Write for the naive reader

Here is some good advice for the lawyer struggling to make a brief understandable.

Write the brief for the naive reader. In other words, assume the court knows NOTHING about the law and the facts in your case. Thus, you must make things CHRYSTAL CLEAR for the judge, who is seeing your issue for the very first time.

Imagine the questions she must addresss:

• Why am I reading this?
• What law should apply here?
• What are the relevant facts in this case?

With those simple questions in mind, the first words in your brief should provide her with the answers to those questions. The first words will set the stage and provide a road map for her understanding.

What kind of writer are you?

Are you a "reader-friendly kind of writer" like Bryan Garner?


Or is your writing "sleep-inducing," mumbo-jumbo, boring and stilted, and chock full of stuffy legalese?

Find out: read the artice about Bryan Garner:


http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2001-07-19/news2.html

What is a Lawsuit?

A lawsuit is where you go in as a "pig" and come out as a "sausage."

Ethical Witness Preparation

Daniel I. Small, provides a list of guidelines for ethical witness preparation in his book, Preparing Witnesses: A Practical Guide for Lawyers and Their Clients, Second Edition, available for the ABA GP/Solo division.

He reminds us that the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers provides that as long as it does not elicit false or misleading testimony, preparation must be consistent with a lawyer's duties to a client and to the court.

• Such duties may include:
  

• Discussing the role of the witness and effective courtroom demeanor
• Discussing the witness's recollection and probable testimony
• Revealing to the witness other testimony or evidence that will be presented and asking the witness to reconsider the witness's recollection of events in that light
• Discussing the applicability of law to the events at issue
• Reviewing the factual context into which the witness's observations or opinions will fit
• Reviewing documents or other physical evidence that may be introduced
• Discussing probable lines of hostile cross examination that the witness should be prepared to meet
• Rehearsing the witness's testimony and suggesting choice of words

Click here to read more.

If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

Instead of a New Year’s resolution to change something, why not keep the “status Quo?”

The “Question of the Week” in the recent ABA eJournal started me thinking: What areas of my life do I resolve to keep as “Status Quo?” Well, that sure opens up a world of thought. Our life is good, and our living conditions are good, and our working conditions are good, our social circle is good, our financial situation is good … need I go on?

Are there bad habits that need to be changed? Can’t think of any. Are there any dangerous conditions? Again: can’t think of any. We are good. Life is good. Work is good.

So why look for trouble? If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.

http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/j5question.html

There really is a "Blogging for Dummies"

For those of us who have not yet learned all there is to kow about this Web Phenonenon, there is help at last.

Brad Hill's Blogging for Dummies, Chapter One, "Understanding Blogging at Last," describes common elements of blogs and clears away some of the mysteries of blogging.

Blogging For Dummies
By Brad Hill

Common blog elements

• Chronological entries and archives would be enough for a basic blog, and indeed, a few blogs eliminate all other elements from their pages. (See the Russell Beattie Notebook at www.russellbeattie.com.) Most blogs, though, incorporate these standard features:

• Author byline: A byline above (or below) each entry is less important if you’re the blog’s only writer than in group blogs. Still, many blogs carry that byline as a default setting in the blog software.

• Permalink: Short for “permanent link,” this link takes the visitor from the index page to the entry’s unique page.

• Blogroll: The blogroll is not a requirement, but it is a tradition to list the blogger’s favorite blogs in a sidebar. The blogroll is usually common to every page of the blog, so visitors can see your favorite blog destinations no matter where they enter your blog. Blogrolls make the blogosphere somewhat incestuous, with many topical blogs all linking to each other. Having one’s blog included in a high-profile blogroll is an honor and can deliver lots of traffic to a previously little-known blog.

• Categories: Some blog programs allow the blogger to assign categories to blog entries. These categories are listed in a sidebar, so that visitors can restrict their reading to a category of interest. It’s not unusual for one entry to be tagged in multiple categories.

• Comments: Comments are written by visitors to your blog and are presented below your entry on that entry’s unique page. On the index page, a Comments link sends visitors to that unique page, scrolled down to the first comment. Many blog programs allow the comments function to be turned off, so visitors cannot talk back. Some blog experts believe that the presence of comments is a defining feature of a Weblog. I disagree with this restrictive view; I have operated nocomment blogs, and I visit some wonderful blog products in which readers can only read, not talk. But it is true that the blogosphere would be fundamentally altered if there were no comments anywhere. Comments are a crucial part of what I call the macrologue — far-flung group discussions across many blogs.
  

• TrackBacks: TrackBacks are related to comments but are trickier to understand. For now, know that TrackBacks offer a way to put a link to your blog entry on someone else’s blog. TrackBacks link blogs together in the macrologue.

Click here to see the entire chapter.

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0471770841,subcat-USING.html

Now is the time to get on the "DO NOT CALL" Registry

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE NATIONAL DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. Most telemarketers should not call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can file a complaint at this Website. You can register your home or mobile phone for free. Your registration will be effective for five years.

The FTC Website has more details.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.htm

Happy New Year

Today we welcome the New Year, 2007, or "Double-Oh-Seven," as presented on the television.

This opportunity to make New Year's resolutions includes the opportunity to NOT make any resolutions. Statistics show that these resloutions are simply not kept for any significant period of time.

Thus, in the spirit of refraining from "breaking" any resolutions, this author will refrain from "making" any discernable resolutions. Any lifestyle improvements will simply be the result of personal goals.

Happy New Year.