Legal Writing: Use of This Handbook

• Author: John Hollander
• Pages: 11-13

legal writing: use of this handbook

xi

preface

Legal Writing: Use of This

Handbook

   a book about legal writing? Well, that de-

pends on whom you expect to read it. e target market

for this handbook is lawyers (including articling students)

with up to ve years of practical experience, and it is also

instructive for law students in university.

Law schools teach and promote a dierent form of

writing than is required for lawyers in private practice.

ey encourage students to think of the case rst (analy-

sis) and the professor second (presentation). Nowhere is

there room for the audience that reads the lawyer’s writ-

ing — clients, opposing counsel, judges. To the extent

that these two worlds are dierent, this handbook serves

to present the perspective of the practice of law.

Law schools expect dispassionate, reasoned argu-

ment: start with the issue, present both sides, pick one

(if required), and present your conclusion. Law practice

is not so simple. Professional judgment enters into com-

monplace decisions, and there are nuances to everything a

lawyer writes. Each document diers from previous ones,

and it is the lawyer’s job to integrate all of the elements

necessary to make the document t the unique case. Law-