The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

From the Archives . . .

"Practice Tip: Assume Your Deposition Witness Is Lying."

For What It's Worth: (Some) Lawyers Like iPads

From Kevin O'Keefe at Real Lawyers Have Blogs:"30% of attorneys using an iPad"--

30% of attorneys in the U.S. are using an iPad per the 2012 ABA Tech Survey performed by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center. Lawyers are seeing real value in the iPad, it’s not only lighter than a laptop, but also a more efficient and organized way to receive and review news and information.

According to the survey, as reported by O'Keefe, most of the lawyers who use tablets (86%) bought them themselves rather than getting them from their firms.

Mark Herrmann's Inside Straight

At Simple Justice, Scott Greenfield reviews Mark Herrmann's new book: Inside Straight: Advice about Lawyering, In-House and Out, That Only the Internet Could Provide--

Mark's posts, much like the Curmudgeon's Guide, offers thoughts and advice that can be read on two levels. On the surface, they offer fairly basic thoughts that reflect sound judgment and seasoned experience, such as outside counsel hopefuls pitching for business aren't going to get anywhere by telling why they're exactly the same as everyone else. On a deeper level, however, it's a metaphor for the failure of legal marketing in general. Most of Mark's in-house observations remain true for all of us, from solo criminal defense lawyers to, well, who cares.

Related post from Trial Practice Tips: "Practical Advice for New Lawyers from a Curmudgeon."

An Update on My Deposition Book

I'm hard at work on the sixth yearly update to Deposition Checklists and Strategies. My update is due in September and will be out toward the end of the year.

Background from the archives at my other blog, Beyond the Underground: "Multi-Tasking Weblogger Gets Book Deal," from 2004 (a long, long time ago!).

FROM THE ARCHIVES . . . "Prior to the Expert Deposition: Investigate the C.V."

Editing Like a Pro

From Lawyerist.com: "A Brief Guide to Editing Like a Pro," by Chris Bradley--

Read most any published piece of fiction and it’s been revised and edited like mad. The same goes for a lot of other pieces of writing, from essays to literary journalism. There’s a reason for this: putting the words down is relatively easy (presuming the blank page hasn’t scared you frozen from the start). But getting from first draft to final draft is more difficult.

At the full post, Bradley offers a 5-step guide for "editing like a pro," which you should consult if you want to make your legal writing "scream with persuasion and polish and style."

And check out these related posts from the Trial Practice Tips Weblog:

1. "Writing First Drafts"

2. "Self-Editing Tips for Legal Writers"

More Writing Tips

You'll find a number of writing tips at the Writing Well Archives from the blog What About Paris?

A recent post, "Lawyers Writing Sanely and Well: When?," offers this suggestion, "You do need to work at it. Good writing, like good lawyering, is not easy."

E-Discovery for Small Cases

At Futurelawyer, Rick Georges reviews a new book, E-Discovery for Small Cases, saying, "This great new book highlights many of the ways that you can do a competent job of ediscovery without breaking the bank."

Great Writing: A Sign of Clear Thinking

Time spent learning to write is never wasted. Here is what Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37Signals, had to say about writing skills in their popular business book, Rework--

Hire Great Writers

If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer. It doesn't matter if that person is a marketer, salesperson, designer, programmer, or whatever; their writing skills will pay off.

That's because being a good writer is about more than writing. Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate. They make things easy to understand. They can put themselves in someone else's shoes. They know what to omit. And those are qualities you want in any candidate.

Writing is making a comeback all over our society. Look at how much people e-mail and text-message now rather than talk on the phone. Look at how much communication happens via instant messaging and blogging. Writing is today's currency for good ideas.

For writing tips specific to legal writing, see the Legal Writing category of Trial Practice Tips.

Blawg Review #322

Get caught up on the blawgosphere with Blawg Review #322, by Kevin A. Thompson at Cyberlaw Central.