The Elements of Legal Style

First introduced to Bryan A. Garner at one of his brief writing seminar, several years ago, I have since been a loyal reader of his works. This book is (1) a reference book, (2) an invaluable resource, (3) more than just a grammar or style book ever thought of being, (4) chocked full of historical information and legal literary quotes, (5) presented in a humorous and accessible manner, and (6) the standard to which all legal writers should aspire. Poor writing and the use of legalese have always been bug-a-boos of mine. And, over the lifetime of my legal practice, having to slave over thousands of statutes, briefs, decisions, motions, etc., has only intensified my belief that too few lawyers know how to write well, and that the legal profession should abolish the use of legalese from the practice of law. In Mr. Garner, I have found a champion. In "The Elements of Legal Style", writers wishing to take their craft beyond the stars will find a valuable cache of information that will lay the foundations to improve their writing and persuading skills. He shows you how to remove the legalese from your writing, how to make your writing dynamic and exciting, and how to use your writing to better persuade. This book, along with "The Winning Brief", should be the foundation of your arsenal of writing tools.

I am a physician who tested out of all college English to focus on science. Writing chart notes, scientific articles, or even parts of textbooks does not prepare one for the type of writing one must do when performing legal work. Scientific-technical writing, legal writing, or the best-selling novel all require different writing styles. Mr. Garner's book must be a help to law students based on other reviews but importantly to me; it is very accessable to those who have never attended law school. Legal style is a "style" that is important in the profession of law. If you do any work in this area at all, whether it is on the stand or writing essays, it behooves the non-lawyer to read this book. So, even though I agree with the glowing reviews from lawyers, this book may be even more important to those of us who must do legal work but have never been to law school.

I put this on the shelf right next to my copy of Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Bryan expands on that classic and tailors it for legal writers. I recommend it to all my law students to help them with their legal writing.

I'm so glad I found this book. It really improved my writing.

Garner takes what could be a boring subject, legal writing, and makes it entertaining and even exciting. I loved his common sense approach which promotes practicality and clarity, and eschews antiquated rules that no longer apply. Thank you, Bryan, for giving permission to discard old rules that don't make sense, and perhaps never did.

You do not want to write like Brian Garner. He sounds like William F. Buckley, Jr. reading the phone book through Stephen Hawking's voice synthesizer. I found myself paying more attention to the author's ecclectic phrase choices and mincing composition than his message. Garner weighs the advantanges of the spare "Attic" style of writing (Holmes) against the florid "asiatic" style (Cardozo), then somehow manages to adopt the worst of both of them. (And did he really just say "asiatic?") As a member and fan of the "California" school of legal writing (Kozinski) and rhetoric (Nancy Grace), I admit my distaste for this book is personal. The information itself is valuable. However, the content here overlaps substantially with " The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (2d Ed.) ." As a day-to-day reference work, that book is a much better bang for your buck.

This book came in a stellar condition.

I use it as a constant reference.

Nice addition to my legal library.

An excellent book, the best on the market in this genre. Good examples, very well written, just a perfect book.

Excellent book, well-written.

O autor é o editor-chefe do Black’s Law Dictionary, dicionário jurídico referência nos EUA. Como também de outras obras que tratam de temas correlatos à redação jurídica, como “Legal Writing in Plain English” e “The Winning Brief”. O livro em questão — “The Elements of Legal Style”, em particular, é um manual precioso para estudantes de Direito e profissionais da área, que preferem o estilo claro, objetivo, direto, sucinto, como ele diz, em “plain English”. É didático, inclui diversos exemplos interessantes, textos reais que utiliza para comparar e criticar, propõe conceitos que incluem escolha de palavras a tempos verbais, desafia o uso de jargões e lugares-comuns, entre outros pontos. Por fim, observo que, apesar de não haver tradução, o estilo da linguagem condiz com a proposta e conceitos que o autor defende, o que estimula a leitura e facilita a compreensão, e, consequentemente, o aproveitamento do conteúdo. Seria muito bom e oportuno se tivéssemos maior produção de obras específicas e qualificadas sobre esse assunto tão importante.

A great guide to writing plain language, designed especially for lawyers. Plenty of practical advice and detailed grammar sections to improve your knowledge too.