The basis of great legal writing is consistency. Don’t worry about formatting or spelling errors at this stage. All that matters is that your readers understand what you are saying.
You will need to write clearly and draw conclusions simply when you do legal research. Remember, being an expert in your subject matter is important. You want people to read what you wrote as quickly as possible.
If they have to stop and think about it, that wastes time, which means less efficient reading and longer reads.
Lawyers sometimes are told to “just write about your case” or to try to “support your claims with facts.” This can mean you have to do some serious research before you draft a legal document.
You want to come up with a fact pattern that fits the issue being raised in the lawsuit and any defenses being asserted by the other side. Then, you can use this as proof for your assertions.
Fact witnesses tell the truth, swear them under oath, and stand subject to cross-examination. Evidence is presented through testimony and documents such as affidavits, depositions, and exhibits.
What cannot be argued with facts is not persuasive to a court.
More often than not, emotional language in a pleading or motion is tied to an argument. The opposing party may claim after reviewing the pleadings that the writer does not understand the law or that the writer is trying to mislead the Court.
These arguments will always be directed at putting words in the judge’s mouth, which is very risky.
When you write an article, there’s a good chance that you’re going to use one or two sentences from it in another writing project. And while most articles are short paragraphs, they can still be great sources for inspiration if you need to bang out a few blogs or tweets.
The key with any source material is to understand how the author created the magic before you replicate it.
And when it comes to content marketing, understanding the power of language goes hand-in-hand with taking full advantage of written formats. After all, studies show that people read faster than they listen (this speed being about double what you could cover on video), so using your written word choices to their benefit allows you to pack more information into a given piece.
It also helps make your messages more memorable. “Manage by being motivated” — Martin Luther King Jr.
According to Steve Jobs, who was famously disciplined about the quality of his products, this same concept applied to communication platforms he developed for Apple.
Voice clips and slides were just the beginning
With videos now widely available software tools like ooVoo and Skype have students making presentations as fast as they can type.
Given that humans communicate through speech at our best, it makes sense that we would want to translate that knowledge onto other media.
But hearing someone speak may not be the best way to learn something; in fact, learning through speech
Language is one of the most important (and often overlooked) components of any story, whether it’s storytelling or writing.
The way that we talk to ourselves (or within our own heads) is through using subtle gestures and phrasing. We can use head nodding, jaw clenching, smiling, etc. to convey confidence and strength while speaking.
But what if you didn’t have control over your mouth? What if you could make words but not sentences, meaning there would be no context? That’s why languages like Smjrn have words without meanings. When people refer to “words without meaning,” they mean high-level verbs that are simply shared via standardization.
Verbs are at the highest level of syntax. They may also come from the root system and some examples include ‘to eat’, ‘to sleep’, and ‘to play’. The problem comes when these highly specific words become common usage. With repetitions, those words lose their specificity and gain a less distinct meaning.
That’s why as soon as someone says “I am going to go take a nap” there is an immediate shift in how everyone understands him/her. Immediately his/her name loses its grammaticality and becomes general knowledge. There was a time before this person knew he/she was going to take a nap. He/She was probably told
Some people assume that because they hired someone to write for them, anything they wrote before was fine. That’s not true.
Every single word in any given writing (blog post, website page, catalog product, ad, etc.) needs to be evaluated to see if it will need to be edited or replaced.
Unless you are reading something and know it is legal copy by heart, it will need to be changed. There are two ways to change your words: make edits directly, or have another person (usually a professional editor) edit it for you.
The entire article should be read with an eye toward editing. You want to eliminate unnecessary phrases, variations of words, and written content that can be easily deleted without changing the meaning of the sentence.
You also want to ensure all the grammar rules are being followed. Even if you think everything is okay, “it” is always to have a professional look at it.
Exaggerating in your sales writing can make it seem like you are pushy, when really you want to encourage people to pick up the phone or visit your website.
If you overstate your benefits or prices, they’ll turn off immediately. It’s more likely that they’ll just leave without buying anything.
You also do not need to offer proof of any statements that you make. People don’t believe everything that sellers say, including claims made by professional sellers such as real estate agents.
By being cautious and thinking through your assertions, you can keep readers from becoming suspicious of your marketing ploys.
Even if you’re an experienced writer, and especially if you are not, your first draft of any writing should be as brief as possible. This is called the “first cut” of anything; it should be quick and fast-paced, but also thorough and professional.
When you edit and revise your work, you will be able to focus more on what you want to say and less on how much time you have to say it.
You will also know where you need to be accurate and precise with your words and sentences.
Keep typing until you feel that you have said everything that needs to be said on the topic. Then stop and think about whether there are additional points you would like to make.
There’s an old saying in writing — and in life. It goes, “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want someone else to find out about you.”
When you write something legal, financial, personal or business-related(regardless of whether it is formalized in a document) you need to be able to rely on others being honest with you.
If they don’t understand what you mean by your word, you risk losing credit because of sloppy writing or lack of clarity. You also run the risk of someone finding out how you phrase things and then using that information to form their own opinion of you.
For example, say you are planning a vacation. You explain to everyone what you wanted to do and where you were going. No one seems to care much about this trip; however, once you get there, people begin having doubts.
You began your journey with no plans? Could have used some help from Google maps?
These are all questions I hope you will answer for yourself when it comes time to plan a trip. But remember, honesty is the best policy!
After you’ve identified your target audience and written a brilliant campaign, what do you do next? You launch a great ad and promote it through social media, of course!
But that isn’t enough for an amateur writer or someone who doesn’t take their writing seriously.
You need to create some examples because people don’t know how to write good legal ads until they’re actually read. There are thousands of websites that offer sample marketing pages.
However, there aren’t many places that teach them how to use those samples to write original copy.
That’s why this guide is so important — to help people with that skill set development.
Here are all the things you should include in your tutorial, along with tips from expert legal writers:
Put short paragraphs online
