How to Improve Your Legal Writing!

Thinking of joining the legal side of the world? Want to become a lawyer? If you are considering one of these options then it might be time for you to brush up on your writing skills. This is because using your words to draft legal documents takes time to master and is not something you can do overnight. The proper usage of words in the legal space might even be the most important tool available to any lawyer.

This article is going to be a guide that you can follow in order to improve your law writing skills so that you can make your path to success!

Know Who Your Audience is

When creating any sort of legal document or writing any law paper, it is extremely important to know who your audience is. If you are getting your thesis or dissertation ready then you should know what is expected of you and how to present the paper to your professor. If you are submitting a document to the court it must be convincing and persuasive. What about if you are presenting the client with a memo? The memo must address the issues, advise the client on what course of action take and also tell them what laws are going to be applicable to the issue. This is why you should always keep the reader in mind when tailoring any law document.

Keep it neat and Tidy

Writing any paper, especially one based in the field of law is going to take a lot of explanation and analysis. This is why it is important you create a visual aid for the reader so they do not end up reading unending blocks of text and lose interest. The usage of proper words to ease the transition, such as, ‘however’ or ‘henceforth’ can be of great help when writing your paper. Also, you can create headings and titles for each paragraph that addresses one issue. A heading can also be further divided into subheadings in order to help in understanding what is being talked about in the paragraph as well. It is extremely important that the reader follows along with the message of your paper otherwise there will have been no point in writing the paper.

Be Concise

In line the message of the last point, conciseness is key when it comes to writing any legal document. The use of words that are added in order to make the document look flashy or give the impression that you are someone who knows what they are talking about oftentimes ends up giving the opposite impression. Keep your sentences short and keep them precise. This lessens the chance of the reader getting confused and missing the point that you are trying to convey. Remember, if the reader does not know what you are talking about in your paper, then there is no point in your paper at all.

Be gone Legalese!

Legalese – the language and jargon that lawyers use – is often hard to understand and can be complicated to explain as well. More so, sometimes it confuses the reader of the document as well, especially in cases where a reader is a person who does not know legal jargon. For them, it can be hard to understand and then sentences can get confused as well. If you are the legal counsel to anyone it is your job to make sure that your client understands wholly and completely the document they are presented with. If they do not, then you have failed your job as their counsel.

Create Impact!

Do not you a passive voice or beat around the bush in your document. It is more impactful if you keep your sentences short and to the point. This creates an impact in your sentence and delivers a much more complete message. A good way to create impact is to use action words, for example, we can say, “the person was not telling the truth in their testimony” while there is nothing inherently wrong in this sentence. It would be much more simple and impactful if you said, “The person lied in their testimony.” The second sentence directly tells you the message of the sentence while being concise and impactful.

We do hope that this guide gave you somewhat of a better understanding of what to write in your legal documents. It is extremely important that the message of your paper never gets lost due to technical sentences which are too complicated and unnecessary. However, if you are having trouble writing any law paper we suggest you contact Law Writing! We are a brilliant team of experienced and professional writers who have many years of experience and can deliver an extremely well-written paper as per your request.

Some More Tips To Enhance Your Legal Writing

These proven tips and tricks can significantly enhance your legal writing skills and make you better at expressing your views.

Make a proper outline

Outlining and structuring the content always make the document much more cohesive and concise. You can create as detailed an outline as possible to ensure that every aspect of legal writing is covered. 

You can start by writing introductory points, form arguments for the main body, and then set the points for the conclusion. In this way, you can effectively categorize the content of legal documents.

Edit the content and make it better

Editing and revising is the most important part of writing. And in the case of legal writing, you should check the minute details for accuracy. Therefore, you should check the content multiple times before submitting it. 

Ensure that it has proper formatting, structure, and correct language. The best way to polish the document is to write multiple drafts. In the first draft, you can note down your ideas and thoughts. And in the later ones, you can edit and polish them for perfection. 

Read other’s work

When you go through other’s work, you get the idea about what must be the ideal content. You get the idea about topical coverage and the writing tone you can follow. You can read blogs, articles, and other legal documents to understand different aspects of legal writing.

Once you get inspiration for your content or document, you can craft your ideas and findings to write your original argument. 

Use software and apps to make the content flawless

Just like any other writing task, you can enhance your legal writing skills with tools and software. Following are some famous tools to use:

  • BriefCatch: It is specifically designed for law assignment writing services professionals who need to check the intricate details many times before making the document final. It shows suggestions in real time, making the work much easier and quicker for legal writers.
  • Grammarly: It is a grammar correction AI tool that helps you remove grammatical errors from the content. With its user-friendly interface and integration across various platforms, Grammarly has become the most important tool for writing.
  • Hemingway Editor: It is the editing tool that helps you make the content easy to read and easy to understand. It marks the complex sentence structure, wrong arrangement of words, and cohesiveness issues of the language. So, it is the most important tool to write understandable legal documents.