog explains the problem of front loading a sentence when you are handling complicated legal concepts. Doing so will make your sentences more direct and active and reduce clutter. Aim to put the subject and verb at the beginning of the sentence. This blog explains the benefits of strong verbs, among other tips, and offers strategies for the global editing process. Using strong verbs helps you to reduce adverb usage.

Aim for strong verbs-those verbs that describe an action.

This blog suggests ways to streamline your writing by eliminating “there is” and “it is” (or the past tense version) or phrases like “given the fact that” or “in light of the fact that.”Īnother starting point for your edits is to review the verb in your sentence. These phrases add meaningless fluff at the most important point of a sentence-the beginning-and often signal the passive voice and nominalizations. One easy starting point for editing is to look for and eliminate “there is” and “it is” from your sentences. Also check out the WordRake blog for editing advice.

This blog tested the program on some sample Supreme Court authority with favorable results. WordRake is an editing program that allows you to upload a document and receive line edits on concision and clarity. Garner recommends “axing” words like “herein” from legal documents. Know how and when to cut words from your sentences during the editing process? Here are some links to help.īryan Garner’s April 2014 ABA Journal magazine article provides a good list of unnecessary phrases.

Wordrake write to the point