A Don't-Miss Freebie from the ABA

The ABA Journal has excerpted "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges," by Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan A. Garner.

The excerpt can be found here; a link to the book itself is here.

Meanwhile, there is an interesting article by Dahlia Lithwick about the book in Slate: "Justice Antonin Scalia is persuadable. Or he finally thinks you are."

The ABA Journal excerpt is in two parts, brief-writing and oral argument. To round out this post, here's a representative quote from part one--

Clarity is amply justified on the ground that it ensures you'll be understood. But in our adversary system it performs an additional function. The clearer your arguments, the harder it will be for your opponent to mischaracterize them.  Put yourself in the shoes of a lawyer confronting an opposing brief that is almost incomprehensible. You struggle to figure out what it means--and so does the court. What an opportunity to characterize the opposing argument in a way that makes it weak! This can't happen to you--your opponent will not be able to distort what you say--if you are clear.

For more about legal writing on this weblog (one of my favorite topics), see the "Legal Writing" category.