Reminder: Omit Needless Words

In Strunk & White's The Elements of Style, it's tip number 17: "Omit needless words." In Bryan Garner's The Winning Brief, it's tip 39: "Ruthlessly cut unnecessary words."

Learning this rule well is one of the easiest ways to write more competently. Garner gives these examples, among others:

Before This theory is a drastic departure from that put forth by Plaintiff at the time his experts were deposed by Defendants. [21 words]

After This theory differs radically from Miles's earlier one. [8 words: a 62% saving]

Before Courts have addressed the scope of the attorney's duty to preserve client confidences in cases where the attorney's duty of confidentiality to a former client potentially conflicts with the duty of confidentiality to a present client. In such a case . . . [36 words]

After Sometimes a lawyer owes conflicting duties of confidentiality to former and present clients. In such a case, . . . . [13 words: a 64% saving]

There are more writing tips in my 1997 article for the Ilinois Bar Journal, "Improve Your Legal Writing with Five Simple Rules."