Contents xi
Preface xix
Acknowledgements xxi
Introduction xxiii
Part I Learning to Read Legal Materials 1
1. A Short History of Legal Language 3
2. Categories of Legal Writing 17
3. Sources of Law and Our System of Courts 21
4. The Litigation Process 31
5. Reading, Analyzing, and Briefing a Case 47
6. Synthesizing the Law from a Series of Cases 59
Part II Learning to Write Legal Documents 93
7. A Systematic Approach to Legal Writing 95
8. Understanding Your Context 99
9. Getting Organized 147
10. Writing Clearly 169
11. Writing Effectively 209
12. Reviewing and Editing 231
Part III Creating Specific Legal Documents 249
13. Writing an Intraoffice Memorandum 251
14. Writing a Memorandum of Points and Authorities 273
15. Writing an Appellate Brief 287
Appendix A: An Overview of English Sentence Structure 391
Appendix B: Formatting Legal Documents 453
Index 465