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Except for the United States, the English-speaking world has been moving toward writing statutes as stories with characters and plot tensions. British statutes are the most advanced in this respect.

To illustrate the British method, the key statutes in the Mar-a-Lago Indictment are redrafted in this article to resemble the form they would take if recently enacted by Parliament. l compare the statutes and the redrafts side-by-side. And I do the same thing with two sections of the Electoral Count Act, which governs what Congress does on every January 6 following a presidential election year.

The article explains how the British drafting process differs from Congress’s as well as why and how the British have gradually been abandoning statute-writing customs that still prevail in the United States. The article also explains how a writer can tell a story in a statute: sequencing events, blocking to set up a scene, and managing action and dialog.

Legal Reasoning and Legal Writing teaches students how to organize and incorporate a legal argument into strong and cogent writing for a variety of applications in legal practice. This clear and coherent text has been updated to address the new skills required for modern law practice. While the Ninth Edition still includes the fundamental tools that has made it one of the best-selling legal writing texts, it has been updated to incorporate current and more sophisticated material for students wishing to take their advocacy skills to the next level. Designed for utility in a wide range of legal writing courses, the book covers multiple types of legal writing, including office memos, appellate and motion briefs, client letters, and email correspondence, as well as all aspects of legal reasoning from rule-based analysis to strategies of persuasion. It also covers other key skills such as oral reports to supervisors, appellate and motion argument, tips about the realities of online law practice and modern changes in language and style. The Ninth Edition reflects the collective wisdom of three leaders in the legal writing discipline who together have over 90 years of experience teaching, writing and speaking about legal writing. New to the Ninth Edition: New chapters 23-33 (The Shift to Persuasion). The new chapters are thoroughly modernized and to incorporate the best ideas of the legal scholarship on persuasion in an accessible and clear fashion. The newly organized chapters reflect that legal writing courses might teach appellate briefs or motion briefs, or some combination, and make the assigning of chapters easier for all approaches. New content about theory of the case, motions, procedural posture and the client's story. Professors and student will benefit from: Clear coverage of the nuts and bolts of writing an office memo, a motion memo, and an appellate brief organized to make assigning chapters easier for all different course approaches. The authors' paradigm for Organizing a Proof of a Conclusion of Law, which provides the best explanation available of the reasoning underlying the proof of a conclusion of law. Immersive pedagogy where students learn both to think like lawyers and to think like writers. A thoughtful look at all aspects of legal reasoning, from rule-based analysis to the strategy of persuasion An accessible approach that focuses on the process of writing timely examples and exercises from legal practice A full complement of sample documents in the Appendices

Buy a new version of this textbook and receive access to the Connected eBook on CasebookConnect, including: lifetime access to the online ebook with highlight, annotation, and search capabilities, plus an outline tool and other helpful resources. Connected eBooks provide what you need most to be successful in your law school classes. Learn more about Connected eBooks The Sixth Edition of Essential Lawyering Skills: Interviewing, Counseling, Negotiation, and Persuasive Fact Analysis continues to emphasize the role of the attorney in the lawyer-client relationship. Widely respected practitioners and teachers, the authors' introductions, visual aids, and realistic examples illuminate the basic mechanics of these key skills. Case situations and problem-solving scenarios engage students in developing essential lawyering skills that mirror legal practice.The topic of professional responsibility is integrated throughout. New to the Sixth Edition: New co-author Renée Hutchins brings her new perspective to the course Updated and improved design makes the material more accessible for today's student Increased coverage of negotiation in the plea-bargaining context Updated examination of the use of electronic media in fact analysis and negotiation Professors and students will benefit from: An emphasis on practice and the mechanics of negotiation and persuasion, rather than on theory Complete coverage of problem solving, interviewing, counseling, negotiation, and fact analysis Remarkably clear and penetrating discussion of the persuasive value of facts, supported by useful visual aids Generous use of interesting examples that place topics in context Integrated coverage of professional responsibility where appropriate Experienced authors, who draw upon many years of teaching and writing about lawyering skills

We are so used to Congressional gibberish that we take it for granted as though it were caused by nature. Congress doesn’t know how to create logically coherent statutes.
An example is the Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. If, while violating the Act, a President purportedly appoints a person — perhaps to be an Acting Attorney General or Acting Deputy Attorney General — every decision and action of that person is void because the person does not actually hold the office. The Act is crystal-clear that such a person would have no power, for example, to fire a Special Counsel. But the Act is far less than clear on issues concerning the circumstances that might constitute a violation. Congress enacts so much gibberish that we have become accustomed to waiting patiently for courts to tell us, years after enactment, what Congress’s words mean. Not only is that wasteful, but in a national crisis, it can be a disaster. We must be able to know instantly, within minutes, whether a purported appointment violates the Act.