This now-classic guide, updated and reorganized in a new Fourth Edition, offers lawyers a powerful approach to thinking about their writing, and turns that approach into detailed advice that applies at every level of a document, from its overall organization down to its sentences. The goal: communicating clearly and persuasively to demanding, impatient readers, no matter how complicated the material.
Thinking Like a Writer contains:
Universal principles for organizing complex information
Practical techniques to implement these principles throughout a document
Document-specific advice for drafting briefs, memoranda, letters, emails, and judicial opinions
Advice about establishing credibility from the start and persuading skeptical readers
Many before-and-after examples showing how to transform mediocre writing into strong and confident prose
End-of-chapter checklists summarizing a chapter’s advice
Guidance on how to edit drafts more efficiently and effectively
For those who supervise others, advice about managing the editing and feedback process
Praise for Thinking Like a Writer:
“The best writing guide for lawyers I’ve ever found. I’ve used it both in my work and for teaching younger lawyers for many years.”
— Kirk C. Jenkins, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
“An invaluable resource for all lawyers and law students who want to improve their writing, no matter how well they already write. I also recommend it highly to senior lawyers who edit other lawyers’ work, and those who teach law students about writing and editing.”
— Helene Shapo, Professor Emerita, Northwestern University School of Law